National Overseas Scholarship Scheme being a Central Sector Scheme, statewise data is not maintained in the Department. However, the number of students selected against the total number of scholarships under the National Overseas Scholarship (NOS) scheme, year-wise in last five years is as under:

*Vacant slots of previous years were carried over.

(b) Total funds disbursed during 2016-17 to 2021-22 (upto 10.03.2022) is Rs. 123.40 crore, Year –wise figures are as under:-

# As on 10.03.2022

(c) No, Sir. As per the guidelines of the scheme, the funds have been disbursed every year through the Indian Missions abroad to all such selected students who have joined the concerned foreign university after following the stipulated procedure.

(d) & (e) This department reviews the NOS scheme guidelines from time to time and makes changes which for simplifying the procedures and making the process more transparent. It was felt that the overseas scholarship for studying abroad is not needed for the topics/courses concerning Indian Culture, Heritage, History & Social studies on India, considering that Indian Universities are fully and well equipped to guide research based on such topics and most of the resources for these particular subjects are available within the country. These courses anyhow require frequent field visits to India during the course of studies and can thus be better undertaken in India itself and such students may avail of scholarship/fellowship under the other scholarship schemes being implemented by this Department as per their eligibility. Also, the selection of candidates from sub fields of Humanities/Social Sciences is still open to candidates who are aspiring to study Law, Economics, Psychology and other subjects which require international exposure.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Social Justice & Empowerment, Shri A. Narayan Swamy in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

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MG/DP/RK