By TCN News,
New Delhi: Applications are being invited from the students belonging to the Minority communities for the award of fellowship for the academic year 2011-12 under Maulana Azad National Fellowship scheme of the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs. Applications will have to be submitted only through on-line mode latest by 30th August 2011.
The Scheme is for the students belonging to the Minority communities i.e. Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Parsi, who are pursuing studies leading to M. Phil/Ph.D. degree in Arts, Commerce, Science and Engineering. These are integrated five year fellowships and will cover all Universities/Institutions recognized by the University Grants Commission (UGC) under section 2(f) and section 3 of the UGC Act.
This Scheme is being implemented through UGC and selection for the award of fellowships will be made by the UGC on the basis of merit. Applications will have to be submitted only through on-line mode latest by 30th August 2011. The guidelines of the Scheme, detailed terms and conditions of the fellowship, eligibility etc. are available on the website of UGC: www.ugc.ac.in.
The total number of fellowships each year has been fixed at 756. Each community and each State/UT has been allotted a certain fixed number of fellowships – the details of which are available on the website of the Ministry of Minority Affairs http://minorityaffairs.gov.in/. For example, Uttar Pradesh has been allotted 120 fellowships per year out of which 114 are earmarked for Muslim community and 3 each for Sikh and Buddhist communities; whereas in the case of Kerala the fellowships earmarked are 50 of which 28 are for Muslims and 22 for Christians. 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. 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.