Under 25% of candidates selected via NTA NET join NFSC; panel pulls up govt for coaching scheme’s poor show

Less than 25% of the students who have qualified the UGC NET or the Joint CSIR UGC NET have joined the National Fellowship for Scheduled Castes (NFSC) students in the last three years, shows government data.

The data was provided by the ministry to the parliamentary standing committee on social justice and empowerment headed by BJP MP PC Mohan. The committee had recommended the need to increase the number of slots from 2,000, fixed over 20 years ago.

The committee decided not to pursue with its recommendations on the National Fellowship for SC but criticised the government sharply for the poor general and financial performance of the scheme of ‘Free Coaching for SCs and Other Backward Classes’ over the years and delay in the disbursal of scholarships.

While looking into the ministry of tribal affairs, the committee noted with concern the poor implementation of the Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS). The committee has noted that the budget estimate of Rs 7,088.60 crore for 2025-26 was revised down to Rs 4,900 and that, till January 19, 2026, they had been able to utilise only Rs 4,011.25 crore.

A total of 723 EMRS have been sanctioned out of 728 targeted to be set up in the country to provide quality education to the tribal children from Classes 6 to 12.

MSJE: Only 22.70% selected candidates join NFSC scheme

The NFSC is provided to students from the historically-marginalised Scheduled Castes for pursuing higher education leading to PhD degree in sciences, humanities and social sciences. The fellowship is provided by the ministry of social justice and empowerment.

The scheme offers 2,000 new slots every year – 500 for the sciences and 1,500 for humanities and social sciences – to SC students who have qualified the UGC National Eligibility Test- Junior Research Fellowship (NET JRF) or Joint Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (Joint UGC-CSIR NET). These exams are now conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA).

The committee had noted that the annual expenditure on the scheme was more than the budget estimates in the years 2023-24 and 2024-25 and is likely to exceed the budget estimate again in 2025-26 as they have been able to spend Rs 204.04 crore against the budget estimate of Rs 212.00 crore at the time of examination.

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The panel had said, “The committee finds that the target of 2,000 fellowships fixed at the inception of the scheme in 2005-06 has remained the same even in subsequent years. The committee does not find any justification for not increasing the target for more than 20 years and thereby restricting students from availing the benefits of the scheme to undertake advanced studies and research leading to PhD degrees.”

Providing the data of the last three years, the government stated, “Under the scheme guidelines, the admissible period for joining the fellowship is 3 months for ‘pursuing’ candidates and three years for ‘non-pursuing’ candidates. Analysis of the above data reveals that only 27.32% and 23.33% of the candidates selected during the years 2023 and 2024, respectively, have joined the NFSC Fellowship. Since a large number of slots have remained unfilled, enhancement of slots is not considered necessary at this stage.”

*It is 250 more as it includes data for Joint CSIR UGC NET December 2022 as well.

**The NTA has not provided the list of selected/shortlisted candidates for June 2025 CSIR UGC NET for June 2025 and December slot for both the exams.

Allotted slots are for both UGC NET and CSIR UGC NET of both cycles for exams in a year, held in June and December.

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The data further highlights that the rate of joining is the lowest for Joint CSIR UGC NET. For instance in 2024, out of the 253 candidates selected in the June cycle, just 25 joined – 9.88%. In the December cycle, out of the 257 selected, 7.39% joined the scheme.

‘Poor’ performance of free coaching scheme

Run by the ministry of social justice and empowerment, the ‘Free Coaching for SCs and OBCs’ scheme is meant to enable students from those communities to appear in competitive examinations and secure admission in reputed technical and professional higher education institutions.

The committee has expressed concern over the poor financial performance of the scheme which has seen a fraction of its budget actually spent.

The committee noted, “The physical performance has been equally poor as vis-à-vis the target of 3,500, achievement has only been 223 in 2023- 24, 2,136 in 2024-25 and 431 in 2025-26. The committee is not satisfied with the explanation given by the department for this poor performance such as limited participation by the central universities and delayed proposals.”

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It has also said that this has been the situation despite the changes introduced by the department over the years such as making Dr. Ambedkar Foundation as the central nodal agency.

The department informed that for the 16th Finance committee cycle there is a proposal for inclusion of state universities and introduction of student centric mode for wider coverage.

“The committee desires that these changes be made effective at the earliest to ensure that the BE of Rs 20 cr for this purpose for the year 2026-27 is fully utilised,” it stated.