Jammu Kashmir Beneficiaries Under PMS-SC Plunged to 100 in 2021-22, Rebounded to 10,097 in 2022-23 | Kashmir Life

SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir saw a sharp fall in the number of students covered under the Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme for Scheduled Castes to just 100 beneficiaries in 2021-22 before numbers rebounded to 10,097 in 2022-23, the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

In a written reply by Minister of State Ramdas Athawale to questions raised by MPs Rameswar Teli, Dru Lal and Sadanand Mhalu Shet Tanavade, the ministry published year-wise figures for Jammu and Kashmir showing 9,856 beneficiaries in 2020-21, 100 in 2021-22, 10,097 in 2022-23, 7,370 in 2023-24 and 6,567 in 2024-25. The ministry provided the state and Union Territory breakdown as an annexure to its reply.

The Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme for Scheduled Castes is implemented through State and UT administrations and is demand driven and open ended for eligible students in recognised institutions. The ministry said scholarships are released directly into Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts of beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer and that release of the central share is contingent on States sharing state-paid data on the National Scholarship Portal.

The ministry said major reviews of the digital scholarship portals, Aadhaar verification and DBT systems were carried out twice by the Committee of Secretaries in 2016 and 2023. It added that the National Scholarship Portal now supports One Time Registration with biometric authentication, global de-duplication to identify duplicate applications across schemes, and Aadhaar Payment Bridge based disbursement to strengthen integrity and reduce fraud.

To ensure timely distribution and transparency, the ministry emphasised that under revised scheme guidelines the entire scholarship amount — central and State shares including academic and disability allowances where applicable — is paid directly into student accounts through DBT, preferably via the Aadhaar Payment Bridge. The reply stated that Aadhaar based payments have minimised fraudulent claims, fake beneficiaries and pendency arising from account issues.

At national level, the ministry supplied total beneficiary counts under the scheme for the last five financial years: 5,016,082 (2020-21), 3,025,136 (2021-22), 4,647,135 (2022-23), 4,738,578 (2023-24) and 4,804,208 (2024-25).

Meanwhile, the Union Government has confirmed that the annual family income ceiling for pre-matric and post-matric scholarships for SC, ST and OBC students will remain at Rs 2.5 lakh for now, with no proposal under consideration to raise it to Rs 2.8 lakh.

The clarification came in a written reply from Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale to a question by Ryaga Krishnaiah in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
Athawale said the current income threshold — approved by the Expenditure Finance Committee and the Cabinet — will remain effective till the end of 2025-26. Any change, he added, can only be taken up during the formal review and revision of the scheme for the next Finance Commission cycle, which includes reassessing the income criteria.

The minister confirmed that the Rs 2.5 lakh ceiling, applicable to both pre-matric and post-matric scholarships, was set several years ago and continues to determine eligibility for students belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.

Athawale did not indicate whether increased budgetary allocations are being considered, stating only that revisions must follow the established procedural framework.