Post Matric Scholarship for students with Disabilities - DNH & DD(POSTMSSD)

Overview

About POSTMSSD

The listing under Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu and the listing under the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities are not two scholarships competing for the same student. They are one central sector scheme and the union territory office that processes it. That distinction decides where a student in Silvassa, Moti Daman or Diu files, whose calendar binds, and who can be chased when the money does not arrive.

The Social Welfare Department at Moti Daman administers this award in the UT, but it neither funds it nor writes its rules. Its annual notice invites applications from students with disabilities under the central sector and centrally sponsored scholarship schemes implemented through the National Scholarship Portal, alongside the SC, ST, OBC and EBC awards it also handles (Social Welfare Department NSP notice for academic year 2026-27). The rulebook behind the disability entry is DEPwD's own, and the UT has been circulating it as such for years: the circular the administration filed for the pre and post matric disability scholarship carries the text of the Central Sector Scheme published by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (UT circular on pre and post matric scholarship for students with disabilities).

Practically, that means there is no UT application form, no UT rate card and no separate UT sanction order to hunt for. What the territory supplies is publicity, certificate issuance and the verification layer between a college and the Centre.

It also means the queue is a national one. The post-matric line is capped at 17,000 awards a year with renewals counted inside that ceiling, fresh cases are taken up only against what renewals leave behind, and the Secretary, DEPwD may shift unused places between the pre-matric, post-matric and Top Class lines within the approved outlay (DEPwD scheme guidelines). Nothing in the current guidelines reserves a share of that ceiling for this territory, and no share can be worked out either, because the state-wise distribution formula the earlier text carried was deleted in September 2025 (DEPwD office memorandum).

One more consequence is worth knowing before you read the eligibility list. The scheme is open to Indian nationals and sets no residence test of its own, which is why the UT notice asks for a domicile certificate only where a particular scheme calls for one.

Who runs it

Provider

At a glance

Key details

Calendar

Important dates

The dates that bind are the portal's, and for academic year 2026-27 they run in four stages after the student's own deadline.

The UT's own notice for the year does not match that, and it does not even match itself. Its first page tells institutes the portal is open for 2026-27 for the pre-matric, post-matric and top class schemes of every ministry; its annexure, signed by the Director-cum-Deputy Secretary (Social Welfare/WCD), prints closing and verification dates for most of the schemes listed but marks three of them "Not yet opened", and two of those three are the pre-matric and post-matric disability scholarships (Social Welfare Department NSP notice for academic year 2026-27). The portal has carried the same line as open since 25-07-2026 (National Scholarship Portal scheme list). Where the two disagree, the portal is the one that accepts or refuses an application, and it is the document to act on.

The same notice is blunt about what happens at the edges: applications received after the closing date, or left unverified beyond the prescribed timelines, are dealt with under the timelines prescribed on the portal, and students and institutions are told to submit and verify well before the closing dates rather than at them.

Who can apply

Eligibility criteria

Three things are being tested: the course, the disability record, and the household income.

On the course, the scheme runs from Class XI up to a post-graduate degree or diploma, and the qualifying approval now has to come from a recognised body such as the University Grants Commission, the State or UT government, the National Medical Commission, the Rehabilitation Council of India or the All India Council for Technical Education. That approval list was written into the guidelines by DEPwD's September 2025 office memorandum; the paragraph it replaced named only the class range (DEPwD office memorandum).

On the disability record, the test is 40%, the benchmark level of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, and what has to be produced against it was rewritten in September 2025: the condition names the Unique Disability Identity card and the Aadhaar card, in place of a disability certificate from the competent authority backed by Aadhaar based biometric authentication (DEPwD office memorandum). A certificate on its own no longer answers it, whichever class the student is in, and the same level applies to the pre-matric line.

