Maulana Azad National Fellowship for Minority Students (MANF) 2020-21

Maulana Azad National Fellowship for Minority Students ( MANF ) is formulated and funded by 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. The reservation for differently abled students shall be made as per provision laid down by the Government of India.

Objective of Maulana Azad National Fellowship

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 scheme covers all Universities/Institutions recognized by the University Grants Commission (UGC) as under:

(Note: Private Universities are not in the list)

• 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 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.

Scope of Maulana Azad National Fellowship

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 pre-requisites, including the posts of Assistant Professors in various academic institutions.

Eligibility for Maulana Azad National Fellowship

A candidate has to fulfill the following conditions to be eligible for award of this fellowship:

(i) He/she should belong to one of the minority communities notified underSection 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act,1992,viz.,Buddhist, Christian, Jain, Muslim, Sikh, Zoroastrian (Parsi).

(ii) 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.

(iii)The eligibility conditions will be as per notification for UGC-NET and JointCSIR-UGC-NET examinations.

(iv)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.

(v) 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 researchinstitutions. The validity period of the offer isthree years w.e.f. the date of issue of the JRF Award letter under the scheme.

(vi) A scholar is eligible to receive only one fellowship at a time. The scholar isrequired 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.

(vii)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.

(viii)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.

Mode of Selection and Number of Slots

(i) 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 subjectsunder National Eligibility Test –Junior Research Fellowship (NET-JRF) of UGC and remaining 250 for Science category students through CSIR-UGC NET-JRF joint test for science streams. The NET is held twice in a year and 500 selections will be made from each NET.

(ii) 30% of the fellowship shall be earmarked for women students; remaining70% 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.

(iii) The reservation for differently able students shall be made as per UGC norms and in a horizontal manner.

(iv) Community wise selection of scholars at the national level will be done on the basis of their pro-rata population.

(v) 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 Fellowship

Course	Maximum Duration	JRF	SRF
M.Phil.	2 years or submission of dissertation whichever is earlier.	2 years	Nil
M.Phil. + Ph.D.	5 years or submission of Ph.D. thesis whichever is earlier.	2 years	Remaining 3 years
Ph.D.	5 years or submission of Ph.D. thesis whichever is earlier.	2 years	Remaining 3 years

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

Rate of Fellowship

(i) 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 in Science, Humanities and Social Science, Engineering & Technology	@ Rs. 31,000/- for initial two years (JRF)@ Rs. 35,000/- for remaining tenure (SRF)
Contingency    for    Humanities    &    Social Sciences and Commerce.	@ Rs. 10,000/- p.a. for initial two years @ Rs. 20,500/- p.a. for remaining three years.
Contingency for Science and Engineering & Technology	@ Rs. 12,000/- p.a. for initial two years @ Rs. 25,000/- p.a. for remaining three years.
Escorts/Reader Assistance	@ Rs. 2,000/- p.m. in case of physically and visually challenged candidates

(ii) House Rent Allowance (HRA)

(a)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.

(b)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.

(c)In case hostel accommodation offered by the university/institution is refused by the candidate, he/she will forfeit his/her claim of HRA.

(d)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.

(e)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.

(f)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.

(iii) 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

Implementation of Scheme

(i) UGC will be the nodal agency for implementing the Maulana Azad National Fellowship for minority students, as defined by Government of India from time to time.

(ii) The selection for the award of MANF to students will be made on the basis of merit in each UGC-NET-JRF and CSIR-NET-JRF examination and will be made twice in a year.

(iii) The decision of UGC in regard to awarding the Maulana Azad National Fellowship for minority students shall be final and no appeal would lie against any decision by UGC in regard thereof, except asprovided under law inforce.

(iv) The income ceiling of the parents/guardian of the candidate for Maulana Azad National Fellowship for minority students will be Rs.6.00 Lakh per annum.

(v) In case any candidate obtaining a Maulana Azad National Fellowship for minority students fraudulently, the cancellation should be automatic and the amount disbursed shall be recovered with interest at prevailing State Bank of India rate for student loans.

