Merit Scholarship Scheme
With a view to improve literacy and educational standards in the Project Affected Area of all the projects being executed by it leading to increased employability, the HPPCL (Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd.) intends to institute a merit scholarship scheme besides contributing to educational institutions by way of infrastructure support. The Merit Scholarship Scheme with the following objectives seeks to help the wards of Project Affected Families (PAF) pursue their education.
To minimize the number of dropouts who are meritorious but financially not sound.
To enhance educational standards and employability of the wards of PAF.
To encourage the meritorious students in furtherance of their education and to extend financial assistance enabling them to pursue higher education.
To create a pool of potential candidates in the area capable of making meaningful contribution to the local economy including the project of HPPCL in future.

http://hppcl.gov.in/page/relief-rehabilitation.aspx

The Scheme shall cover following two categories of wards and students :
Students/wards who have got admission on their own merit but need financial support to pursue the course.
Students/wards that are given admission against the seats purchased by HPPCL.

Period and availability of Scholarship :
The implementation of this scheme in all the projects of HPPCL may be started immediately after notification under section 4 of LAA. The scheme would remain in force till commissioning of the project. It may be extended to operation phase of the project after a review process.
The Scheme would be funded from R&R Plan till commissioning of the project. However, if the date of commissioning of the project happens to be in mid-session of the academic year, the Scholarship Scheme would continue till the end of the academic session.
Number of scholarship for each project will be fixed from time-to-time as per number of PAFs and available budget.

Eligibility Criteria for selection of the students for Scholarships :
The students should be a family member/ward of MPAF, MPAF-S,PAF and PAA which includes “The head of MPAF, MPAF-S,PAF and resident of PAA or his/her spouse, his/her sons, daughters, step sons, step daughters, grand sons and grand daughters”.
(Note- Definition and meaning of the terms MPAF,PAF and PAA shall be same as given in the approved R&R Plan which is also available at HPPCL website (http ://hppcl.gov.in).
The definition of MPAF-S is not given in the approved R&R and the same is defined as below :
MPAF-S : The joint ownership of the villagers on pastures and wastelands, part of the forest surrounding villages, river beds, irrigation channel and common paths and if the above mentioned area has/been acquired by project proponent for project related activities then the whole villagers will be declared as MPAF-S.
Selection will be made only on Merit basis and preference will be given in the following order :
1) MPAF- if no child of family has got scholarship yet.
2) MPAF-if some child of family has already got scholarship.
3) MPAF Shamlat land (MPAF-S) - if no child of family has got scholarship yet.
4) MPAF Shamlat land (MPAF-S) - if some child of family has already got scholarship.
5) PAF- if no child of family has got scholarship yet.
6) PAF-if some child of family has already got scholarship.
7) PAA-if no child of family has got scholarship yet.
8) PAA-if some child of family has already got scholarship.
9) Firstly all applications in 1st category shall be exhausted and then applicants from 2nd category and so on shall be selected meaning that next category shall be considered only if none of eligible is available in previous category
10) If marks obtained by two applicants in same class are equal in a particular category then preference will be given to one becoming both landless and houseless, then landless and then houseless and then quantum of land being acquired in terms of area/bigha.
11) The students should be studying in School, College, Government educational institutes and any other educational institute recognized/affiliated to State Government /Government of India.
12) The courses, standards, discipline eligible for the scholarships listed in this scheme may be modified in exceptional circumstances by HPPCL.

Merit Scholarship For Academic Session 2012-13 :
Applications on prescribed Form are invited for grant of Merit Scholarship for academic session 2012-13 from members/wards of MPAF, MPAF-Shamlat, PAF and resident of PAA, who are studying in School, College, Government Educational Institute & any other Educational Institute recognized/affiliated to State Govt/Govt of India. Application Form with instructions will be available at Project Site office or can be downloaded from HPPCL website (http ://hppcl.gov.in). Application should reach Project office by 28.6.2012. Details of the scheme can also be seen at the above website.