Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging the Centre to substantially increase financial support for scholarship schemes covering students from Scheduled Tribes (ST), Scheduled Castes (SC), Backward Classes (BC), and minority communities in the state. The letter, sent from Ranchi, flags a widening funding gap that has left lakhs of eligible students without timely scholarship disbursements, disrupting their education.

The Funding Shortfall in Numbers

The scale of the deficit is stark. Under the pre-matric scholarship scheme for Backward Class students, Jharkhand sought ₹66.14 crore for 2024-25 but received only ₹12.61 crore from the Centre — less than a fifth of the demand. For 2025-26, against a request of ₹45.91 crore, only ₹3.95 crore has been sanctioned so far.

The post-matric scholarship shortfall is even larger. The state sought ₹353.21 crore for 2024-25 but received only ₹33.57 crore. For 2025-26, Jharkhand requested ₹370.87 crore, of which only ₹58.22 crore has been released to date.

ST Students Hit Hardest, Zero Funds in 2025-26

According to Soren, the situation for Scheduled Tribe students is particularly acute. The Centre released no funds during the 2025-26 financial year for either pre-matric or post-matric scholarships for ST students. The ₹200 crore disbursed in 2024-25, he noted, largely covered arrears and partial contributions from prior years rather than fresh allocations.

Soren also flagged a disparity in scholarship amounts: ST students receive ₹3,000 per student under the pre-matric scheme, compared to ₹3,500 for SC students and ₹4,000 for Backward Class students. He urged the Centre to equalise these amounts.

Minority Scholarship Scheme Stalled Since 2021-22

The Chief Minister pointed out that minorities constitute 23.29% of Jharkhand's population, yet the Centre has not released any funds under minority scholarship schemes since 2021-22 — a gap of over three years. Soren requested that the scheme be revived and funding resumed without further delay.

What Jharkhand Is Asking For

Soren's letter calls on the Prime Minister to formulate a special policy for economically weaker and developing states, raise the Centre's contribution to post-matric and other welfare scholarships, and ensure uninterrupted educational support for deserving students. The Jharkhand government has already shifted its own scholarship distribution to an income-based rather than community-based model to broaden coverage, but says geographical challenges and a large underprivileged population leave the state unable to bridge the funding gap alone.

With the academic calendar under strain, the pressure is now on the Centre to respond — and on whether a special policy framework for lagging states can move from request to reality.