(vi) In case of, if a research scholar is found engaged in part time employment as Ad-hoc Teachers, Teaching Assistants or Research Assistants or any other type of employment, there fellowship will be discontinued forthwith. An undertaking to this effect will be obtained from the students by UGC.

Monitoring and Evaluation

(i) After two years, if the progress in the research work of the awardee is found satisfactory, his/her tenure will be extended for a further period of three years as Senior Research Fellow (SRF). The research work will be assessed as per the UGC norms. The total period of award of JRF and SRF shall not exceed a period of 5 years.

(ii) UGC will send a quarterly physical and financial progress report to Ministry of Minority Affairs and provide a list of Maulana Azad National Fellowship for minority students, university, minority community, for Ministry’s information and follow-up actions, if any, apart from displaying the same in itswebsite.

(iii) Income certificates will be issued by thecompetent authority as notified by the State/UT Governments.

(iv) The Minority Community certificate, until issued by designated authorities in the States and UTs, should be based on an actionable and legally valid affidavit so that no candidate avails a fellowship through falsification ofone’scommunity status. This Certificate is to be verified by the University/Institution at the time of joining the Fellowship.

(v) Mid Term Appraisal: The Scheme will be evaluated by the Ministry through an independent agency to assess its impact after the end of 2021-22 or as decided by the Ministry.

Aadhaar Seeding

UGC shall disburse the fellowship amount to the selected candidates under Direct Benefit Transfer(DBT) mode. In this regard,Gazette Notification dated 14.06.2017 under Section 7 of Aadhaar (Targeted delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, Benefits and Services)Act,2016 (18of 2016) dated31.07.2017 may be referred.

Procedure of Release of Grant by UGC

(i) The fellowship amount shall be disbursed to the awardee on Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) basis. The process of updating monthly confirmation with respect to the awardees by the host institution and payments thereof is being implemented on a dedicated web portal https://scholarship.canarabank.in/

Also read | How to register Scholar Profile on Canara Bank Portal

(ii) Bank account number of the beneficiaries will be validated through PFMS for creating of beneficiary ID.

(iii) Video tutorial and guidelines for operating the web portal is available on UGC website and may be referred for use.

(iv) Before the details are updated on the web portal, the university/institution shall verify that the candidate belong to one of the minority communities notified under Section 2(c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act,1992.

(v) The concerned University/Institution shall also ensure that the awardee is not availing any other fellowship/project from any other organizationat the time of selection and fulfills all the other conditions as laid in the guidelines.

(vi) The fellow will undertake regular full time research work under the approved guide in a subject selected by him/her and approved by the university/selection committee.

(vii) In case any candidate is found to have obtained fellowship through fraudulent means or provided incorrect information, the university/institution may cancel his/her fellowship under intimation to the UGC.

Resignation and Transfer

(i) If any Fellow resigns or relinquishes the fellowship before the end of the tenure,information may be submitted by the concerned university/institution on the designated web portal itself and stop payment link may be used at the time of monthly confirmation.

(ii)Transfer of research place will be allowed only once during the entire tenure. Transfer can be made by the concerned university/institution itself on the designated web portal through the concerned link available therein.

Cancellation of Award uner Maulana Azad National Fellowship

The fellowship is liable to cancellation, in case of:

(i) If the scholar is found to be ineligible to receive the fellowship, at any point of time during the entire duration of the fellowship.

(ii) If it is found that the fellowship has been availed/is claimed by furnishing false/wrong/misleading information.

(iii) If any adverse report is received from the institution.

(iv) Misconduct/misbehavior/corrupt practices.

(v) Unsatisfactory progress of research work.

(vi) Violation of terms and conditions of these guidelines.

(vii) Plagiarism or unethical practices, in any form.

(viii) Candidate is already availing scholarship/fellowship from any other source.

(ix) Candidateis found employed during the M.Phil / Ph.D. Research.

Modification in the Scheme Guidelines

Ministry of Minority Affairs, if it comes across developments that necessitate some changes while implementing the Scheme and in the interest of smooth implementation, will make minor modifications in the Scheme with no financial implication.

Official notification – Click here

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