What was the income limit set for Scheduled Tribe students to pursue education abroad, in the year 2024-25?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

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.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) 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 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) 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.

Concept: 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.

State PCS 2026 Q65 — Madhya Pradesh GK PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2026 Q65 — Madhya Pradesh GK PYQ with Answer