Government may consider increasing overseas scholarships for ST students

The central government is considering raising the number of overseas scholarships for tribal students pursuing higher education abroad from 20 to 50, Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram told the Lok Sabha on Thursday.

The National Overseas Scholarship for Scheduled Tribes (ST) is administered through the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), with funds released via the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

“We can increase the number of overseas scholarships given to tribal students from present 20 to 50,” Oram said during Question Hour.


Responding to a question on why the current number of scholarships is low, Oram stated that previous governments did little for tribal welfare.

He added that it was Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who first established the Tribal Affairs Ministry to support tribal communities.