The Central Government has stated that a total of 580 students have been awarded scholarships and enrolled abroad under the National Overseas Scholarship (NOS) Scheme for Scheduled Castes during the period from 2019-20 to 2025-26 (till August 6, 2026).

The written reply was provided by the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Shri Ramdas Athawale in response to Shri Daggumalla Prasada Rao in the Lok Sabha.

According to the information furnished by the Ministry, 41 students received scholarships in 2019-20, followed by 71 in 2020-21, 98 in 2021-22, 98 in 2022-23, 114 in 2023-24, 80 in 2024-25 and 78 in 2025-26.

To raise awareness about the National Overseas Scholarship Scheme among students, relevant details including scheme guidelines and instructions are posted on the Departmental website.

The Minister further submitted that advertisements are also published in newspapers and letters are sent to the Social Welfare Departments of State Governments and Union Territories with a request for widespread publicity of the Scheme.

Applications under the NOS Scheme are invited through the online portal. The Scheme has recently been onboarded to the newly launched unified SAMAVESH (Single Access Mechanism for All Verticals of Empowerment & Social Harmony) Portal, to streamline application processing, scrutiny, data management, accessibility and the selection process.

Under the NOS Scheme, funds are released in advance through Letters of Authorization (LoA) to the concerned Indian Missions/Embassies with direction to disburse the requisite funds to concerned Universities and students at the earliest upon receipt of claims.

In Andhra Pradesh, 18 students have been awarded scholarships and enrolled abroad under the National Overseas Scholarship Scheme during the period from 2019-20 to 2025-26. The number of beneficiaries was 4 in 2020-21, 3 in 2023-24, 3 in 2024-25 and 5 in 2025-26.

District-wise data for Andhra Pradesh shows that students from Chittoor received scholarships in 2020-21, 2023-24 and 2025-26. Beneficiaries were also recorded from Annamayya, Bapatla, Krishna, Palnadu, Prakasam, Visakhapatnam and Y.S.R. Kadapa districts during the period.

The Government's measures to expand awareness, digitise the application process and facilitate timely disbursement are aimed at improving access to overseas higher education opportunities for Scheduled Caste students.

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PR-067-TAR-KV-GA