NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has issued provisional scholarship awards to 40 of the 106 candidates selected for its National Overseas Scholarship (NOS) for the 2025-26 academic year, with a notice saying that letters for the remaining 66 candidates ‘may be issued in due course, subject to availability of funds’, the Hindustan Times reported.
The Union Social Justice Ministry is in the process of seeking additional allocation for administering the National Overseas Scholarship scheme for marginalised students, according to a report by The Hindu.
On July 1, the Ministry declared the results for the 2025-26 cycle of the NOS, saying that 106 students had been selected for the 125 annual slots available. But it added that only the first 40 candidates will be given provisional award letters, and the rest will get the letter ‘subject to availability of funds’, said a notification issued by the ministry.
To see detailed notification, click here.
The Ministry administers this scholarship for students from Scheduled Caste, Denotified, Semi-Nomadic, and Nomadic Tribes, landless agricultural labourers and traditional artisans, backgrounds for pursuing higher studies in the top universities abroad.
This is the first time in at least three years that the 1st round of results for the NOS has seen the selection committee unable to fill all 125 available slots.
Further, the applications received for the scholarship also dropped to a low of around three years to about 440. This comes even though the Budget Estimates for 2025-26 showed the scheme receive the highest allocation it has in around five years of ₹130 crore, The Hindu report said.
“We are seeking more allocation to administer the scheme. The allocation this year is higher than others. But what must be considered is that the scholarship is paid out through the period of education of the candidates. So, a part of this year’s allocation must be used for this as well, that is for candidates selected in previous years and continuing their studies. As a result, the ministry is seeking more allocation and soon this will be worked out,” the report quoted an official as saying.
Notably, the fund-crunch for the National Overseas Scholarship surfaces even as the government is evaluating the scheme for the 16th financial cycle, beginning 2026-27 Financial Year.
Fellowship for research scholars
Earlier this year, the disbursement of Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) for research scholars from minority communities also saw a delay for four months and the students urged the Union Government to expedite the process of distributing the scholarships to them.
The Minority Affairs Ministry, that handles the scholarships, had told the students in an RTI reply that the Ministry was in the process of getting three scholarship schemes approved from the Union Government for implementation from 2022-23 onwards.
The Ministry asked the students to ‘wait and appreciate the constraints’ of the Ministry in disbursement of scholarship, fellowship, and interest subsidies.