On income, the parental ceiling is Rs 2.5 lakh a year, and half the slots are earmarked for female candidates, with unfilled female slots going to male candidates only where enough eligible women are not available (DEPwD scheme guidelines). A student who is employed, or on a paid internship, is not shut out: where the combined income of the student and the parents or guardian stays under the ceiling, the September 2025 memorandum made them eligible for all components rather than only for reimbursement of compulsorily payable non-refundable fees (DEPwD office memorandum).

The umbrella scheme also counts siblings, which is easy to miss in a family with more than two disabled children: benefits reach two of them, and a second child who arrives as a twin is admitted alongside (DEPwD scheme guidelines). Separately, the institution has to qualify: only schools, ITIs, TTIs, polytechnics and colleges holding a valid UDISE+ or AISHE code can carry an application forward in this UT.

Who cannot apply

Exclusions

The guidelines bar five trainings outright by name, and the list has not moved in years. Aircraft Maintenance Engineer, Private Pilot Licence, Ship Dufferin (now Rajendra), the Military College at Dehradun and pre-examination training centres at all India and state level carry no award on this line (DEPwD scheme guidelines).

Graduates trip over a quieter bar. A B.Com after a B.A. counts as the same stage taken twice and earns nothing, though an LLB, a B.Ed or a B.El.Ed read after a first degree is expressly allowed. Two courses running at once yield a scholarship for one of them only, and only where the education authority permits the pair in the first place.

A class can be funded once. If a student has to repeat a class, no scholarship is paid for that class a second time. Months in which the student is already being paid are excluded as well, whether that is an MBBS internship or housemanship or practical training on another course carrying a stipend.

Holding a second award is the messiest bar, and the UT notice and the guidelines read differently on it. The guidelines forbid a holder to take any second scholarship or stipend, and end payment from the day another award is accepted. The UT's 2026-27 notice sets out the revised classification the Government of India has since issued, under which an eligible student may take one merit-based scholarship in addition to one or more welfare-based scholarships, and both the UT annexure and the portal label this scheme welfare-based (Social Welfare Department NSP notice for academic year 2026-27). The notice resolves its own tension the only way it can: any pairing is subject to the eligibility conditions of the respective scheme guidelines, so the scheme you already hold is the document to read before you file a second application.

Continuation

Renewal conditions

Renewal runs on promotion, not on a second scramble for a slot. An award already made holds to the end of the course on good conduct and regular attendance, and the next year is released once the scholar moves up a class, on the university's examination or the institution's (DEPwD scheme guidelines).

Failure is treated more gently here than on the pre-matric line. Fail once and the award may still be renewed; from the second failure the student pays their own way until promotion comes. Illness, or anything else nobody saw coming, keeps the claim alive for the following year: a medical certificate, and the head of institution's certificate that the paper would have been passed, are what the renewal turns on. A provisional promotion granted under university regulations carries the scholarship into the class the student has moved into (DEPwD scheme guidelines).

One stage of the local chain has gone. A renewal application no longer needs State Nodal Officer verification at all, so the state-level check a DNH & DD renewal used to wait on has dropped out of the sequence (DEPwD office memorandum). On the money, a renewed maintenance allowance picks up from the month after the last month paid, where the course of study is continuous.

What you get

Award & benefits

The award is a bundle of five heads rather than a single amount, and the two fee heads are reimbursements capped at the actual bill.

Maintenance is a monthly count rather than an annual lump. The first month is April, or the month of admission where that falls later, and the last is the month the year's examinations end, with the holidays between the two paid as well.

One misreading travels with this scheme's public record and is worth clearing up. Descriptions of the award that mention tuition released to an implementing agency through a Central Nodal Agency, a first instalment tied to attendance in the opening ten days, and a 70% monthly attendance test are quoting paragraphs 14.7 and 14.10 of the umbrella guidelines, and paragraph 14 is the free coaching component of that umbrella, not the post-matric scholarship (DEPwD scheme guidelines). Post-matric is governed by paragraph 10, which says one thing about payment: the amount goes straight into the beneficiary's Aadhaar linked bank account through the portal by direct benefit transfer. No attendance percentage appears in that paragraph, and the September 2025 memorandum, which rewrote the free coaching disbursal text in detail, left paragraph 10 alone (DEPwD office memorandum).

