I. Description
A. Background
MoTA administers five scholarship schemes for Scheduled Tribe (ST) students, Pre-Matric, Post-Matric, Top Class, National Fellowship (NFST), and National Overseas Scholarship (NOS), spread across three disconnected systems: the National Scholarship Portal (NSP), the Scholarship Fellowship Management Portal / SFMP (Canara Bank), and the standalone NOS Portal. A student availing any scheme, or a family with children across schemes, must track applications, verification stages and disbursements separately, with no single view of scholarship status or funds received. Further, under the existing system, a student can avail only one scholarship/fellowship scheme at a time, making it important to have a unified view of the student’s existing scholarship status and eligibility before applying for another scheme.
The existing processes also involve multiple manual verification steps for identity, ST/PVTG status, income, academic records, institution details and other scheme-specific documents. The reform assessment identifies opportunities to digitally verify these details through existing government and institutional data sources such as DigiLocker, AISHE, UDISE+, APAAR, UIDAI, State e-District systems and UGC-NTA, thereby reducing repetitive documentation and processing delays.
B. Detailed Description
The problem statement envisages the development of a single, mobile-first Scholarship Module that enables ST students to access and track scholarship services across all five schemes through a common interface. The application should provide a consolidated view of scholarship applications, verification status, pending actions, sanctions and fund disbursements, while simplifying access to documents and providing timely notifications and assistance through the JAGO chatbot.
The solution should also enable API-based integration with existing scholarship and government data systems to support automated or semi-automated verification of applicant information. This may include verification of identity and ST/PVTG certificates, academic records and institution details, NET/JRF qualification, disability certificates, income and domicile certificates, and other documents applicable across the five schemes. The proposed architecture should enable the appropriate source system to be accessed through a common verification layer, with exceptions or mismatches routed for manual review rather than blocking the application.
The system should further support identification of ST students who are enrolled but not yet availing scholarship benefits, by enabling appropriate matching of scholarship registration data with UDISE+, APAAR and OTR information. This can help the Ministry identify gaps in scholarship coverage and enable targeted outreach to unreached beneficiaries.
The key challenge is therefore to create a unified student-facing experience across multiple existing scholarship systems while establishing a secure digital verification and information layer that reduces repetitive data submission, improves transparency and enables more timely processing.
C. Expected Solution
A unified mobile application for MoTA scholarship and fellowship schemes should be developed to provide students with a single platform for accessing and managing their scholarship-related services. The solution should:
Scholarship Module: The proposed Scholarship Module should provide a unified dashboard covering all five scholarship schemes, enabling students to track applications from submission and verification through sanction and disbursement. It should include a digital document wallet with DigiLocker integration, allow reuse of previously submitted information and documents, and provide a consolidated view of payments, DBT status, pending actions and deficiencies.
JAGO Chatbot: The solution should integrate scholarship services with the JAGO chatbot to provide information on eligibility, application status, required documents, deficiencies and disbursement. The chatbot should provide student-specific responses through integration with relevant scholarship systems, support multilingual interactions and send timely alerts on important application and payment milestones.
Unified Verification & Integration Layer: The solution should integrate the existing scholarship systems and relevant government data sources to enable automated or semi-automated verification of applicant details and documents, with exceptions routed for manual review.
II. Ministry/ Department: Ministry of Tribal Affairs
III. Category: Software
IV. Theme: Smart Automation
V. YouTube Link/ Video Link: NA
VI. Data Link Set: https://tribal.nic.in/ScholarshiP.aspx