The government has granted National Overseas Scholarships (NOS) to 66 students from socially marginalised sections after withholding their provisional award letters, citing a lack of funds.
This U-turn comes in the wake of protests by student groups and Opposition parties. The final award letters will be issued after verification of documents.
Under the NOS, the social justice and empowerment ministry awards scholarships to 125 candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes (SCs), denotified tribes, landless farm labourers and traditional artisans every year.
For 2025-26, the ministry had shortlisted 106 candidates after the first round of selection. However, it issued provision award letters to only 40 candidates on July 1 and stated that the remaining candidates would receive the letters in due course “subject to availability of funds”.
Student groups launched protests against the government's alleged apathy towards the higher education of students from the deprived sections. Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, also criticised the government for the delay in awarding scholarships.
“When a Dalit, backward or tribal student wants to study — only then the Modi government remembers the budget… There is no problem for the children of BJP-RSS leaders to study anywhere — but as soon as a Bahujan student moves forward, the entire system starts creating obstacles,” Rahul had posted on X.
A finance ministry source said that its expenditure finance committee had in 2021-22 approved ₹175 crore under the NOS for five years ending in 2025-26. However, the social justice and empowerment ministry spent ₹300 crore in the first four years. The extra funds for the NOS were allegedly diverted from other scholarship schemes. When the finance ministry came to know about the funds diversion, it asked the social justice and empowerment ministry to make do with only ₹35 crore in 2025-26 for the NOS.
This prompted the social justice and empowerment ministry to issue award letters to only 40 students out of the 106 selected candidates, and request extra funds from the finance ministry.
The finance ministry on Thursday informed the social justice and empowerment ministry that the department of expenditure had agreed to provide one-time relaxation and grant ₹130 crore for the NOS in 2025-26.
Two candidates, who have admission offers from two universities in the UK, said they had received the provisional award letters for the NOS scholarship.
"I got the award letter on Friday evening. I thank the government, particularly ministry director Mahesh Kumar Meena, who assured me that the scholarship would certainly be awarded. My admission is due in September. I will complete all the formalities by that time,” a student said on the condition of anonymity.
The NOS, available to students pursuing master's and PhD in top foreign universities, covers tuition fees, living expenses and a one-time round-trip airfare.