The Department of Social Justice & Empowerment has eliminated the need for a domicile certificate for students applying for Pre-Matric and Post-Matric scholarship schemes for Scheduled Caste and Other Backward Classes. This change aims to ease the application process for scholarships and reduce the burden on students. It is anticipated to benefit numerous eligible applicants studying outside their home states.
The Pre-Matric and Post-Matric Scholarship Schemes for SCs and OBCs support around 1.2 crore students annually. By waiving the domicile certificate requirement, the application process becomes more student-friendly, cutting down on documentation needs and compliance costs. In a move towards digital governance, the Department has introduced SETU (Scholarship for Educational Transformation and Upliftment) on the UMANG platform to offer a comprehensive solution for scholarship-related services.
SETU serves as a unified interface for eligible applicants, Institutional Nodal Officers, District Nodal Officers, and State officials, streamlining application registration, tracking, and validation processes. This enhances transparency and efficiency in the delivery of services. These initiatives align with the government’s broader goal of fostering inclusion, reducing procedural hurdles, and ensuring the effective implementation of welfare schemes.
The Department’s commitment to leveraging technology-driven reforms to expand outreach and provide timely support to students remains steadfast. In FY26, an official statement revealed that over 75 lakh scheduled caste beneficiaries received a total disbursement of Rs 7,981.47 crore. These funds were allocated under schemes focused on the educational empowerment of marginalized students from Scheduled Castes. Notably, expenditure increased across key scholarship programs year-on-year, with a 21% rise in the Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme for SCs and Others, an 11.23% increase in the Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme for SCs, and a 13.5% uptick in the Central Sector Scholarship of Top Class Education for SC students.
