Scholarship in India - SCHEME OF MAULANA AZAD NATIONAL FELLOWSHIP FOR MINORITY STUDENTS

GUIDELINES FOR XII PLAN - MAULANA AZAD NATIONAL FELLOWSHIP FOR MINORITY  STUDENTS (MANF) 2012 -2017 - UNIVERSITY GRANTS COMMISSION BAHADUR SHAH ZAFAR MARG NEW DELHI – 110002

SCHEME OF MAULANA AZAD NATIONAL FELLOWSHIP FOR MINORITY STUDENTS

INTRODUCTION

The Maulana Azad National Fellowship for Minority Students is formulated and funded by Ministry  of Minority Affairs. The scheme is open to candidates who belong to one of the  Minority  Community i.e. Muslim, Sikh, Parsi, Buddhist, Christian & Jain and are pursuing higher studies such as regular and full time M.Phil/Ph.D. degrees in Sciences, Humanities, Social Sciences and Engineering & Technology. 3% fellowships are reserved for Physically Handicapped candidates belonging to Minority Communities as per provision laid down by the Government of  India.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of the scheme is to provide integrated five year fellowships in the form of financial assistance to students from minority communities, as notified by the Central Government to pursue higher studies such as M.Phil. and Ph.D. at Indian Universities/Institutions/Colleges as indicated below:

Universities/Institutions/Colleges included under section 2(f) & and 12(B) of UGC  Act.
Deemed to be Universities included under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956 and eligible to receive grants-in-aid from UGC,
Universities/Institutions/College funded by Central/State  Government.
Institutes of National Importance.

3 TARGET GROUP
The candidates belonging to one of the minority community who have passed the post graduation examination with minimum 50% marks in concerned subject and who are pursuing full time research without JRF of UGC-NET or UGC-CSIR  NET.


4 ELIGIBILITY

A candidate has to fulfill the following conditions to be eligible for award of this  fellowship:-

(i) Candidate should belong to one of the minority communities – Muslim, Christian,  Sikh, Buddhist, Parsi & Jain notified under Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992.

(ii) Candidate should submit the minority community certificate on an actionable and legally valid affidavit, until the State Government/Union Territory  administration  starts to issue the minority community  certificate.

(iii) Candidate should be registered for regular and full time M.Phil/Ph.D courses in University/Academic Institution by fulfilling conditions of admission of that University/Institution.


(iv) The annual income of the beneficiary/parents or guardian of the beneficiary should not exceed Rs. 2.5 lakh from all sources. Candidate should submit his/her income or his/her parent’s/guardian’s income certificate issued by the appropriate  Authority.

(v) The candidate should have secured a minimum score of 50% at Post Graduate  level.

(vi) Transgender candidates are eligible to apply under the scheme. The reservation shall  be followed as per Government of India norms.


5 RESERVATION

5.1 The reservation for differently abled students shall be made as per Government  of  India norms and in a horizontal  manner.
5.2 30% of fellowship shall be earmarked for women students; remaining 70% will be general. In case there is shortage of women candidates, the fellowships can be passed on to male students  of the same minority community.
5.3 NATURE OF ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE UNDER THE  SCHEME:

5.4 SLOTS : There are 756 slots every year for all the  subjects.


5 DISTRIBUTION OF FELLOWSHIPS

5.1 The total number of fellowships each year will be 756 (state-wise distribution). In case of non- availability of adequate number of candidates the number of fellowships not availed during a year will be carried forward to the next academic  session.
5.2 30% of the fellowship shall be earmarked for women students; remaining 70% will be general. In case there are shortage of women candidates, the fellowship can be passed on to  male students of the same minority community.
5.3 In case the numbers of candidates exceed the number of available awards, candidates will be selected for the fellowships based on the percentage of marks obtained by them in their qualifying Post Graduation examination
5.4 Scholars will be selected under the scheme in all domains of  knowledge.

5.5 Un-utilised fellowship of any community in a State/UT will be transferred to eligible scholars   of the same community at national level. Thereafter, un-utilised fellowship; if any; will be transferred  to eligible scholars of other Notified Minority Communities purely on merit basis   at the national level.
5.6 The distribution of fellowship among different States/ UTs would be in proportion to Minority population in respective States/ UTs as per 2001 Census. However all States/ UTs shall have atleast 4 fellowships by suitably reducing the targets of states having higher allocations. There will be no community wise distribution in States/ UTs with four fellowships. All applications will be pooled together and decided on the basis of merit.
5.7 In case the number of fellowship so allocated to a State/ UT are not fully utilized due to non- availability of eligible candidates, the slots will be re-allocated amongst other States/ UTs  where the number of eligible candidates is more than the number of slots  allocated  to  that State/ UT.
5.8 The minority community students once considered eligible for fellowship shall not be entitled  to benefits under any other source of the Central or State Government or any other body like UGC for the same study.
5.9 Fellowship cannot be transferred from one minority community to  another.

