Organization : Ministry of Minority Affairs
Scheme Name : Padho Pardesh - Scheme Of Interest Subsidy On Educational Loans For Overseas Studies For The Students Belonging To The Minority Communities
Applicable For : Minority Communities Students
Applicable States/UT : All India

Website : http://www.minorityaffairs.gov.in/schemesperformance
Guidelines : http://www.indianjobtalks.com/upload...dhoPardesh.pdf

Padho Pardesh Educational Loans For Overseas Studies Guidelines :
** Padho Pardesh - Scheme Of Interest Subsidy On Educational Loans For Overseas Studies For The Students Belonging To The Minority Communities

1. Background :
** The Prime Minister’s New 15 Point Programme for the Welfare of Minorities was announced in June, 2006. It provides that the schemes for scholarships for meritorious students from minority communities will be formulated and implemented. The scheme of Interest Subsidy on educational loans for overseas studies will promote educational advancement of student from minority communities.

2. Objective :
** The objective of the scheme is to award interest subsidy to meritorious students belonging to economically weaker sections of notified minority communities so as to provide them better opportunities for higher education abroad and enhance their employability.

3. Scope :
** This is a Central Sector Scheme to provide interest subsidy to the student belonging to the communities declared as minority communities in terms of section 2 (c) of National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992, on the interest payable for the period of moratorium for the Education Loans under the Scheme of Interest subsidy on Educational Loans for Overseas Studies to pursue approved courses of studies abroad at Masters and M.Phil/Ph.D levels.

4. Conditions For Interest Subsidy :
i) The Scheme is applicable for higher studies abroad. The interest Subsidy shall be linked with the existing Educational Loan Scheme of Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and restricted to students enrolled for course at Masters, M.Phil and Ph.D levels given at para 14.

ii) The interest subsidy under the scheme shall be available to the eligible students only once, either for Masters, M.Phil or Ph.D levels. Interest subsidy shall not be available to those students who either discontinued the course mid- stream, due to any reason, or those who are expelled from the institutions on disciplinary or academic grounds.

iii) If it is found that a student has violated any condition of the scheme, the subsidy will be discontinued forthwith.
iv) If a student is found to have obtained the subsidy by false statement/documents/certificates, the subsidy will be withdrawn/cancelled forthwith and amount of the subsidy paid already, shall be recovered with penal interest, apart from taking criminal action as per law.

v) The students obtaining benefits under this Scheme shall not be given the interest subsidy if he gives up Indian citizenship during the tenure of the period.
vi) The designated bank will maintain a separate account and records relating to the funds received from the ministry and will submit quarterly report to the Ministry. The account and records will be open for inspection/audit by the officers of the Ministry, or any other agency designated by the Ministry or C & AG.

vii) Any further fund towards payment of interest subsidy will be released to the designated Bank only after receiving the utilization certificate for the earlier releases as per provisions of GFR.
viii) The designated Bank shall place all relevant details of financial and physical achievements on its website and implement the scheme as per the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to be signed between the designated Bank and Ministry of Minority Affairs.

ix) The designated Bank will ensure that the students from the minority communities, who may also belong to SC/ST/OBC category, do not avail interest subsidy from other schemes of Central Government/State Government for the same purpose.
x) The designated Bank will lay down the detailed procedure for processing and sanctioning of interest subsidy to eligible students in consultation with Ministry of Minority Affairs.

xi) State/UT-wise and Community-wise quota, based on Census, 2011, has been fixed as given in the Annexure-I. To the extent possible, the benefit of Interest Subsidy will be given to notified minority communities as per the quota fixed. In case of non-availability of students in a State or community, seats can be transferred to other States or community.

xii) The scheme will be evaluated at regular intervals by the Ministry or any other agency designated by the Ministry.
xiii) The terms and conditions of the scheme can be changed at any time at the discretion of Ministry of Minority Affairs to improve implementation of the scheme in more transparent and effective way.

5. Eligibility :
i) The student should have secured admission in the approved courses at Masters, M.Phil or Ph.D levels abroad for the courses mentioned at Para-14.
ii) He/ She should have availed loan from a scheduled bank under the Education Loan Scheme of the Indian Banks Association (IBA) for the purpose.

iii) Students should apply for the benefits under the scheme during 1st year itself of the course. Fresh applications received during 2nd year or subsequent years will not be accepted in any case.
iv) Preference will be given to those applications which are covered under lower rate of interest by various banks for each State/UT to their quota.

v) Payment of financial benefit may be linked with Aadhaar Number if available. In this regard, Gazetted Notification S. O. 2409 ( E) dated 14th June, 2017 issued under Section-7 of Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 (18 of 2016) published dated July 31, 2017 may be referred.

6. Income Ceiling :
i) Total income from all sources of the employed candidate or his/ her parents/guardians in case of unemployed candidate shall not exceed Rs. 6.00 lakh per annum.
ii) Income certificate issued by the competent authority in the State/ Union Territory should be submitted in support of income shown by a candidate.

7. Selection Of Candidates :
(i) The designated bank, on direction of Ministry of Minority Affairs will open the portal for receiving of applications for the claims of interest subsidy under the scheme.
(ii) Portal will be opened only once in a financial Year for fresh applications. In case, sufficient number of applications are not received the portal may be opened again subject to the availability of sufficient funds under the scheme.
(iii) For renewal cases the portal may be opened in every quarter or as decided by the Ministry.