Is the Exposure Visit to the Assam Legislative Assembly a Scholarship?

Not in the cash sense. myScheme files it under Education & Learning with the benefit type "In Kind" (myScheme): nothing is paid into a student's account, and the department pays for the travel and other arrangements directly.

Is This the Same as the Youth Parliament Competition?

No, though the same department runs both. The Youth Parliament is a competition in which students stage their own mock sitting; its 2024-25 district-level guidelines say it would be desirable to keep a programme to not more than 100 students, and put the event in the hands of a district committee headed by the District Commissioner (Youth Parliament guidelines). A notification of 4 November 2025 opened it to graduate-level students of universities and colleges as well (notification). On an exposure visit nobody competes; students watch the real House from the gallery.

Is It the Assembly's Youth Immersion Program?

No. The Youth Immersion Program is organised by the Assam Legislative Assembly itself, which lists its report among the House reports. The exposure visit is a Parliamentary Affairs Department scheme that reaches students only through an invited school or college.

How Is It Different From the LAMP Fellowship?

The LAMP (Legislative Assistants to Members of Parliament) Fellowship is run by PRS Legislative Research, an independent research organisation (PRS Legislative Research). Its fellows work full-time with a Member of Parliament from the Monsoon session to the end of the Budget session (LAMP Fellowship). It concerns Parliament, not the Assam Assembly, and has no connection with this scheme.

Is the Scheme Still Running?

The Parliamentary Affairs Department still lists "Guidelines for Exposure Visit" on its guidelines page, with the entry dated 9 April 2025. The most recent official count of visitors we could find, in the Governor's address of February 2021, stops at March 2020, so a school should confirm with the department whether visits are planned for the coming session.

Which Students Are Eligible To Participate In The Exposure Visits To The Assam Legislative Assembly Scheme?

Students from high school up to college level, with preference given to those studying Political Science, Economics, and related subjects.

How Are Students Selected For The Visit?

Selection is based on academic performance and enthusiastic participation in extracurricular activities. Participation is voluntary.

Are There Any Restrictions On Items Allowed Inside The Assembly Visitors' Gallery?

Participants are not allowed to carry mobile phones, purses, bags, writing materials, or water bottles. Valuables should be avoided.

What Are The Recommended Business Days To Visit The Assembly?

The Hon'ble Governor's address, debate on the motion of thanks, budget presentation, general discussion, passing of bills, and private members' business are recommended days.

Who Bears The Expenses Of The Visit?

The related expenditure is covered by the Parliamentary Affairs Department from the budgetary provisions.

Can Senior Citizens Also Participate In The Visit?

It is proposed that respected senior citizens such as retired teachers, headmasters, principals, freedom fighters, and social workers may also be invited to watch Assembly sessions.

Are There Opportunities For Students To Interact With Dignitaries During The Visit?

Yes, arrangements may be made for students to interact with dignitaries such as the Hon'ble Speaker, CM, Ministers, MLAs, and senior officials.

How Should The Participating Students Dress?

Students should dress in the uniform prescribed by their school/college.

How Should Students Submit Their Feedback After The Visit?

Students are required to submit a brief write-up summarizing their experience and feedback to their respective headmasters/principals, who will forward it to the Parliamentary Affairs Department within a week of the visit.

Scholarship

Exposure Visits To The Assam Legislative Assembly(EVTALA)

In Kind

State

Assam State Government Assam myScheme record

Eligibility

Educational Institutions: High/Higher Secondary Schools and colleges within Assam are considered for participation.

Region

Assam

Award

In Kind

Deadline

Not published by the source

Overview

About EVTALA

Exposure Visits to the Assam Legislative Assembly is a sponsored visit to the Assembly's visitors' gallery, not a scholarship. No money is paid to any student. The Parliamentary Affairs Department of Assam invites schools and colleges, their heads pick the students, and the department meets the cost of getting the group to Dispur to watch the House sit.

The scheme began as a line in the Finance Minister's budget speech in the July 2016 session, the first Budget Session of the new government, which promised "exposure visits of Political Science students of our State to the Assam Legislative Assembly"; the Cabinet then approved it (Parliamentary Affairs Department guidelines). Against that announcement, paragraph 63.4 of the 2016-17 speech, the Action Taken Report on the speech, dated March 12, 2018, records: "It has already been implemented" (Action Taken Report, Finance Department, Assam).

