SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir recorded the highest number of beneficiaries under the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) scheme during the last three financial years, even as the Centre informed Parliament that minority scholarship schemes have remained discontinued since 2021-22 and no fresh beneficiaries have been enrolled over the past three years.
In a written reply to an unstarred question in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said Jammu and Kashmir had 374 MANF beneficiaries in 2023-24, 267 in 2024-25 and 176 in 2025-26, the highest among all States and Union Territories during the period.
The ministry said the MANF scheme was discontinued from the financial year 2022-23, although existing fellows continue to receive financial assistance until completion of their fellowship tenure in accordance with the scheme guidelines.
The reply also revealed that 207 students from Jammu and Kashmir benefited under the National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation’s (NMDFC) Education Loan Scheme during the last three financial years. Of these, 204 were Muslims and three were Sikhs.
On minority scholarship schemes, the government said the Pre-Matric, Post-Matric and Merit-cum-Means Scholarship programmes were operational only up to 2021-22. Since their inception, they released Rs 20,610 crore to 8.12 crore eligible minority beneficiaries. However, no impact evaluation has been undertaken and no fresh beneficiaries have been covered during the last three years as the schemes are no longer in operation.
The ministry said beneficiary selection under the scholarship schemes was conducted digitally through the National Scholarship Portal, while payments were made directly through the Aadhaar-enabled Direct Benefit Transfer system to ensure transparency and timely disbursal.
The government said the NMDFC continues to assess the impact of its Education Loan Scheme through independent third-party studies, with the latest evaluation conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi during 2025-26.
On skill development, the ministry informed Parliament that impact studies of schemes such as Seekho Aur Kamao, USTTAD, Nai Manzil and Nai Roshni found positive outcomes in employability, income generation, education and socio-economic empowerment. These programmes have now been merged into the PM VIKAS scheme, under which 59 Project Implementing Agencies have been assigned a target of 1.56 lakh beneficiaries across 31 States and Union Territories, with 32,138 candidates trained so far.
The ministry added that beneficiary selection, monitoring and fund transfers under its schemes have largely been digitised through online portals and management information systems, with efforts continuing towards complete end-to-end digital processing and real-time monitoring.
