MPPSC 2026 Prelims Paper-I · Question 65 of 100

Correct — C, Rs. 10 lakh. The scheme being asked about is the Madhya Pradesh Tribal Affairs Department's Foreign Study Scholarship (विदेश अध्ययन छात्रवृत्ति), under which Scheduled Tribe students admitted to recognised institutions abroad have their course fees and living costs met by the state. The eligibility test that goes with it is a family income ceiling of Rs. 10 lakh a year, which is the figure the commission's key marks. The department's rules provide ten such scholarships a year in all — five for Scheduled Caste and five for Scheduled Tribe candidates — and only one candidate per family may take it, once.

• (a)Rs. 6 lakh — The most tempting wrong answer, because Rs. 6 lakh is a real ceiling in this space — it is the family-income limit of the Centre's National Overseas Scholarship for Scheduled Tribe candidates run by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, and it also appears in older descriptions of the state scheme. Different scheme, different number.
• (b)Rs. 8 lakh — Rs. 8 lakh is the familiar income line elsewhere in reservation and welfare policy — the OBC creamy-layer and EWS ceilings — and gets recalled by reflex. It is not the ceiling for this scholarship.
• (d)Rs. 15 lakh — No income ceiling of Rs. 15 lakh applies here. It is the highest value on the list, included to catch candidates who assume the eligibility bar must be generous because the scheme funds foreign study.

Support for tribal education in Madhya Pradesh runs as a ladder: hostels and Ashram schools at the base, then post-matric scholarships, then coaching support such as the Akanksha scheme for entrance examinations, and at the top the Foreign Study Scholarship for a small number of students going abroad for post-graduate or doctoral work. Every rung has its own eligibility parameters, and the family income ceiling is the parameter examiners like best because it is a single checkable number. Alongside the state scheme runs a central one — the National Overseas Scholarship of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, which awards about 20 slots a year to ST candidates with a share reserved for Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups and for women.

The setter has built the question out of two schemes that sound identical and differ in their numbers. Read the qualifier: the question says 'in the year 2024-25', which signals the current state parameter rather than an older or central one. For MPPSC, learn scheme parameters as a small table — who runs it, who is eligible, the income ceiling, the number of beneficiaries — because the same scheme comes back with a different blank left open each year. And keep the central and state versions separate in your notes; mixing them is the single commonest way to lose this mark.

• Madhya Pradesh Foreign Study Scholarship (Tribal Affairs Department) for ST students: family income ceiling Rs. 10 lakh per annum
• The department's rules provide ten scholarships a year in all (five Scheduled Caste, five Scheduled Tribe); one candidate per family, once only
• It funds study at recognised institutions abroad, at post-graduate and doctoral level
• The Centre's National Overseas Scholarship for ST candidates (Ministry of Tribal Affairs) is a separate scheme with a Rs. 6 lakh family income ceiling and about 20 awards a year, including slots reserved for PVTG candidates
• Rs. 8 lakh per annum is the OBC creamy-layer and EWS income ceiling — a different policy context altogether

• Applying the central National Overseas Scholarship's Rs. 6 lakh ceiling to the state scheme
• Carrying over the Rs. 8 lakh creamy-layer/EWS figure into an unrelated scholarship
• Ignoring the year in the question — scheme parameters are revised, and MPPSC dates the question deliberately

MPPSC asks one blank from a scheme table — the income ceiling, the number of beneficiaries, the department or the objective. UPSC does not test state scheme parameters; it asks which ministry runs a central scheme and who its beneficiaries are.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The National Overseas Scholarship for Scheduled Tribe candidates is administered by which ministry?

  • (a)Ministry of Education
  • (b)Ministry of Tribal Affairs
  • (c)Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
  • (d)Ministry of External Affairs

  Answer(b) Ministry of Tribal Affairs — the parallel scheme for Scheduled Caste candidates is run by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS), meant to provide quality schooling to tribal children, are set up under which ministry?

  • (a)Ministry of Tribal Affairs
  • (b)Ministry of Education
  • (c)Ministry of Rural Development
  • (d)Ministry of Women and Child Development

  Answer(a) Ministry of Tribal Affairs — EMRS provide residential schooling for ST students in tribal-majority areas.