Fellowship Scheme for M.Phil & Ph.D for Scheduled Caste Students (Maharaja Sayajirao Gayakvad Scholarship)(FSMPSCS(MSGS))

Overview

About FSMPSCS(MSGS)

Gujarat's Director, Scheduled Caste Welfare files this scheme under the code BCK-11, and the directorate's own English page gives it a more literal name than the one on myScheme: Assistance to M.phil & Ph.D. SC students for Thesis (Maharaja Sayajirao Gayakvad Assistance). That title is the better guide. A Ph.D. scholar is paid Rs 10,000 a month for ten months, an M.Phil scholar Rs 2,500 a month for ten months, the money is paid on the condition that the student submits a thesis, and the family income limit is Rs 6 lakh (Director, Scheduled Caste Welfare, BCK-11 scheme page).

It is also a small line in the directorate's budget. The expenditure statement for the period ending August 2026 gives BCK-11 a provision of Rs 20.00 lakh for the whole state, with 20 in its Target column and 18 in its Physical Achievement column (DSCW expenditure statement, August 2026).

The 2026-27 claim is filed on Digital Gujarat, and the window closes on 30 September 2026. That is the date in the directorate's guideline for SC students, and the notice on the Gujarat State Scholarship Portal, read on 27 September 2026, still carried it with no extension posted (guideline for SC students, 2026-27; Gujarat State Scholarship Portal).

BCK-11 is written for a Scheduled Caste research scholar who has reached the thesis. The resolution that set the present Ph.D. rate describes the scheme's purpose as meeting the cost of writing and printing M.Phil and Ph.D. theses (Social Justice and Empowerment Department resolution of 11 April 2022). The Gujarati version of the scheme page calls it મહારાજા સયાજીરાવ ગાયકવાડ શિષ્યવૃત્તિ, a scholarship in the Maharaja's name, and describes the benefit as help for the મહાનિબંધ, the thesis (BCK-11 scheme page in Gujarati).

The money is entirely the state's. Gujarat's development programme for 2023-24 places M.Phil and Ph.D. scholarships inside SCW-6, the head for scholarships and incentives for post-matric education that also carries coaching fees, food bills and study equipment. It gives that head a funding pattern of 100 percent state and names two implementing offices: the District Deputy Director, Scheduled Caste Welfare in urban areas and the District Social Welfare Officer in rural areas (Planning Division, Development Programme 2023-24).

The scheme dates back decades. The directorate's list of governing resolutions starts with one dated 5 December 1997 and ends with two issued in 2022, one on the rate and one on the income limit (BCK-11 scheme page; resolution of 11 April 2022; resolution of 2 November 2022).

Who runs it

Provider

At a glance

Key details

Calendar

Important dates

BCK-11 has no date of its own. The directorate's 2026-27 guideline tells every eligible Scheduled Caste student to apply on Digital Gujarat between 6 July 2026 and 30 September 2026, and it lists BCK-11 among the schemes that window covers. Checked on 27 September 2026, the portal's notice board still read 30 September 2026 for SC forms and showed no extension (guideline for SC students, 2026-27; Gujarat State Scholarship Portal). A scholar whose thesis bill is ready should file before that day rather than wait for a reopening.

A late window is not unknown. The same portal reopened the 2025-26 forms for remaining SC students from 19 August 2026 to 2 September 2026 (Gujarat State Scholarship Portal).

Who can apply

Eligibility criteria

The scheme page states four tests and no more: the student belongs to a Scheduled Caste, is doing an M.Phil or a Ph.D., submits a thesis, and comes from a family with income up to Rs 6 lakh (BCK-11 scheme page).

Two details sit outside that list. The directorate's Scheduled Caste Sub Plan for 2020-21 describes the scheme as meant for Scheduled Caste students studying for M.Phil and Ph.D. in any recognised university, with no requirement written into that description that the university be in Gujarat (Scheduled Caste Sub Plan 2020-21). And the income certificate the directorate's 2026-27 portal guideline asks for is the family's: it wants the parent's or guardian's income certificate, the father's death certificate where the father has died, and the mother's income certificate where the parents are divorced (guideline for SC students, 2026-27; Gujarat State Scholarship Portal).

