Ministry of Communications, Central government has launched Deen Dayal SPARSH Yojana (Scholarship for Promotion of Aptitude & Research in Stamps as a Hobby) Scholarship Scheme all over the country. This is a Pan India scholarship scheme for those school children who have interest in philately. The objective of Deen Dayal Sparsh Yojana is to increase the reach of school children for philately.
Under Deen Dayal SPARSH scheme, Ministry of communications has proposed to award annual scholarships to children. The students of standard VI to IX will be covered under the scheme. However, the scheme benefits only available to the students who are having good academic records and also pursuing Philately as a hobby. This scheme is being implemented by Department of Post under Ministry of Communications.
Deen Dayal SPARSH Yojana 2024 – Complete Details
Under the Deen Dayal SPARSH Yojana, it is proposed to:-
- Award 920 scholarships to students at PAN India level for pursuing Philately as a hobby.
- Every Postal Circle will give maximum of 40 scholarships to 10 students each from Standard VI, VII, VIII & IX.
- The scholarship amount will be disbursed quarterly to regular students studying in class VI-IX in recognized schools.
- Scholarship will be provided to students who satisfy the eligibility condition and qualify in the selection procedure.
- The amount of Scholarship is to be Rs. 6000/- per annum @ Rs. 500/- per month.
- Selections to the scholarship would be for one year and there would be no bar on an already selected student applying for the scholarship next year provided he/she fulfils other criterion.
- Every prospective school which participates in the competition would be assigned a Philately Mentor to be chosen from amongst the renowned Philatelist.
- The Philately Mentor would help in formation of the School level Philately Club, providing guidance to young and aspiring Philatelist on how to pursue the hobby and also helping the aspiring Philatelists on their Philately Projects etc.
Eligibility condition
- Candidate must be a student of a recognized School within India
- Concerned School should have a Philately Club and the candidate should be a member of the Club,
- In case the School Philately Club hasn’t been established a student having his own Philately Deposit Account may also be considered.
- The candidate must have good academic record. At the time of selection for award of scholarship the candidate must have scored at least 60% marks or equivalent grade/grade point in the recent final examination. There will be 5% relaxation for SC/ST.
Selection Procedure
- Selections under the Deen Dayal SPARSH Yojana would be made based on the evaluation of Project work on Philately & performance in Philately Quiz conducted by the Circles.
- A committee constituted at the circle level consisting of Postal Officials and renowned Philatelists would evaluate the Project work on Philately submitted by the candidate.
- List of Topics on which Project has to be made would be provided by the circles while issuing the notifications.
Disbursement of Scholarship
- The awardees will be asked to open Joint account with parents in India Post Payment Bank or Post Office Savings Bank in a branch, which has core banking facility.
- Each Postal Circle will select the awardees and hand over the list of beneficiaries to IPPB/POSB for payment of scholarship.
- IPPB/POSB will ensure that the scholarship is paid to awardees on quarterly basis (Rs. 1500/- each quarter) after getting the list from each Circle.
The interested candidates can download guidelines of the scheme by clicking on link here. Download Deen Dayal Sparsh Yojana Guidelines – https://www.indiapost.gov.in/Philately/DOP_PDFFiles/SPARSH%20.pdf
The information in the guidelines PDF document is available in both English and Hindi language
For more details, visit the official website at https://www.indiapost.gov.in/Philately/Pages/Content/Deen-Dayal-SPARSH-Yojana.aspx