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The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment set out the government's residential-education support for Scheduled Caste and tribal students across the hostel component of PM-AJAY, the SHRESHTA scheme and the Eklavya Model Residential Schools.
Two hostels for Scheduled Caste students - one for boys, one for girls - were sanctioned in Hyderabad, Telangana, over the last five years, with a combined 500 seats and Rs 7.50 crore released for construction.
Current PM-AJAY guidelines fund only fresh hostel construction: there is no provision for upgrading or expanding an existing SC hostel, though a hostel already sanctioned and operational may get central assistance for repairs once every five years.
Of 728 Eklavya Model Residential Schools approved nationally, 508 are functional; in Telangana all 23 sanctioned EMRSs are running, with 10,199 students enrolled in the 2025-26 session.
CBSE-affiliated EMRSs completed self-assessment in 2025-26 under the School Quality Assessment and Assurance Framework, which grades schools on seven domains.
Reduce poverty among Scheduled Caste communities through employment and income generation, and improve socio-economic indicators in SC-dominated villages
Key: A Centrally Sponsored Scheme of the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment launched in 2021-22 by merging three earlier schemes; it has three components - Adarsh Gram, Grants-in-aid for district and state-level projects, and Hostel
Build hostels so that SC students, especially girls, can continue schooling and higher study
Key: The hostel scheme that was merged into PM-AJAY in 2021-22 and survives as its Hostel component; named after Babu Jagjivan Ram
Integrated development of SC-majority villages
Key: The second of the three schemes merged into PM-AJAY, now its Adarsh Gram component
Top-up central assistance to states for SC-focused development projects
Key: The third merged scheme, now the Grants-in-aid component of PM-AJAY
Give meritorious Scheduled Caste students access to quality residential schooling
Key: Runs in two modes - fee reimbursement to CBSE or State Board affiliated private residential schools, and grants-in-aid to NGOs and voluntary organisations running schools and hostels; selection to the private-school mode is through the National Entrance Test for SHRESHTA (NETS) conducted by the National Testing Agency, for admission in Classes IX and XI
Provide quality residential education to tribal boys and girls in tribal-dominated blocks
Key: A Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, begun in 1997-98 with schools set up using grants under Article 275(1) of the Constitution; the 2018-19 Budget extended it to every block with more than 50 per cent ST population and at least 20,000 tribal persons, each school designed for 480 students from Class VI to XII
Support SC scholars pursuing M.Phil. and Ph.D. research
Key: Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment scheme offering 2,000 fresh slots a year - 500 in science and 1,500 in humanities and social sciences - to SC candidates who qualify the UGC NET-JRF or the UGC-CSIR joint NET-JRF
| Aspect | PM-AJAY (Hostel component) | SHRESHTA | EMRS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ministry | Social Justice & Empowerment | Social Justice & Empowerment | Tribal Affairs |
| Beneficiary group | Scheduled Caste students | Meritorious Scheduled Caste students | Scheduled Tribe students |
| What is funded | Construction of new hostel buildings | Fees in private residential schools, or grants-in-aid to NGO-run schools and hostels | Setting up and running full residential schools |
| Selection route | Proposals from States, UTs and Central Universities based on need assessment | National Entrance Test for SHRESHTA (NETS) conducted by NTA, for Classes IX and XI | Admission to EMRS in eligible tribal blocks, Classes VI to XII |
| Constitutional anchor commonly cited | Article 46 (Directive Principle) | Article 46 (Directive Principle) | Grants under Article 275(1) |
Autonomous society that manages the EMRS scheme nationally - policy, standards, centralised recruitment, operational guidelines and direct release of recurring grants to schools
Run EMRSs on the ground in each state, with District-Level EMRS Committees monitoring individual schools
Conducts the National Entrance Test for SHRESHTA (NETS) through which SC students are selected for private residential schools
The board most EMRSs and SHRESHTA partner schools are affiliated to; EMRSs affiliated to it completed SQAAF self-assessment in 2025-26
A Directive Principle of State Policy requiring the State to promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections, particularly the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and to protect them from social injustice and exploitation - the stated basis of scholarship, hostel and residential-education schemes
Provides grants-in-aid from the Consolidated Fund of India to states for schemes of tribal welfare and for raising the level of administration in Scheduled Areas; EMRSs are set up in states using these grants
PM-AJAY is a textbook case of rationalisation - three schemes (PMAGY, SCA to SCSP, BJRCY) folded into one umbrella with three components; exams like asking which scheme disappeared into which
EMRS is a Central Sector Scheme while PM-AJAY is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme - the distinction decides who pays and who implements, and it is a standard Prelims discrimination
The School Quality Assessment and Assurance Framework applied to EMRSs links tribal residential schooling to the wider school-quality agenda, with its seven domains from curriculum to beneficiary satisfaction
GS Paper 2 > Governance > Welfare Schemes for Vulnerable Sections
General Awareness > Government Schemes
General Awareness > Government Welfare Schemes
General Awareness > Social Welfare Schemes
Welfare schemes for SCs and STs recur every year in Prelims and in GS2
Pradhan Mantri Anusuchit Jaati Abhyuday Yojana, launched 2021-22 by merging PMAGY, SCA to SCSP and BJRCY, with Adarsh Gram, Grants-in-aid and Hostel components
Eklavya Model Residential School - Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs providing residential schooling from Class VI to XII in tribal blocks, each school designed for 480 students
National Education Society for Tribal Students, the autonomous society under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs that manages EMRSs nationally
Scheme for Residential Education for Students in High Schools in Targeted Areas, placing meritorious SC students in private residential schools or NGO-run institutions
School Quality Assessment and Assurance Framework, under which CBSE-affiliated EMRSs did self-assessment in 2025-26 across seven domains