• Scholarship support is available for studies from Class 11 up to Post-Graduate Degree or Diploma level.
• Eligible courses should be approved by recognised bodies such as: University Grants Commission (UGC)
• National Medical Commission (NMC)
• Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI)
• All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)
• State Government or Union Territory Government
• Benefits for Employed/Intern Students: Employed or intern students whose combined income with parents/guardians does not exceed the prescribed income ceiling are eligible for all components of the Post-Matric Scholarship.
• Tuition Fee/Coaching Fee: Tuition fee or coaching fee is released to the Implementing Agency through a Central Nodal Agency (CNA).
• Maintenance Allowance and Disability Allowance: Maintenance allowance and disability allowance are released through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) into the Aadhaar-enabled bank account of the candidate.
• A minimum of 70% monthly attendance is required for eligibility for stipend, maintenance allowance, and disability allowance for a particular month.
• Book Allowance: Book allowance is released in advance to candidates meeting 50% attendance during the first 10 days.
• Other eligible candidates receive the allowance with the first instalment of maintenance/disability allowance, provided they continue with the course.
• Mode of Disbursement: Tuition fee/coaching fee is released through the Central Nodal Agency (CNA) to the Implementing Agency.
• Stipend and admissible allowances are released through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).
• Frequency of Disbursement
• Tuition Fee/Coaching Fee: First instalment: 50% advance release based on candidates meeting 50% attendance during the first 10 days.
• Second instalment: Released on completion of the course, considering candidates attending beyond the halfway mark.
• Book Allowance: Released in advance or with the first instalment of maintenance/disability allowance.
• Validity/Conditions: Minimum 70% monthly attendance is compulsory for stipend and allowance eligibility.
• Aadhaar Number and Unique Disability ID (UDID) are mandatory.
• Benefits are subject to scheme guidelines and verification procedures.

What to prepare

Documents required

Two document rules bite harder in this UT than the standard list suggests, and both come from the Social Welfare Department rather than from the scheme.

The first is that every compulsory document has to be uploaded in original, not as a photocopy or an attested extract, and the notice repeats the instruction against each certificate it lists (Social Welfare Department NSP notice for academic year 2026-27). The second is where the certificates come from. The administration has asked the Mamlatdar of Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu to facilitate timely issuance of the caste, income and other certificates the scheme guidelines call for, which makes the district Mamlatdar's office the counter to approach rather than the college.

The scheme guidelines are fussier about the income proof than the notice is. A self-employed parent's income has to be certified by a Revenue Officer authorised by the State or UT, and a salaried parent needs that officer's consolidated certificate covering any income beyond the salary (DEPwD scheme guidelines). A salary slip alone does not answer it.

The domicile certificate is the one item people over-prepare. This scheme sets no residence condition, and the UT notice asks for domicile only where it applies to the scheme being claimed, recording separately that for the SC and OBC schemes of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment it is not to be insisted upon at all.

Step by step

How to apply

There is no paper route to this award and no counter at Moti Daman that will take one. The form lives on the National Scholarship Portal, the student fills it, and the college pushes it upward from there.

The One Time Registration number comes first. It is generated from an Aadhaar number or an Aadhaar enrolment number, is allotted once and stays with the student for the whole academic career on the portal (Social Welfare Department NSP notice for academic year 2026-27). Two practical failures on that step are called out by name in the UT notice: error 904 during face authentication, which is answered by updating the AadhaarFaceRD app, and a silent failure caused by biometrics being locked in Aadhaar, which has to be unlocked through mAadhaar or the My Aadhaar portal before the attempt will succeed.