The Governor's address to the February 2021 session put a number on it: 2,926 students and 268 teachers from various educational institutes watched the Assembly at work between January 2017 and March 2020, from the Governor's address through to the passing of the budget (Governor's address, Assam Legislative Assembly, 11 February 2021).

Who runs it

Provider

Assam State Government

State / UT Government

Parliamentary Affairs Department

At a glance

Key details

Level	State
Scheme type	Not published by the source
Category	Education & Learning
Beneficiaries	Individual
Benefit type	In Kind
Application mode	Offline
Direct Benefit Transfer	Not published by the source
Tags	Assam Legislative Assembly, Student Visits, 10th, 12th, Learning
Source record	myScheme, 2026-07-08official-site· 2026-07-08

Calendar

Important dates

The scheme has no application window and no deadline. Visits are timed to Assembly sittings in consultation with the Assembly Secretariat (guidelines), and the Assembly publishes its sitting days on its session calendar.

Most of the business days the guidelines say "may possibly be more beneficial" for visits, from the Governor's address and the budget presentation to the voting on demands and the passing of the budget, belong to the Budget Session, which opens with the Governor's address. That address opened the Budget Session on 5 February 2024 and on 17 February 2025, and the 2025 address was delivered at the BTC Legislative Assembly in Kokrajhar, so an invited school should check where the House is sitting as well as when.

Stage	When	Who acts
Invitation issued	Before the visit, with the minister's approval	Parliamentary Affairs Department
Student list reaches the Assembly Secretariat for passes	Well ahead of the visit	Not named in the guidelines
Group reports at the Assembly main gate	8:30 am on the day of the visit	Students with their two teachers
Write-up copy forwarded	Within a week of the group's return	Headmaster or principal

Important dates by cycle
Cycle	Stage	Date
Current	Applications open	2016-07-01

Who can apply

Eligibility criteria

myScheme's list names the institution types and preferred streams; two details from the guidelines narrow it further. School students must be in classes 10th to 12th, and college students count from 1st year degree onwards (guidelines). A class 9 student is outside the scheme even at an invited school.

The stream rule is also firmer than the word "preferably" suggests. Clause (e) of the guidelines says the students "shall be from the specified subjects/streams of the invited educational institutions", which reads as a condition on the head's list rather than a preference. Because students reach the gallery through the head of an invited school or college rather than through an application, the guidelines carry no income ceiling, caste condition or marks cut-off; clause (i) asks only for "good performance in academics" and puts no number on it.

Educational Institutions: High/Higher Secondary Schools and colleges within Assam are considered for participation.
Subjects/Streams: Students from related subjects such as Political Science, Economics, etc., within the Arts/Humanities streams in colleges/higher secondary schools, and social sciences in secondary schools are preferred.
Selection: Students showing good academic performance and enthusiastic participation in extracurricular activities like debating competitions, student activities, mock parliament, etc., may be selected.
Batch Size: The total number of students in one batch should not exceed 50.
Voluntary Participation: Student participation in the visit is voluntary, and only willing students should be selected.

Who cannot apply

Exclusions

The source publishes no exclusion list, but the guidelines leave four groups out in practice: students of institutions outside Assam, school students below class 10th, students outside the specified subjects or streams, and anyone who does not want to go, since heads are told to select only willing students (guidelines). A batch also stops at 50, so a large class may not all fit into one visit.

Continuation

Renewal conditions

Nothing renews. The benefit is a single visit arranged batch by batch, and the guidelines contain no renewal, repeat entitlement or follow-on year.

What you get

Award & benefits

The benefit is in kind, and the bill goes to the department: "The related expenditure shall be met by the Parliamentary Affairs Deptt. out of the Budgetary provisions made for the Deptt." (guidelines). No rupee value per student is published. The guidelines word each arrangement differently, and the difference matters when a school is telling parents what to expect.

What is arranged	Who arranges it	How firmly the guidelines put it
Seats in the Assembly visitors' gallery	Assembly Secretariat, on passes issued against the student list	Students "will be allowed seats"
Travel from the institution and around Guwahati	Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC)	"shall be arranged"; night travel avoided as far as practicable
Lodging in Guwahati for groups from outside Kamrup or nearby districts	Kalakshetra or Shilpagram Complex, or other suitable places	"may be arranged", as per need
Boarding	Not named	"may possibly be made, as may be decided"
Meeting the Speaker, Chief Minister, ministers, MLAs or senior officials	Assembly Secretariat	"possibly"
Visits in greater Guwahati, such as Raj Bhawan, the Planetarium, Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra or the State Museum	Not named	"as and when so decided"

Only the gallery seats and the ASTC transport are stated as firm. Lodging, meals, the meetings with dignitaries and the sightseeing all depend on a later decision.

