Scholarship Scheme - Uttarakhand Agricultural Production & Marketing Board

What is the Marketing Board scholarship scheme?

Scholarship Scheme of the Uttarakhand Agricultural Produce Marketing Board provides financial assistance for education to the children of the people who keep the state's agricultural markets running. Scholarship Scheme of the board is directed at the sons and daughters of small and marginal farmers, and of agricultural workers and mandi workers connected with the regulated markets of Uttarakhand. The board, commonly called Mandi Parishad, functions under the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of Uttarakhand, and is headquartered at Mandi Bhawan, Rudrapur, in Udham Singh Nagar district.

The scheme belongs to the welfare side of the board's work. Under the Uttarakhand Agricultural Produce Marketing (Development and Regulation) Act, 2011, the board and its market committees collect market fees and hold market development funds, part of which is applied to the welfare of farmers and of the labour force that works in the mandi yards, loading, unloading, weighing, cleaning and grading. Mandi labour is largely daily-wage and seasonal, and small and marginal farmers in Uttarakhand's hill districts work holdings often well under a hectare. For both groups, school and college fees are a real reason children drop out. An education grant routed through the market committee is the board's way of putting fund money back into those families.

Main features

• Financial assistance for education, paid to eligible students.
• Aimed at children of small and marginal farmers and of agricultural and mandi workers in Uttarakhand.
• Administered by the Uttarakhand Agricultural Produce Marketing Board through the mandi samitis of the market areas.
• Applied for offline at the mandi samiti; there is no dedicated online portal.
• Amounts and the last date are notified by the board for each academic year.

Who is eligible for the scholarship?

You can apply if:

• You are a student studying in Uttarakhand, currently admitted to a school, college or recognised institution.
• Your parent is a small or marginal farmer, that is, a cultivator whose holding falls within the small and marginal limits, or an agricultural worker or mandi worker connected with the market area.
• Your family is resident in Uttarakhand and can produce residence proof.
• You can produce the marksheet of the last examination passed and proof of current admission.

You are not eligible and cannot claim if:

• Your parent is not a small or marginal farmer, agricultural worker or mandi worker. A family holding land above the small and marginal limit does not qualify on the farmer route.
• You are not currently studying. The assistance supports ongoing education, so a student who has discontinued cannot claim it.
• Your family does not reside in Uttarakhand or has no connection with a market area of the state.
• You apply after the last date stated in the board's notice for the academic year, since applications are processed in an annual cycle.

The mandi samiti's notice for the year is the operative statement of eligibility, including any income ceiling, minimum marks or class-wise restriction the board has set. Those conditions have varied between years, which is why a student should read the current notice rather than rely on an earlier one.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the scholarship

1. Ask the mandi samiti for the current year's notice. The mandi samiti of your market area, for example Rudrapur, Haldwani or Dehradun, holds the notice with the last date, the rates and the eligibility conditions for the academic year.
2. Collect and fill the application form. Obtain the printed form from the samiti office. Fill in the student's details, the class or course, the institution and the parent's occupation.
3. Get the parent's status certified. Attach the land record showing a small or marginal holding, or a certificate from the samiti or the competent authority that the parent works as an agricultural or mandi worker.
4. Attach the education and bank documents. Last marksheet, bonafide certificate or fee receipt from the institution, residence proof, Aadhaar and a copy of the student's own bank passbook with account number and IFSC.
5. Submit at the mandi samiti before the last date and take a receipt. The samiti verifies the papers and forwards eligible applications to the Uttarakhand Agricultural Produce Marketing Board at Rudrapur.
6. Check your bank account for the credit. Sanctioned assistance is released by transfer to the student's account, so verify the passbook or statement.

How do I follow up on an application?

Follow-up runs through the mandi samiti office where the application was filed. The samiti secretary can confirm whether the application was verified and forwarded to the board. Once forwarded, the Uttarakhand Agricultural Produce Marketing Board, Mandi Bhawan, Rudrapur is the sanctioning authority and the place where the year's list is finalised.

Keep the receipt the samiti gives you when the form is submitted. Applications that cannot be traced are almost always ones filed without any acknowledgement.

Why applications get rejected

• Parent's status not certified, the single most common failure; a bare claim that the father or mother is a mandi worker is not enough without a certificate or land record.
• Applied after the last date for the academic year.
• No proof of current admission, so the samiti cannot confirm the student is studying.
• Bank account in a parent's name or inactive, which stalls the transfer even after sanction.
• Application filed at the wrong office rather than at the mandi samiti of the market area.

Help and information

• Mandi samiti of your market area; issues the notice, supplies the form, verifies and forwards the application.
• Uttarakhand Agricultural Produce Marketing Board — Mandi Bhawan, Rudrapur, Udham Singh Nagar; portal ukapmb.org. The sanctioning authority.
• District agriculture office; can point you to the mandi samiti serving your area if you are not sure which one applies.

The Uttarakhand Agricultural Produce Marketing Board does not publish a standing scholarship rate table, an annual calendar or a dedicated helpline number for this scheme on its website, and the amounts and conditions are notified for each academic year. A student should therefore work from the current notice at the mandi samiti office. Applying is free, and no payment should be made to any person for the form or for processing.