AICTE Saksham Scholarship — Specially Abled Students
About This Scholarship
The AICTE Saksham Scholarship provides ₹50,000 per year to specially abled students pursuing technical diploma or degree programmes at AICTE-approved institutions. With an income ceiling of ₹8 lakh per year — the highest of any AICTE scholarship — Saksham is designed to ensure that financial barriers do not compound the challenges already faced by students with disabilities in accessing technical education. The scholarship covers tuition fees, books, computers, software, and other educational equipment as a lump sum. The scheme is administered by AICTE through its dedicated portal (aicte-pragati-saksham-gov.in), separate from the main NSP platform. A total of 1,000 scholarships are awarded annually.
Eligibility Criteria
- Must be a specially abled student with a minimum 40% disability as certified by a government medical board
- Enrolled in the 1st year (or 2nd year via lateral entry) of a diploma or degree technical programme at an AICTE-approved institution
- Annual family income must not exceed ₹8 lakh from all sources
- Admission must be through the centralised government admission process — management quota students are not eligible
- Not availing any other scholarship from the central or state government for the same course
How Much You Get
This scheme provides ₹50,000/year to eligible students. Income must not exceed ₹8 lakh/year from all sources, as certified by a competent authority. Scholarship money is disbursed directly to your Aadhaar-linked bank account via PFMS — no institution or intermediary handles the funds.
Amounts may vary between day scholars and hostellers in schemes that have both categories. Always check the official scheme guidelines on scholarships.gov.in for the current year's amount structure, as rates are subject to periodic revision by the government.
Documents Required
- Disability Certificate from a government medical board specifying at least 40% disability
- Aadhaar card (mandatory)
- Income certificate from competent authority
- Admission proof at an AICTE-approved institution
- Bank account passbook (individual General Savings account only)
- Fee structure / fee receipt from institution
All documents must be uploaded in the format specified by NSP (usually JPG or PDF, under 200KB per file). Ensure scans are clear and legible — blurry uploads are a common cause of application defects.
Your Disability Certificate must be issued by a government medical board — certificates from private hospitals, individual doctors, or NGOs are not accepted. The certificate must specify the percentage of disability. If your certificate is old, get it renewed before applying — some reviewing authorities reject certificates that are more than a few years old. Apply on aicte-pragati-saksham-gov.in, not on scholarships.gov.in.