After NEP 2020, scholarship and research fellowship funds declined by over Rs 1,500 crore

NEW DELHI: Funds for scholarships and fellowships have seen a sharp decline after the introduction of National Education Policy (NEP) in 2020. As we enter the fourth year of the policy, minority scholarships have seen cuts up to Rs 1,000 crore and newly formed umbrella programmes, such as Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Protsahan (PM-USP), that bundle existing schemes for college and university students, are receiving about Rs 500 crore less than in the years prior to NEP, shows an analysis of budget estimates over the years.

Even though the NEP 2020 states that it will “provide more financial assistance and scholarships to socio-economically disadvantaged students”, budget documents show that many scholarship schemes, except for the post-matric ones, have seen substantial cuts. So much so that current allocations are far below budgets five years ago. The central government also scrapped vital scholarship schemes such as the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) – again, for minorities – and the Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana (KVPY) for youths interested in pursuing general science programmes.

The Scholarships for Higher Education for Young Achievers Scheme (SHREYAS) for Scheduled Castes (SC) saw increased allocations in 2023-24 and 2024-25, but even then fell well short of what the scheme received in 2021-22. The SHREYAS scheme for the Other Backward Classes (OBC) saw an even larger cut. Even funds for research and innovation in universities have almost halved since the introduction of NEP. The NEP was adopted through a union cabinet approval in July 2020 and a key intervention in education made by the Narendra Modi government.

Budget cuts: PM-USP

Academics have long argued that post-NEP 2020, all universities have faced cuts. This lack of grants caused a fee hike which, they said, was supposed to be offset through scholarships. However, budget documents show that many major scholarships have been receiving reduced funding.

The Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Protsahan (PM-USP) which combined the Scholarship for College and University students, Special Scholarship Scheme for Jammu and Kashmir, and Interest Subsidy and contribution for Guarantee Funds, has shown drastic decline in allocation since the scholarships were grouped together.

For instance, in 2019-20 the Interest Subsidy and contribution for Guarantee Funds, which subsidises interest on education loans, was allocated Rs 1,900 crore alone. Now, the PM-USP, which combines the interest subsidy fund with two other fellowships, has been earmarked Rs 1,558 in 2024-25.

Although the PM Research Fellowship (PMRF) has seen more funds since 2021-22, the overall funds allocated to financial-aid schemes for students were much less.

Schemes under the total financial aid for students (BE, in Rs crore)

To put this in context, both centre and state universities, including large institutions such as Delhi University, are repeatedly complaining about not getting enough grants from the UGC. Moreover, the central government linked grants to NAAC ratings which, teachers argue, exclude many institutions. Academics worry this may lead to fee hikes making higher education unaffordable for the poor and marginalised.

“The upper strata of society have access to education. So, the people who are left behind are students from underprivileged backgrounds. You need to offer them access. The mandate of the NEP is that we will compensate it through scholarships. But we know that many scholarships have been discontinued. The number of scholarships have come down,” said PK Abdul Rahiman of Madras University Teacher’s Collective.

Minority scholarships

The minority scholarships have faced the most drastic cuts. The central government decided to discontinue the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) scheme from 2022 arguing that the fellowship overlaps with UGC schemes, including the Junior Research Fellowships (JRFs) and Senior Research Fellowships (SRF). This had sparked nationwide protests across campuses. Scholarships meant for specific categories of students are intended to uplift members of those communities.

The minority affairs minister Smriti Irani, while announcing the decision, said that the government provided other schemes for minorities, including the Pre-Matric Scholarship for Minorities, Post-Matric Scholarship for Minorities, and the Merit-cum-Means Scholarship for professional and technical courses. However, these four schemes have themselves seen cuts to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore in 2024-25 as compared to 2019-20.

In 2020-21, the MANF and the three schemes that it supposedly overlapped with had combined funds of Rs 2,440 crore. In 2024-25, it is only around Rs 1,550 crore. Additionally, the pre-matric scholarship was only for the school level while the MANF supported research.

Scholarship schemes for minorities (BE, in Rs crore)

The reduction is partly due to the pre-matric scholarship scheme which used to provide admission and tuition fees, for Classes 1 to 10, and maintenance allowance of up to Rs 600 per month for students in Classes 6 to 10.

The government restricted its benefits to Classes 9 and 10 arguing that students receive free education till Class 8 under the Right to Education (RTE) Act. That said, the RTE Act or rules don’t provide for maintenance allowances. Plus, the pre-matric scholarship had a 30% reservation for girls to prevent their dropping out.

