disabilityaffairs.gov.in Scholarship For Top Class Education For SwDs 2015-16 : Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities

Organization : Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities
Scholarship Name : Scholarship For Top Class Education For SwDs 2015-16
Applicable For : Persons with Disabilities
Applicable States : All India

Website : https://depwd.gov.in/
Scheme Details : https://www.scholarships.net.in/uploads/1695-Sch15.pdf

Scholarship For Top Class Education For SwDs 2015-16:

1. Background:
1.1 Accordingly to census 2011, there were 2.68 crore Persons with Disabilities in India who constituted 2.21 percent of the total population. This includes persons with visual, hearing, speech, locomotor and mental disabilities.

Update :
NSP Scholarship For Top Class Education For Students With Disabilities 2018-19 : www.scholarships.net.in/25461.html

Financial Assistance under National Fund For Persons with Disabilities : www.scholarships.net.in/27479.html

1.2 The Census, 2001 data shows that persons with disabilities have much lower educational attainment rates, with 51% illiteracy against 35% for the general population. Participation and completion rate of PwDs at all levels including higher education continue to be low. Percentage of general population and persons with disabilities, who attained graduation level as per census 2001 was 2.9 percent and as per NSS 2002 it was 1.6 percent. In other words very few PwDs are able to pursue higher education

1.3 The XIIth Plan Working Group for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities has recommended a new scheme named “Scholarship for Top Class Education for students with disabilities studying in premier higher educational institutes (like IIT, IIM, NIT), etc.”

2. Objective & Coverage:
2.1 The Scheme aims at recognizing and promoting quality education amongst Students with Disabilities by providing full financial support.

2.2 The scheme will cover Students with Disabilities (SwDs) for pursuing studies at the level of Post Graduate Degree or Diploma in any discipline.

2.3 The scheme will operate in all institutions notified by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment as institutions of excellence. The list of such institutions is enclosed at Annexure I(A).

3. Conditions of Eligibility:
(a) A citizen of India,

(b) A person with disability having not less than 40% disability and having a disability certificate issued by any competent medical authority.

(c) Having selected and got admission in any of the notified institutions for pursuing a full-time course at the level of Post Graduate Degree/Diploma according to the norms prescribed by the respective institution. Scholarship under this scheme shall not be admissible for pursuing distance-learning/part-time/week-end courses under any stream.

(d) The candidate is not receiving any other scholarship under any scheme of the Government of India.

(e) Income Ceiling of parents/guardians: Total income from all sources of the candidate and/or his/her parents/guardians, shall not exceed Rs.6,00,000/- (Indian Rupees six lakh only) per annum, (excluding such allowances as are not treated as part of total income for the purpose of income tax). A copy of latest tax-assessment as well as latest monthly salary slip from the employer is also required to be enclosed with the application.

(f) Two children in a family – Not more than two disabled children of the same parents/guardians will be eligible and to this effect a self-certification will berequired from the candidate. Provided, more than two children of the same parents can be allowed in case the second/third children are twins.

(g) One time award – The awardee cannot be considered for the award for second or subsequent times as the individual can be awarded only for once.

4. Quantum of Financial Assistance
The scholarship will include the following :
a) Reimbursement of tuition fees and nonrefundable charges paid/ payable to the Institution Up to Rs. 2.00 lakh – per annum (subject to actual amount).
b) Maintenance Allowance Rs. 3,000/- per month for hostellers, Rs. 1,500/- per month for day-scholars
c) Special Allowances (related to types of disabilities like reader allowance, escort allowance, helper allowance etc.) Rs. 2,000/- per month
d) Books & Stationery Rs. 5,000/- per annum.
e) Reimbursement of expenses for purchase of a computer with accessories. Rs. 30,000/- per awardee as a one-time grant for entire course.
f) Reimbursement of expenses for purchase of Aids and Assistive Devices including necessary software related to the particular disability of the selected candidate. Rs. 30,000/- per awardee as a one-time grant for entire course

The aids and assistive devices may include:
For the blind / low vision :
(i) Braille / Brailer Typewriter
(ii) Laptop with Screen reading software
(iii) Laptop with Screen Magnification software
(iv) Talk software for mobile phone accessibility
(v) DAISY Recorder and player

For the hearing impaired :
(i) Binaural digital programmable hearing aid with provision for button cells.
(ii) Cell phone with SMS SIM Card
(iii) Laptop with WiFi (Blue Tooth) facility.

5. Number of Scholarships and Reservation for Girls:
a) Number of scholarships to be sanctioned every year is 160 (one hundred sixty only) which will be distributed among all the States and Union Territories of India. The no. of slots available to any State/UT is decided on the basis of percentage of population of PwDs of that State/UT in comparison to the total PwD population of India as per the data of Census 2011.
Provided that in case the numbers of scholarships so allocated to a State/UT are not fully utilized, due to non-availability of eligible candidates, the unutilised slots shall be allocated amongst the other States/UTs where the number of eligible candidates is much more than the slots allocated to that State/UT.

b) 50% of the total scholarships available each year shall be reserved for female candidates. However, in case adequate number of girl candidates are not available or not found eligible as per the terms and conditions of the scheme, the unutilised slots can be utilised by selecting suitable male candidates.Scholarship for Top Class Education for SwDs – 2015-16

6. Procedure of Application and Selection
a) The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities will announce the details of the scheme and invite applications by issuing an advertisement in the leading newspapers and through the websites and other media outfits. Applications will be called for through the National e-Scholarship Portal, an on-line scholarship management program being developed by Department of Electronics & Information Technology for this purpose.

b) The applicants should submit their application through the on-line system within the last date prescribed for receipt of applications. All requisite documents like photograph, proof of age, disability certificate, income certificate of the parent, etc. duly filled in the prescribed format will be required to be uploaded in the on-line system.

c) The Institute in which he/she is studying shall forward the application through the portal to the Education Department of the State Govt. concerned after doing the necessary verification of the facts contained in the application like age, date of birth, Disability certificate, recognition of the course, fees received etc. The State Education Deptt. shall carry out necessary prudence check including recognition of the Institute concerned and forward the application with their recommendation to the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities.

d) Final selection will be done by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities based on the recommendations of the State Education Department considering, inter alia, the no. of slots available to that particular State. The no. of slots available to any State is decided on the basis of percentage of population of PWDs of that State in comparison to the total PWD population of India as per Census 2011.

e) In case a candidate is a permanent resident of one State but studying in another State, his application will be considered under the slot of his home State and his application needs the recommendation of the Education Department of the State of which he is a permanent resident.

f) Merit Criteria for Selection: The following factors will be taken into consideration:
(i) Fulfillment of eligibility conditions as given in the scheme.
(ii) Recommendation of the State Education Department.
(iii) No. of slots available to the State.
(iv) Merit of the candidate in terms of percentage of marks obtained in the qualifying examination.
(v) In case of a tie in percentage of marks, the parental income ceiling will be considered i.e. the candidate with lower parental income ceiling will get preference.
(vi) In case there is still a tie, the percentage of disability will be considered i.e. the candidate with higher percentage of disability will get preference.

g) Selection Committee: In case the number of applicants is more than the number of scholarships admissible, a Selection Committee shall be set up with the approval of Secretary, Deptt. of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, for selection of candidates based on eligibility.

7. Mode of Disbursal of Scholarship:
The scholarship amount will be disbursed by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities through a designated bank that will remit the money direct to the bank accounts of the selected candidates. However, the non-refundable fees payable by the beneficiary shall be remitted to the Institute in which he/she is studying subject to the limit prescribed in the scheme.