The Rs 6 lakh limit is recent. The 2020-21 Sub Plan put this scheme's income limit at Rs 2.50 lakh (Scheduled Caste Sub Plan 2020-21). A resolution of 2 November 2022 then raised the income limit for a list of the directorate's individual and educational schemes, with the M.Phil and Ph.D. scheme at the top of that list (resolution of 2 November 2022).

Who cannot apply

Exclusions

BCK-11 publishes no exclusion list. Four points on official pages bear on whether a claim is paid.

• Family income above the limit. The Rs 6 lakh ceiling on the scheme page is the only income test (BCK-11 scheme page), and the directorate's guideline accepts caste and income certificates only when a competent authority issued them (guideline for SC students, 2026-27; Gujarat State Scholarship Portal).
• No thesis to show. Payment is conditional on the student submitting a thesis, and the documents list on the scheme's myScheme record asks for a thesis typing or printing bill receipt (myScheme, BCK-11 record).
• A job held during the research. The directorate's paper application form for this fellowship asked whether the applicant was employed and had the head of the institution certify that, to their knowledge, the student was not in a job (BCK-11 paper application form). Neither page says a job bars the claim outright, and the myScheme documents list asks for a leave without pay certificate from students on leave without pay for the entire course (myScheme, BCK-11 record), so a scholar in service should settle the point with the district office before filing.
• A filing left half done. The 2026-27 guideline says an online form that was never final-submitted, or whose printout and documents never reached the institution, will not be considered. A student who fills in false details is not allowed to fill the scholarship form again, and one who hides facts to draw a scholarship is blacklisted (guideline for SC students, 2026-27; Gujarat State Scholarship Portal).

Continuation

Renewal conditions

BCK-11 has no published renewal rule. The scheme page prices the benefit as ten months of assistance, and nothing on it describes a second or later year for the same scholar (BCK-11 scheme page). The portal's automatic Renewal mode, which the 2026-27 guideline describes for students paid in the previous year, is written for the directorate's schemes as a group rather than for this one (guideline for SC students, 2026-27; Gujarat State Scholarship Portal). A scholar who has drawn the ten months once should put the question of a second year to the District Deputy Director (SCW) office before filing again.

What you get

Award & benefits

The rate depends only on the course. The table sets today's monthly rates beside the rates the directorate printed in its 2020-21 Sub Plan.

The Ph.D. rate more than tripled in 2022, while the M.Phil rate did not move. The resolution of 11 April 2022 raised the monthly assistance for Ph.D. theses, kept the ten-month period, and applied the revised rate from the new academic session. The same order asked for payment by direct benefit transfer, online applications and approvals, and a transparent selection of beneficiaries (resolution of 11 April 2022).

The credit goes to the scholar's bank account, and the account has to be alive to receive it. The 2026-27 guideline warns that a dormant or suspended account cannot take a scholarship credit, and that the student carries the consequences of a wrong account number typed into the form (guideline for SC students, 2026-27; Gujarat State Scholarship Portal).

• Scholarship rate per student: For M.Phil: ₹2,500/Per Month (For 10 Months)
• For PhD: ₹10,000/Per Month (For 10 Months)

What to prepare

Documents required

Most items on the scheme's documents list are the ones every Scheduled Caste applicant on the portal gathers anyway; one belongs to this scheme alone, the thesis typing or printing bill receipt (myScheme, BCK-11 record; guideline for SC students, 2026-27; Gujarat State Scholarship Portal). Keep that bill from the day the thesis goes to the typist or printer.

For a doctoral applicant, the marksheet requirement runs long. The 2026-27 guideline wants the final-year marksheet of every course after Class 10, year by year, and an affidavit for any break in study after Class 10 stating that no course was taken and no scholarship drawn during the gap (guideline for SC students, 2026-27; Gujarat State Scholarship Portal). Scholars who worked between a master's degree and a Ph.D. should prepare that affidavit early. The same guideline asks for scans of original documents, with photocopies allowed only when an original cannot be had, and for a self-attested set to go in with the printed form.

The institution's word matters too. The directorate's paper form for this fellowship asked the head of the institution to certify the scholar's registration number and research subject, and to confirm whether a Government of India scholarship had been sanctioned for the same study (BCK-11 paper application form).