Practical Exposure: Students gain practical experience by visiting the Assam Legislative Assembly and witnessing the legislative sessions, debates, and bill discussions.
Interaction: Students have the opportunity to interact with dignitaries such as the Hon'ble Speaker, Chief Minister, Ministers, MLAs, and senior officials.
Understanding of Governance: The scheme helps students understand the functioning of the State Legislative Assembly and the legislative process.

What to prepare

Documents required

The paperwork runs through the institution, not the student. The list of participating students has to reach the Assembly Secretariat well ahead of the visit so the gallery passes can be issued, and each student carries an identity card on the day. Afterwards students may be asked for a write-up of no more than one page, which goes to the headmaster or principal, who sends a copy to the Parliamentary Affairs Department within a week of the group's return (guidelines).

No income certificate, caste certificate or bank account details are asked for, because no money moves to the student.

1. Identity cards of participating students.

2. List of participating students provided to the Assembly Secretariat for the issuance of passes.

3. Brief write-up (not exceeding one page per student) summarizing their experience and feedback within a week.

Step by step

How to apply

Students do not apply. myScheme lists the application mode as offline and gives no application link (myScheme), and the guidelines describe an invitation rather than a form. The route runs in this order, per the guidelines:

The department identifies institutions, with input from the DC and the Inspector of Schools of the district where needed.
Recommendations from the Chief Minister, ministers, the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker, MLAs, MPs and other dignitaries are also considered for invitations.
The invitation goes to the head of the institution with the approval of the Minister, Parliamentary Affairs.
The head selects willing students from the specified subjects or streams and deputes one male and one female teacher to escort them.
The student list goes to the Assembly Secretariat, which issues the gallery passes.

A student who wants to go should ask the headmaster or principal whether the institution has an invitation. A head without one can note that the guidelines count a recommendation from an MLA or MP among the inputs for deciding invitations.

Tracking the Status

There is no application number and nothing to look up on the National Scholarship Portal or any state portal, since the scheme takes no online form and pays no money. Confirmation arrives as the department's invitation to the head of the institution and, closer to the day, the passes the Assembly Secretariat issues against the student list.

1
Apply offline
The official links on this page lead to the application portal.

How winners are picked

Selection process

Selection happens twice, and a student sees only the second round. The department chooses the institution, drawing on district officials, dignitaries' recommendations and the minister's approval; the headmaster or principal then chooses the students on the academic and extracurricular record that myScheme's eligibility list describes. The guidelines prescribe no test, interview or published merit list, and ask that each batch include both boys and girls where the institution is co-educational (guidelines).

Fine print

Terms & conditions

Inside the House the group follows the code of conduct prescribed for visitors. Items that cannot enter the gallery can be left with designated House staff for safekeeping, though the guidelines advise not bringing valuables at all. Students stay in the gallery for the whole visit but may step out for brief breaks and re-enter on the same pass, and the two escorting teachers are responsible for compliance (guidelines).

Get help

Contact

The nodal office is the Parliamentary Affairs Department, Government of Assam, at the Assam Secretariat in Dispur; its officers are listed on the department's contact page. Its notifications carry the address Block-I, 3rd Floor, Janata Bhawan, Dispur, and the email parliamentaryaffairsdispur@gmail.com (department notification), and the scheme's rules are posted as "Guidelines for Exposure Visit" on its guidelines page. Because invitations go to heads of institutions, a student's first contact is the headmaster or principal.

Source

Official links

Guidelines myScheme (Government of India)

Questions

EVTALA – FAQ

Frequently asked questions

From the official scheme FAQ (myScheme)

Read this

Disclaimer

Scheme details are compiled from myScheme, the Government of India’s official scheme-discovery platform, and are reproduced without alteration. Amounts, deadlines and eligibility change between cycles, so always confirm on the official links above before applying. Expertie does not process applications or charge fees.

References

Sources

Parliamentary Affairs Department guidelines – parliamentaryaffairs.assam.gov.in
Action Taken Report, Finance Department, Assam – finance.assam.gov.in
Governor's address, Assam Legislative Assembly, 11 February 2021 – assambidhansabha.org
myScheme – myscheme.gov.in
5 February 2024 – aladigitallibrary.in
PRS Legislative Research – prsindia.org