The institution has to be ready before the student is. Only institutes holding a valid AISHE, UDISE+ or NCVT code can register on the portal, and the Institute Nodal Officer and Head of Institute have to complete face authentication after filing the KYC registration form. The Nodal Officer then verifies each application against the scheme guidelines and forwards it to the district or state nodal authority; nothing a student submits moves without that step. Filing through a Common Service Centre is the alternative where a student has no device or no steady connection at home, and the notice fixes one price for the entire job, the reference number, the biometric authentication, the OTR and the filled form together, at Rs 30.00 including taxes.

Following a filed application is a matter of watching the chain rather than one status line. The portal's student corner carries Application Status and Track Your Payment alongside Aadhaar services and the UDID lookup, and each stage after the student's own closing date has a published last date of its own: defective application verification, then institute verification, then verification by the district, state or ministry nodal officer (National Scholarship Portal scheme list). If a stage passes without your status moving, the stage that has just lapsed names the office that owed you the action. The escalation the UT publishes is written for institutes rather than students: scholarship queries from institutes go to the administration's scholarship cell on WhatsApp at 9537500045 during office hours (Social Welfare Department NSP notice for academic year 2026-27), so a student whose college verification has stalled asks the college's nodal officer to raise it there. At the end of the chain the nodal officer digitally signs the final list in the Public Finance Management System, and disbursal follows from there.

How winners are picked

Selection process

Selection under this scheme is neither first come first served nor a marks contest, which surprises applicants who arrive from the SC and OBC post-matric schemes. Merit is the percentage of disability recorded on the disability certificate. Because a certificate for a specific learning disability states 40% or above rather than a figure, every eligible specific learning disability case is ranked at 40% for this purpose, and a tie between two candidates is broken in favour of the older one (DEPwD scheme guidelines).

The arithmetic above that changed in 2025. Places used to be spread across the states on an average of two shares, each state's share of the country's population of persons with disabilities and its share of eligible applications; the September 2025 memorandum struck that paragraph out, so the merit list is now drawn on the criteria above and the portal picks against whatever slots are free for fresh applications (DEPwD office memorandum).

A sanctioned name can still be visited afterwards: at block, district and state level, an algorithm picks at least 10% of units for physical checking (DEPwD scheme guidelines). The same paragraph puts the state government under a duty to hold beneficiary lists district-wise and category-wise, and that register is what a UT student can ask the Social Welfare Department to check a missing name against.

Fine print

Terms & conditions

Obtaining the scholarship on a false statement is the one breach with a permanent consequence. Cancellation is immediate, recovery of whatever was paid is at DEPwD's discretion, and the student goes on a blacklist that bars them from any scholarship scheme for good (DEPwD scheme guidelines).

Two lesser breaches carry money consequences rather than a bar. Changing the subject of the course the scholarship was awarded for may have the award cancelled, and discontinuing the studies part-way through the year makes the scholar liable to refund the amount, again at the department's discretion.

Conduct stays a live condition, and the trigger sits with the head of the institution rather than with the department or the UT: a report of unsatisfactory progress by the scholar's own default, or of misconduct, is enough for the sanctioning authority to cancel the award or hold payment back for as long as it thinks fit (DEPwD scheme guidelines). Monitoring of the scheme itself sits with DEPwD and runs through the portal.

Get help

Contact

The office that owns this scheme inside the UT is the Social Welfare Department of the UT Administration at the District Court Premises, Fort Area, Moti Daman, and its notices are issued over the signature of the Director-cum-Deputy Secretary (Social Welfare and Women & Child Development) (Social Welfare Department NSP notice for academic year 2026-27).

For a post-matric student the first door is not that office. It is the Institute Nodal Officer at the college, who verifies the application on the portal, and the district Mamlatdar, who issues the certificates it has to carry. The notice reaches institutions through the Assistant Director of Education in each district, and it is copied to the Secretary (Social Welfare and WCD) and to the Collector of Daman, Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli. For the scheme's rules rather than its local handling, the owner is the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities.

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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