5.10 Not more than two students from one family can avail MOMA  fellowship.


6 HOUSE RENT ALLOWANCE

6.1 Suitable single-seated hostel accommodation may be provided to the candidates in the institutions. In such cases, the fellow is eligible to draw only hostel fees excluding mess, electricity, water charges, etc. A certificate to this effect is to be furnished through the Registrar/Director/Principal. HRA is not permissible for those candidates who are staying in Hostel accommodation.
6.2 In case of non-availability of hostel accommodation, the fellow may be provided with single accommodation by the host institution. In such cases, the rent paid by the fellow on actual basis may be reimbursed subject to the ceiling of HRA as per Govt. of India  norms.
6.3 If the fellow makes her own arrangements of accommodation, he/she may be entitled to draw HRA as per categorization of cities by the Govt. of India.


Note : In all the above cases, the fellow will submit a relevant certificate  (Annexure-VI)  through the concerned University/College/Institute to the identified Agency for settling  the claim.


7 MEDICAL

No separate/fixed medical assistance is provided. However, the Fellow may avail of the medical facilities available in the  University/Institution/College.



8 LEAVE
Leave for maximum period of 30 days in a year in addition to public holiday may be taken by the candidate. However, they are not entitled to any other vacation, such as summer, winter and pooja vacations.


8.1 Candidates are eligible for maternity/ paternity leave at full rates of the fellowship as per Govt. of India rules once during the tenure of the award.
8.2 Academic Leave: The Fellow may be allowed academic leave (without fellowship and other emoluments) for a period not exceeding one year during the tenure of award for academic/teaching assignment /foreign visit in connection with research  work.  The  expenditure on travel cannot be claimed from UGC. The period of leave  without fellowship  will be counted towards the tenure.


8.3 If the awardee wishes to apply for any other fellowship/paid  assignment/examination  conducted by a public body during the tenure of the fellowship, he/ she is  not  required  to obtain NOC from UGC. In case of selection, the candidate would be required to tender resignation from the Rajiv Gandhi National  Fellowship.


Note: All kind of leave shall be approved by the  University/Institute/College.


9 PROCEDURE FOR APPLYING FOR THE  SCHEME

The applications are invited through online mode once in a year through advertisement in leading newspaper and Employment News from the candidates belonging to Minority category fulfilling the eligibility conditions under the scheme. A short notification will also be uploaded on the  UGC website. www.ugc.ac.in. Incomplete applications will not be placed before the Expert Committee. Candidates have to apply strictly as per instruction given in online application  portal.



10 AADHAR SEEDING

The Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India vide its letter D.O. No. 18- 7/2013-U1A dated 10th June, 2016 has instructed the University Grants Commission that from the financial  year  2016-17  onwards  the  Aadhaar  has  been  made  mandatory  for  disbursement of all
Government subsidies/Scholarships/Fellowships which are to be disbursed directly into the beneficiary’s account. Accordingly, Aadhaar will be used as an Identifier for release of grant under the scheme.



11 SELECTION PROCEDURE

The applications received will be scrutinized by a screening committee. The decision of the Commission will be final. The Commission reserves the right to withdraw/cancel the award without assigning any reason. Result shall be published on UGC website Award letters can be downloaded from UGC online application portal. The effective date of release of fellowship shall be 1st April of the selection year or the actual date of joining the award whichever is  later.



12 JOINING OF FELLOWSHIP


The candidate should join the fellowship within 3 months from the date of issue of Award letter, failing which the award will be treated as  cancelled.


13 PROCEDURE FOR RELEASE OF GRANT BY THE  UGC


13.1 The fellowship amount shall be disbursed through UGC designated agency into the  bank account of the awardee directly. The list of designated branches of UGC identified agency is available on the UGC portal i.e.  www.ugc.ac.in.
13.2 The awardee is required to approach the designated branch along with a Copy of the Award Letter and Joining Report with photograph, address and contact number in the prescribed proforma  Annexure-I.
13.3 The awardee is also required to submit the following documents to the designated branch of    the UGC designated Bank at the stipulated period interval. The approved Agency may verify  the genuineness of records before disbursal of funds.

(i) At the end of every three  months the  fellow shall submit a 'Continuation Certificate'  in the prescribed proforma. Annexure-II. This will make  the  awardee  eligible  to draw the fellowship for the next three  months.

(ii) After completion of one year of the award of fellowship, the  concerned  fellow/awardee shall submit and present its Progress Report in the proforma  prescribed by the UGC as given in  Annexure-III.

(iii) The Fellow/awardee shall also submit and present accounts of contingency grants in the proforma prescribed by the UGC as given in  Annexure-IV.


