New Delhi
Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Durgadas Uikey on Wednesday informed the Rajya Sabha that the Ministry is promoting awareness regarding the National Overseas Scholarship (NOS) scheme among students from tribal populations across the country including the eastern parts of India.
The NOS is given for pursuing Master’s Degree, Ph.D, Post-Doctoral courses abroad. The applications are invited online on National Overseas Portal (overseas.tribal.gov,in).
In written replies to questions in the Upper House, Uikey said the finally selected candidates are required to secure admission and join in one of the top 1,000 ranked foreign Institutes/Universities abroad (as per the QS world ranking) within 2 years from the date of communication of Award Letter.
In case, the selected candidates do not secure admission and join, such unfilled seats get carried over to the next selection year immediately after the expiry of such time period, the MoS pointed out.
The Ministry is promoting awareness regarding this scheme among students from tribal populations across the country including the eastern parts of India, he said adding it publishes advertisement on MoTA website (https://tribal.nic.in/downloads/scholarship/NOS/advertisementenglishnHindi.pdf).
All State governments/UT administrations are informed about the advertisement requesting them to create awareness at State Level. All top-class institutes under the National Scholarship Schemes and all beneficiaries of the “National Fellowship for ST students (NFST)” & Universities are informed about the advertisement so as to promote awareness.
However, as per data provided by Uikey, in 2023-24, the number of selected tribal students who joined any one of the top 1,000 ranked foreign Institutes/Universities abroad (as per the QS world ranking) saw a major decline. Only 11 of the 20 selected candidates joined in 2023-24.
In contrast, in 2022-23, the numbers were very encouraging as 18 of the 20 selected candidates joined the top ranked foreign educational institutions. This was a jump from the previous 2021-22 when 14 of the 20 selected candidates joined. Interestingly, the fund of Rs 4 crore released in 2022-23 was the minimum in the last three years even as the number of students who joined was the highest.
State/UT-Wise Beneficiaries under National Overseas Scholarship For Tribal Students:
| State Name | Selection Year 2021-22 | Selection Year 2022-23 | Selection Year 2023-24 | ||||
| Selected | Joined | Selected | Joined | Selected | Joined | ||
| Andhra Pradesh | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Arunachal Pradesh | 2 | 2 | |||||
| Assam | |||||||
| Chhattisgarh | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Gujarat | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Goa | |||||||
| Jammu & Kashmir | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Jharkhand | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Karnataka | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Ladakh | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Madhya Pradesh | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Maharashtra | 2 | 2 | 1 | ||||
| Manipur | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 1 | |
| Meghalaya | 2 | 2 | 2 | ||||
| Mizoram | 2 | 2 | 1 | ||||
| Nagaland | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Odisha | 2 | 1 | |||||
| Rajasthan | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Tamil Nadu | 1 | ||||||
| Telangana | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 5 | |
| Tripura | 1 | ||||||
| Uttarakhand | |||||||
| West Bengal | 2 | 1 | |||||
| Grand Total | 20 | 14 | 20 | 18 | 20 | 11 | |
Expenditure Under National Overseas Scholarship For Tribal Students:
| Financial Year | Fund Released (In Crore) |
| 2021-22 | 4.95 |
| 2022-23 | 4.00 |
| 2023-24 | 7.00 |
