UGC Fellowship to Minority Students 2023, check details at ugc.ac.in

UGC Fellowship to Minority Students 2023 or UGC Fellowship for Minority Students 2023, University Grants Commission or UGC, the higher education regulator, has invited applications for the award of Maulana Azad National Fellowship or MANF scholarship for minority students for the academic year 2022-23. The Commission has increased the number of fellowships to 1,000 from 756.

According to the UGC, students belonging to minority communities pursuing full-time research programs in higher education institutions may apply for these fellowships. “The candidates who have qualified CBSE-UGC-NET/JRF/CSIR-NET/JRF held in December 2017 and June 2018 are eligible to apply,” said the UGC notification released on December 10.

The MANF scheme is open to candidates who belong to one of the minority community i.e. Muslim, Sikh, Parsi, Buddhist, and Christian to pursue higher studies such as regular and full-time research degrees in Sciences, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Engineering and Technology.

Name of the Fellowship	UGC Fellowship to Minorities 2023
Title	UGC MAN Fellowship to Minorities 2023
Subject	UGC Fellowship to Minority Students 2023
Category	Fellowship
Number of OBC Fellowships	1000 JRFs per year
MANF website	https://manf.ugc.ac.in/default.aspx
UGC Schemes Web Portal	https://www.ugc.ac.in/ugc_schemes/
Read the Guidelines	UGC MAN Fellowship for Minority Students

This UGC notification was released today at www.ugc.ac.in (when we checked last, the official website was not responding). The Commission is yet to announce details of RGNF fellowships, which was also delayed for the last two years. The RGNF Scheme for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (now renamed as National Fellowship for Scheduled Caste Students) is formulated and funded by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

The scheme is open to candidates who belong to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe who wish to pursue higher studies such as regular and full-time research degrees in Sciences, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Engineering and Technology.

• The last date for receipt of application is December 31. 
• Online applications can be submitted through the link:  www.ugc.ac.in/ugc_schemes/
• https://ugcnet.nta.nic.in/

UGC Fellowship to Minorities 2023

The objective of the Fellowship is to provide five year fellowships in the form of financial assistance to students from minority communities, notified by the Central Government, to pursue M. Phil and Ph.D. The Fellowship will be implemented by the Ministry of Minority Affairs through UGC for students belonging to the minority communities. The fellowship holders under this Fellowship will be known as Ministry of Minority Affairs scholars.

• The scheme covers all Universities/Institutions recognized by the University Grants Commission (UGC) as under :
• Central /State Universities (including constituent and affiliated institutions) included under Section 2(f) of UGC Act, 1956 and having valid accreditation from NAAC.
• Deemed Universities under Section 3 of UGC Act, i.e., Institution for higher education notified by Central Government to be deemed University, in consultation with UGC and having and having valid accreditation from NAAC.
• Institution fully funded by State / Central Government and empowered to award degrees.
• Institutions of National Importance as notified by Ministry of Human Resource Development. (mhrd.gov.in/institutions-national-importance )

The Fellowship will cater the minority community students pursuing regular and full time research studies leading to award of M.Phil/ Ph.D degree within India only. This will enable them to be eligible for employment to the posts with M.Phil and Ph.D as prerequisites, including the posts of Assistant Professors in various academic institutions. UGC will be the nodal agency for implementing the Fellowship and ensure that the MANF Scheme is also included in the Notification/Press Release to be issued by National testing Agency (NTA) for UGC-NET and Joint CSIR-UGC NET examinations.

Eligibility Criteria for UGC MAN Fellowship

• A candidate has to fulfill the following conditions to be eligible for award of this fellowship, He/she should belong to one of the minority communities notified under Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992, viz., Buddhist, Christian, Jain, Muslim, Sikh, Zoroastrian (Parsi).
• Prior clearance of UGC-NET or Joint CSIR-UGC NET examination will be a prerequisite for award of Maulana Azad National Fellowship for minority students for M.Phil/Ph.D.
• The eligibility conditions will be as per notification for UGC-NET and Joint CSIR-UGC-NET examinations.
• The Minority Community candidates, who have already secured admission and qualify NET examination will be given preference. Such candidates will be required to join fellowship within 3 months of the issue of the JRF award letter.
• The date of commencement of the fellowship shall be the date of declaration of result of UGC-NET-JRF & Joint CSIR-UGC-NET-JRF or date of joining, whichever is later.
• In case sufficient candidates, who have already secured admission are not available, candidates who have not yet secured admission will also be selected in the order of merit in the NET examination.
• Such candidates will be eligible to receive fellowship under MANF, subject to admission for M.Phil./Ph.D. in research institutions.
• The validity period of the offer is three years w.e.f. the date of issue of the JRF Award letter under the scheme.