Even when there was a corresponding increase in the post-matric scholarship for minorities in the subsequent years, this came with a similar reduction in the pre-matric scholarship. The trend was similar for other schemes too.

The Free Coaching and Allied Schemes for Minorities had received Rs 75 crore in 2019-20, but only received Rs 30 crore in 2024-25. The Interest Subsidy on Educational Loans for Overseas Studies only received Rs 15.3 crore in 2024-25, half of Rs 30 crore in 2019-20.

Even the UGC, which disburses the JRF and SRF, received Rs. 2,500 crore in 2024-25, compared to 2023-24 when it received over Rs 5,300 crore. However, the 2024-25 budget is an interim one due to the pending national elections but outlays have been announced for the year.

Scholarships for SC, ST, OBC

The Scholarships for Higher Education for Young Achievers Scheme (SHREYAS), an umbrella scheme launched in the years 2021-22 bundling some of the existing scholarships, has seen a gradual reduction in allocation for both Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes.

The National Fellowship for SCs, for instance, received Rs 300 crore in 2021-22 but only Rs 188 crore in 2024-25. Meanwhile, the National Fellowship for OBCs almost halved during the same time period, falling from Rs 100 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 55 crore in 2024-25.

Allocations under SHREYAS for SCs (BE, in Rs crore)

Allocations under SHREYAS for OBCs (BE, in Rs crore)

In addition to the reduced allocation, students said that the existing fellowships for OBCs are woefully inadequate. “There’s no specialised scheme available for OBC students in undergraduate and postgraduate courses... the National Fellowship for OBCs is only for PhD. There are around 1,042 universities now so 1,000 fellowships mean barely one OBC student will get it,” said Gowd Kiran Kumar, president of All India OBC Students Association.

The NEP 2020’s silence on reservation for India’s historically-marginalised SC, ST and OBC communities presents another hurdle.

“The document itself undermines the social justice agenda. Every year the dropout rate is very high. The main reason is the financial burden faced by students. The fees in IITs, IIMs, and central universities are in lakhs. Some students’ annual family income is not even close. So, they have to depend on loans… The NEP talks about quality education but that comes at around Rs 1-2 lakh which students cannot afford,” said Kumar.

At least in budget allocation, the SHREYAS equivalent for Scheduled Tribes (STs), which comes under the National Tribal Welfare Program, has seen incremental increases in scholarship amount.

Allocations under the National Tribal Welfare Programme (BE in Rs crore)

All the Post-matric Scholarships, which cover admission and tuition fees and a maintenance allowance till PhD, have also seen a substantial increase in allocation for
all categories.

Allocations under post-matric scholarships (BE in Rs crore)

KVPY fellowship

The union government scrapped the Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana (KVPY) fellowship in 2022, which used to be a dedicated fellowship for students in science and technology. Premier science institutes, such as the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER) used to admit students through the KVPY test. The scrapping elicited collective groans from the scientific community.

The central government justified the move saying the test claimed “huge resources… to provide scholarships to only about 300 students annually” and that the fellowship is now subsumed within the INSPIRE fellowship, similar to the KVPY and also under the Department of Science and Technology.

However, even the INSPIRE fellowships have not seen any influx of funds. Infact, Science and Technology Institutional and Human Capacity Building, the scheme which also includes INSPIRE, has seen a steady decline of funds to the extent that it received the lowest fund in five years in 2024-25. The scheme received only Rs 900 crore compared to Rs 1,169 in 2020-21, prior to the launch of NEP 2020.

Research funds

Allocations for research have followed a similar trend.

Even in the schemes for which outlays increased over the last few years, budgets are still far below allocations prior to NEP 2020.

For instance, the Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC), launched to promote academic and research collaborations among top institutions, received Rs 100 crore in 2024-25, which was still 23% less than what it received in 2019-20.

The budget for Impacting Research Innovation and Technology (IMPRINT), a research initiative for the sciences, and its cousin, the Impactful Policy Research in Social
Science (IMPRESS), are both seen to be slowly eased out. IMPRINT, which received Rs 80 crore in 2019-20, only received Rs 10 crore in the latest budget. Meanwhile IMPRESS, which received Rs 75 crore in 2019-20, has not received any funds at all.

Allocations under four selected schemes and total budget head for research and innovation (in Rs crore)

The National Research Foundation (NRF), a key NEP recommendation meant to oversee all research funding in India, has been allocated Rs 2,000 crore in the past two budgets. The government has proposed a Rs 50,000 crore “corpus” for it for the next five years but the bulk of it will be marshalled from private sources.