New NSP system replaces instalment-based payments with one-time disbursement
The Department of Higher Education, Nagaland, held a press conference on Tuesday to announce the commencement of the disbursement process for the Post-Matric Scholarship (PMS) for Scheduled Tribe (ST) students for the academic year 2024–2025. The press briefing was held at the Directorate of Higher Education and addressed by OSDs of the department, Keduosielie Keyho and Tol Pucho.
Providing a detailed overview, the officials stated that the Post-Matric Scholarship is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) funded on a 90:10 ratio by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India and the Government of Nagaland.
For the current academic year, a total of 41,793 ST students have been identified as beneficiaries, requiring an estimated Rs. 5,638.06 lakhs. However, the officials said, “The available amount is Rs. 3,070 lakhs (CS-2728.89 + SS-341.11),” necessitating a phase-wise disbursement of the scholarship.
“In the first phase, Rs. 3,070 lakhs will be disbursed to 22,000 beneficiaries, which is 52.64% of the total beneficiaries,” they informed. Each of these selected students will receive their full scholarship amount in a single payment, as opposed to the earlier practice of partial or instalment-based disbursements.
Out of the total applications, 30,451 beneficiaries have been authenticated by the system, while the remaining 11,342 applicants could not be verified, the department stated. “Auto-generated SMS have been sent to the mobile numbers of the unauthenticated applicants with the required instructions or information,” they added. These students will be covered in the next phase of disbursement once additional funds are received.
The officials also explained that from 2024–25 onwards, scholarships will be disbursed exclusively through the National Scholarship Portal (NSP), following the Higher Education Department’s onboarding to the portal last year. Previously, payments were made through the Public Financial Management System (PFMS).
“There is no provision under the NSP to release instalment-wise payments as was done earlier,” they said, adding that the new system mandates a one-time full scholarship disbursement, albeit in phases depending on fund availability.
Importantly, scholarship payments under NSP will be Aadhaar-based, requiring all beneficiaries to link their bank accounts with Aadhaar and enable Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). “This move will fulfil the Government of India’s objective of Aadhaar-based payment and end-to-end digitisation,” the department stated.
Students are advised to complete the necessary Aadhaar seeding of their bank accounts to ensure timely receipt of the scholarship.