Thousands of key higher education scholarship slots vacant; need NSP portal alternative, say activists

In the 2025-2026 academic session, not a single scholarship out of the 10,000 available slots under the National Scholarship for Post Graduate Studies (NSPGS) was disbursed, shows government data. Managed by the University Grants Commission, the scholarship was introduced three years ago, after merging four other scholarships to support higher education of historically-marginalised and high-performing students.

The UGC came close to filling all slots only in the year the scholarship was started; it disbursed 8,171 scholarships. The following year, 2024-25, it filled just 49% of the slots.

Another scholarship with zero disbursals in the last academic session is Ishan Uday – Special Scholarship for Northeast Region. Previously, the government was regularly disbursing over 9,000 Ishan Uday scholarships out of the 10,000 slots each year.

Even in the case of a flagship scheme, such as the department of higher education’s Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Protsahan (PM-USP) – a central sector scheme for college and university students formed after merging three scholarships – disbursals have fallen short of the 82,000 slots per annum over the last five academic sessions. This is despite the number of verified applications exceeding that of allotted slots.

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The number of beneficiaries is falling also for the PM YASASVI scholarship scheme, implemented by the department of social justice and empowerment for higher education of Other and Extremely Backward Classes (OBC and EBC) and Denotified Tribes (DNT).

Even the scheme run by the ministry of tribal affairs – National Scholarship and Fellowship for ST students – saw no disbursal, either fresh or renewal, in 2025-26.

The minister of state for education, Sukanta Majumdar provided the data on scholarships from across ministries in response to a question raised in the 2026 monsoon session of the parliament by Congress MP Bhajan Lal Jatav.

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UGC PG Scholarship: Falling counts after merger of 4

NSPGS is an umbrella scheme formed in 2023-24 by merging four different scholarships – PG Indira Gandhi Single Girl Child Scholarship, PG Scholarship for University Rank Holders, PG Scholarship for SC/ST Students Pursuing Professional Courses and Post Graduate Scholarship for GATE/GPAT.

Students receive Rs 15,000 per month for 10 months in a year. There are 10,000 slots per annum and the disbursal is on merit basis. Sections of slots are reserved for women, students from humanities and social science backgrounds and others.

Analysis of the data for the last three years show that in either of the three years the full slots have filled.

The 2025-26 data shows that as part of fresh applications, UGC had verified 54,111 applications, but the applications sent for payment were zero. Under the renewal section, there were 6,671 verified applications out of which 5,300 were sent for payment.

The scholarships are renewed for the next year on successful completion of the first year of study. The students are required to apply for ‘renewal’ on the National Scholarship Portal, scholarships.gov.in.

Beena Pallical of the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDH) outlined various issues behind this poor disbursal.

“The biggest problem is that money does not [get disbursed] on time. There are times when the disbursal is delayed by one or two years. There is a lot of demand and the need for scholarships but there is a gap in the supply due to delayed disbursal of funds. Even though the fund allocation increases, the authority usually sits on the budget till December-January,” said Pallical.

NSPGS student counts

The Indira Gandhi Single Girl Child scholarship provided Rs 36,200 selected candidates to pursue PG degrees. It had 3,000 fresh slots for each year and was introduced in 2005-06. Over the two years before it was merged, the count of beneficiaries was increasing, even though some slots remained vacant.

The PG Scholarship for University Rank Holders scheme provided financial assistance to first and second rank holders for pursuing PG degrees. The scholarship amount was Rs 37,200 per annum and there were 3,000 fresh slots. In this case, the number of applications were typically lower than the number of slots.

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The PG Scholarship for Professional Courses for SC-ST candidates provided Rs 78,000 for ME or MTech and Rs 45,000 annually for other professional courses for a two year period. This was for 1,000 students every year.

The table below provides details of the fresh applications and disbursal

Ishan Uday Scholarship: 26,000 apply, 0 get

The UGC’s Ishan Uday Scholarship for North-East Region saw zero fresh disbursals in the last academic session, despite 26,632 verified applications.

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The scholarship offers Rs 8,000 per month for 10 months in a year for students domiciled in the NER and with annual family income below Rs 4.5 lakh. This, too, has 10,000 slots.

NSP Scholarship: PM-USP slots vacant

The Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Protsahan (PM-USP) Yojana comprises two scholarship schemes:

• PM-USP central sector scheme of scholarship for college and university students
• PM-USP special scholarship scheme for Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh

It is for students who score above the 80th percentile in the relevant stream in a Class 12 board exam and pursue a regular undergraduate course. They must also have an annual family income under Rs. 4.5 lakh. Scholarship is paid up to a maximum of five years – Rs. 12,000 per annum for the first three and Rs 20,000 for the fourth and fifth.

There are 82,000 fresh slots per year and they have not been filled even once over the past five years. Disbursal rate was the lowest in 2022-23, at 72,851 (88%).

NSP Portal: SC, ST, OBC scholarship

The ministry of social justice and empowerment (MSJE) and the ministry of tribal affairs run numerous scholarship programmes for marginalised communities. The trend varies with the scheme. While one shows near-complete disbursal for fresh applications, another shows a significant gap and a third, no disbursal at all.

The Top Class Education for SC Students and PM YASASVI are offered by the MSJE. The scheme provides financial support to students from families with annual income under Rs 8 lakh to pursue studies beyond Class 12 in notified institutions.

The PM YASASVI is for OBC/EBC/DNT students with annual family income from all sources up to Rs 2.50 lakh. The scheme was implemented in 2023-24 and its beneficiary count is already declining.

Pallical highlights that the government needs to bring about changes in the application process, via the NSP portal.

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“We believe that the application process should not just be online. It is important that the process should be offline as well. It is also important to increase awareness about these scholarships. The verification of documents is also a daunting process for students,” said Pallical.

Meanwhile, the ministry of tribal affairs’ scheme had received an outlay of Rs 339.98 crore in 2025-26, and Rs 663.81 crore in 2026-27.

DST INSPIRE Scholarship, AICTE PG: Falling counts

Over the years, the beneficiary list of the AICTE Post Graduate Scholarship has also been shrinking. Officials at the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), which offers it, say the decline indicates a slow-down in students pursuing MTech degrees.

Even the INSPIRE scholarship scheme implemented by the department of science and technology (DST) shows reducing beneficiary count since 2023-24.

The Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) scheme was approved by the government in November 2008 at a total cost of about Rs 1,979.25 crore. It has three components – Scheme for Early Attraction of Talent (SEATS), Scholarship for Higher Education (SHE) and Assured Opportunity for Research Careers (AORC).