The Meghalaya government has released Rs 6.17 crore as part of a scholarship to benefit 10,346 Scheduled Tribe (ST) students for the 2024-25 academic session, officials said on Monday. The amount marks the second installment of disbursement under the Umbrella Scheme Post-Matric Scholarship, and will include students pursuing professional degrees, postgraduate and doctoral courses, they said.
However, only partial disbursement was possible as many applicants had not yet linked their Aadhaar or bank accounts, an official statement said. According to the Directorate of Higher and Technical Education, the state requires a total of Rs 102.4 crore to extend the scholarship to all 60,226 eligible applicants. Officials confirmed that delays in Aadhaar and bank account linkage have limited the current disbursement to a fraction of the students.
The Centre has been releasing funds in phases, while the state government has committed to releasing its share as directed by Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma to ensure all beneficiaries are covered. The department added that pending scholarships will be distributed in the latter half of the 2025–26 financial year.