Step by step

How to apply

BCK-11 is filed online only. The scheme page names the Digital Gujarat portal, and the Scholarship Services link on Digital Gujarat now opens the Gujarat State Scholarship Portal, where the Scheduled Caste scholarship notices sit (BCK-11 scheme page; Digital Gujarat; Gujarat State Scholarship Portal).

The portal route itself is the one the directorate's 2026-27 guideline lays down for all its Scheduled Caste schemes, so only three steps need care on a BCK-11 claim. A first-time applicant goes to Scholarship Services, uses Request a New Service, picks the current year and then, under the Director Scheduled Caste Welfare heading, selects the line the guideline names Fellowship Scheme for M.Phil, Ph.D. for SC Students (BCK-11). Confirm & Final Submit, after an OTP check on the registered mobile, sends the form to the institution's login, and the printout with self-attested copies has to be handed in at the institution as well (guideline for SC students, 2026-27; Gujarat State Scholarship Portal). The thesis typing or printing bill should be in hand before the upload starts, because it is on the scheme's documents list (myScheme, BCK-11 record).

Checking Where a BCK-11 Claim Stands

Status lives inside the account. The one place a BCK-11 scholar can see whether the institution has acted on the thesis claim is the My Applications section of their own Digital Gujarat login (Digital Gujarat FAQ). The directorate's guideline adds that choosing an earlier year in the Scholarship Services dropdown brings up the applications filed in that year, and that a Withdraw option lets the student pull back and correct a form only while the institution has taken no action on it (guideline for SC students, 2026-27; Gujarat State Scholarship Portal). The same guideline rules out any offline payment, so a claim that never enters the portal cannot be paid.

How winners are picked

Selection process

No merit list, test or interview appears on the BCK-11 scheme page or in its two 2022 resolutions; past the thesis and the income certificate, what limits the number paid is the year's physical target and budget provision. BCK-11 heads the list in the 2 November 2022 resolution that raised the income limit to Rs 6 lakh, and that order came with three conditions: physical targets stay where they were, lower-income applicants come first, and beneficiaries left over when a financial year closes can be carried into the next (resolution of 2 November 2022; BCK-11 scheme page).

The directorate's monthly expenditure statements show how tight that target is. Each row is the BCK-11 line from the statement for the month named, under the statement's own column names; the figures run from the start of the financial year to that month.

The 2020-21 Sub Plan gives an older reading: Rs 11.76 lakh paid to 45 students in 2019-20, and Rs 30.00 lakh provided for 2020-21 (Scheduled Caste Sub Plan 2020-21).

Fine print

Terms & conditions

The thesis is the condition the whole scheme rests on: the assistance is paid on the condition that the student submits one (BCK-11 scheme page). Everything else is set by resolution, and the directorate says so itself. A note under its 2026-27 table of schemes states that the details there are for guidance and that the final interpretation follows the government resolution (guideline for SC students, 2026-27; Gujarat State Scholarship Portal).

Holding another award is the grey area. Gujarat has published no rule on combining BCK-11 with a central or university fellowship, but its paper form asked for the order number and date of any Government of India scholarship and details of any other financial help received for the same study (BCK-11 paper application form). Disclose every award on the form.

Get help

Contact

The file is worked in the district. The scheme page names the District Deputy Director (SCW) office as the implementing office, and the state's development programme adds the District Social Welfare Officer's office for rural areas (BCK-11 scheme page; Development Programme 2023-24).

Above the district, the head office's G-1 Education branch lists 079-232-53243 and dd1-dscw@gujarat.gov.in, and the Director, Scheduled Caste Welfare takes calls on +91 79 23253229 and mail at dir-dscw@gujarat.gov.in, at Block number 4, 2nd Floor, Dr Jivraj Mehta Bhavan, Gandhinagar (DSCW contact page). If the BCK-11 line will not open under the Director Scheduled Caste Welfare heading, or the form stalls midway, the SC guideline's help desk is 18002335500 (guideline for SC students, 2026-27; Gujarat State Scholarship Portal).

Source

Official links

Frequently asked questions

From the official scheme FAQ (myScheme)

Read this

Disclaimer

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.

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