(iv) Fellow/awardee shall submit and present its HRA Certificate in the prescribed proforma Annexure-V.

NOTE: The approved Agency may verify the genuineness of records before disbursal of   funds.


14 DISBURSEMENT OF FELLOWSHIP (Old cases/legacy  cases)

UGC has developed a dedicated web portal (available on UGC website) https://scholarship.canarabank.in/AdminLogin.aspx for capturing data for eligible scholars through which legacy (Non-DBT) shall be transferred on DBT platform. The Universities/Institutions/Colleges will submit the master data of the eligible  beneficiaries  on  the portal with a unique user’s profile (use name and password) to submit the master date of the eligible beneficiaries on this portal. The bank account numbers of the beneficiaries will  be  validated  thorough PFMS for creation of beneficiary  ID.

The Universities/Institutions/Colleges shall update the information in the master data (regarding continuation, HRA, up-gradation, resignation  etc.) of the  beneficiaries  on  monthly basis.  Based  on


the master data received from the concerned Universities/Institutions/Colleges the payment of the fellowship will be made to the beneficiaries on DBT platform  only.



15 PROCEDURE FOR MONITORING THE PROGRESS OF THE  SCHEME:

15.1 The research fellow shall submit yearly progress report on the  progress  of his/her research work. On completion of the award he/she will submit to the Commission a comprehensive  report and a copy of his/her published work, if any, and an abstract of the research work in about 500 words.
15.2 The tenure of fellowship is initially for two years under the MANF Scheme. Before expiry of this period, the work of the Fellow will be evaluated by a Committee of three members comprising of Head of the Department, Supervisor and one outside subject expert to be constituted by the concerned Department of the /University/Institution/College. If the research work is found satisfactory, his/her tenure will be extended further for a period of three years under the enhanced emoluments of the Maulana Azad National Senior Research Fellowship (MANSRF). In case the work is unsatisfactory of M.Phil. is not completed within two  years,  the fellowship may be cancelled.The recommendation of the Committee shall be submitted to the UGC designated agency for Upgradation to the level of MANSRF (Annexure-VI).  The work done and the time spent on  scholarships or  fellowships of any agency other than  the  UGC will not be taken into account while considering the proposals for enhancement in the value of fellowship.
15.3 The fellowship may be withdrawn if the work is not considered satisfactory or the  candidate fails in any of the examinations related to Ph.D. In case the work for the first two years is not found satisfactory, an additional year will be given to him/her for  improvement. However, during this period he/she will be designated as Maulana Azad National  Junior  Research  Fellow. In such cases work will be evaluated again before third year of the tenure, and if improvement is found, the Fellow will get two more years under the MANSRF. Thus, the total period of fellowship (MANJRF and MANSRF) is for five years, with no further provision of extension.
15.4 The fellow shall not accept or hold any appointment, paid or otherwise, or receive any emoluments, salary, stipend, etc. from any other source during the tenure of the award. However, no extension is permissible beyond the total period five years, at the end of which period the awardee ceases to be a UGC fellow with immediate effect. Any claim/reference to this effect will not be admitted.
15.5 If the Fellow is availing any other fellowship/ project from any other organization at the time    of selection, he/she shall be required to surrender one award.


16 Feedback:

16.1 The Fellow shall have to submit feedback in form of the report on  the  research  work done. After completion of the research work the fellow shall submit research work in the  INFLIBNET repository along with two research papers published (1 International and 1 National).

1 National/International publications at the time of submitting three member assessment committee report.
1 National/International publications by the end of the tenure.


16.2 The fellow will be required to submit Ph.D./M.Phil. completion certificate after successfully submitting the comprehensive report of the research work and the publications in the UGC- INFLIBNET repository.

Note :The last 2 instalments will be released only after submission of the feedback and Research work in the Repository.


17 RESIGNATION :


If the fellow wishes to leave the fellowship before the end of the tenure, the information regarding relinquishment may be informed to the identified Agency under intimation to UGC. Grant will be released upto the date of relinquishment provided it is within the total tenure of  fellowship.


18 TRANSFER :


Transfer of the Research Place should be done by university concerned under the intimation to UGC on submission of No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the concerned Institution/ Colleges / Universities (Annexure-VII).  Transfer of Research place will be allowed only once during the entire tenure.


19 CANCELLATION OF AWARD


The fellowship is liable to cancellation, in case  of:

19.1 In case any candidate obtaining Maulana Azad National Fellowship for minority students fraudently, the cancellation should be automatic and the amount disbursed shall be recovered with interest at prevailing State Bank of India rate for student  loans.
19.2 Misconduct.

19.3 Unsatisfactory progress of research work.

19.4 Candidate is later found ineligible on account of false information provided in the online applications.
19.5 Candidate is already availing scholarship/fellowship from any other  sources.