A scholar is eligible to receive only one fellowship at a time. The scholar is required to declare that he/she will not accept/receive any other monetary benefit/scholarship/fellowship from any other source. In other words, a scholar who is awarded fellowship under this scheme shall not accept any other fellowship/scholarship or hold any appointment, paid or otherwise, or receive any emoluments, salary, stipend etc. from any other source during the tenure of the award (except in case of ‘academic leave’ of one year). In case, a scholar is already in receipt of any scholarship/fellowship, he/she will have to relinquish either the previous scholarship / fellowship/ any other monetary benefit or to forgo the selection under this scheme.

A scholar who does not complete his/her research work during the period of fellowship shall not be eligible to apply again under this scheme. Similarly, a scholar who has completely or partially availed any fellowship earlier shall also not be eligible for fellowship under this scheme. Employees of any University/ College/ Educational Institutional/ Central/ State/ UT Government shall be excluded from availing fellowship, even if they are on Study Leave or EOL to pursue the M.Phil./Ph.D. course.

Selection Process for MAN Fellowship

• The total number of slots for the fellowships to be awarded under the scheme is 1000 per year.
• Out of 1000 slots available under this scheme, 750 will be allocated for subjects under National Eligibility Test – Junior Research Fellowship (NETJRF) of UGC and remaining 250 for Science category students through CSIRUGC NET-JRF joint test for science streams.
• The NET is held twice in a year and 500 selections will be made from each NET.
• 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.
• The reservation for differently able students shall be made as per UGC norms and in a horizontal manner.
• Community wise selection of scholars at the national level will be done on the basis of their pro-rata population.
• Un-utilized Fellowship slots of any community will be transferred to eligible Scholars of other Notified Minority Communities purely on merit basis at the national level

Duration of MAN Fellowship:

The gap period for continuation from M.Phil to Ph.D. under Doctoral Fellowship schemes shall be 2 years (from the date of declaration of result of M.Phil. to date of admission to Ph.D.). However, the total tenure of fellowship will remain five years excluding the gap period. No fellowship shall be paid during the gap period. The duration of fellowship is as under:

Course	Maximum Duration	JRF	SRF
M.Phil.	2 Years Or date of submission of dissertation, whichever is earlier	2 Years	Nil
Ph.D	5 Years Or date of submission of dissertation, whichever is earlier	2 Years	Remaining 3 Years
M.Phil. + Ph.D.	5 Years Or date of submission of dissertation, whichever is earlier	2 Years	Remaining 3 Years

MAN Fellowship Amount

(Other facilities such as medical facilities, leave including maternity leave will be governed as per the guidelines of the UGC in case of their fellowship programme. The rate of fellowship for JRF and SRF will be at par with the UGC fellowship as amended from time to time. Presently these rates are as follows:

Fellowship	Amount
Fellowship in Science Humanities and Social Science	@ Rs.31,000/- p.m. for initial two years (JRF)
Fellowship in Engineering & Technology	@ Rs.35,000/- pm. for remaining tenure (SRF)
Contingency for Humanities & Social Sciences	@ Rs.10,000/- p.a. for initial two years @ Rs.20,500/- p.a. for remaining tenure
Contingency for Sciences, Engineering & Technology	@ Rs.12,000/- p.a. for initial two years @ Rs.25,000/- p.a. for remaining tenure
Escorts/Reader assistance (All subjects)	@ Rs.2,000/- p.m. in cases of physically and visually handicapped candidate

House Rent Allowance (HRA)

• House Rent Allowance (HRA) at the rate of 8%, 16% and 24% is allowed to those students who are not provided with hostel accommodation, in accordance with Govt. of India norms as applicable in the city/ location where the research fellows are working.
• Hostel accommodation may be provided to the scholars by their institutions. In such cases, the scholar is eligible to draw only hostel fee excluding mess, electricity, water charges etc.
• In case hostel accommodation offered by the university/institution is refused by the candidate, he/she will forfeit his/her claim of HRA.
• In case of non-availability of hostel accommodation, the scholar may be provided with single accommodation by the host institution. In such cases, the rent paid by the scholar on actual basis shall be reimbursed, subject to the ceiling of HRA as per Govt. of India norms.
• If the scholar makes his/her own arrangements of accommodation, he/she shall be entitled to draw HRA as per ceiling and categorization of cities by the Govt. of India.
• In case, the scholar wishes to draw HRA, he/she is required to claim HRA on monthly basis by submitting monthly confirmation Certificate in the prescribed format, to his/her institution.

How to submit the Minorities Fellowship Online Application 2022?

About: The Maulana Azad National Fellowship for Minority Students is formulated and funded by the 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 the provision laid down by the Government of India. –

Apply Online for UGC MANF