Prime Minister’s Rural Development Fellows Scheme(PMRDFS)

Overview

About PMRDFS

Two cohorts went out under this fellowship and a third never did. Answering the Lok Sabha in July 2022, the Ministry of Rural Development put the whole arc on the record: 156 fellows selected in 2012 and 160 in 2014, their fellowships completed in 2016 and 2017, and after that no batch selected at all. The same answer carries the ending. The Government decided in July 2021 to close the scheme, for want of progress in building a consensus on continuing or revamping it, and on the closure of its operating agency, the Council of Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology (Ministry of Rural Development, Lok Sabha Unstarred Question 323). Anyone still looking for a PMRDF application window is looking at a scheme that stopped recruiting more than a decade ago. What follows are the terms that governed the fellowship while it ran.

PMRDF was a placement, not a scholarship. A selected fellow moved to a backward district, worked under the District Collector through a fellowship that ran two years in total including an orientation of up to three months, and drew a stipend rather than a salary, because fellows were explicitly not employees of the Government under the scheme's own rules (PMRDF revised guidelines, April 2014).

The districts were chosen for a reason the guidelines set out at length. Parts of the Central Indian Plateau spread across Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Bihar and West Bengal shared a poverty ratio exceeding 50% of the population, heavy forest cover and a high proportion of tribal and Dalit residents, and the Ministry read the resulting isolation as one root of extremist activity in those pockets (PMRDF revised guidelines, April 2014). The fellow was meant to be an extra pair of trained hands for a district administration that the same document described as short of capacity to lead its own reform.

Coverage widened once. The scheme began in the Integrated Action Plan districts of nine states and was extended to seven states in the North East and to Jammu and Kashmir, so the last active map ran across Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Telangana, Tripura and West Bengal (Ministry of Rural Development, Lok Sabha Starred Question 37).

The last public head count is small enough to be worth stating plainly. In its December answer to Starred Question 231, the Ministry reported 100 fellows still posted across 18 states, with Chhattisgarh holding 18 and Jharkhand 17, and Maharashtra, Manipur, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh holding 1 each (Ministry of Rural Development, Lok Sabha Starred Question 231). The same answer said a review team had looked at the scheme and that modifications were under consideration. Nothing was announced afterwards, and the closure decision followed in July 2021 (Ministry of Rural Development, Lok Sabha Unstarred Question 323).

Who runs it

Provider

At a glance

Key details

Calendar

Important dates

There was no annual calendar in practice. The guidelines said intake would be planned to facilitate annual batches, and the record shows two batches, two years apart, and then nothing.

The gap between the two Parliament answers is the clearest signal of what happened. Asked in February whether it proposed to discontinue the scheme, the Ministry replied "No Madam" (Ministry of Rural Development, Lok Sabha Starred Question 37); by the time it answered again in July 2022, the closure decision was already a year old (Ministry of Rural Development, Lok Sabha Unstarred Question 323).

Who can apply

Eligibility criteria

The candidate PMRDF wanted was a graduate in their twenties who could be posted alone to a block town, not a student looking for fee support. The eligibility bar moved between the two batches, and the Ministry set both versions out side by side in Parliament.

For the first batch, the age band was 21 to 30 years at the time of application, with a ceiling of 35 years for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates, and the qualification was a graduate degree in law, engineering, medicine, social sciences or business administration, or a post-graduate degree in any subject. Working knowledge of Hindi or the local language and its customs sat in that first list as a stated criterion. For the second batch the band tightened to 22 to 27 years, with a ceiling of 32 years for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates, the qualification became a four-year graduate degree or a post-graduate degree where the first degree ran shorter, and language dropped out of the essential list the second batch was tested against (Ministry of Rural Development, Lok Sabha Starred Question 37), surviving in the revised guidelines only as a desirable criterion (PMRDF revised guidelines, April 2014).

The marks rule moved as well, which is why criteria quoted from old notices disagree. There was no minimum-marks condition at all when the scheme started; the Government added the 50% aggregate requirement later, as the Ministry noted when it listed the criteria for Parliament in 2015 (Ministry of Rural Development, Lok Sabha Starred Question 258).

Two further conditions sat outside both criteria lists and still decided applications. A degree earned outside India counted if the awarding university was recognised by the Association of Indian Universities, and a candidate still waiting on results could not apply at all, because only those who had completed every requirement and received the degree were eligible (PMRDF 2014 online application instructions). Physical fitness had to be certified by a Government medical hospital on the format printed in the guidelines, which described the work as arduous and meant it. Seats were reserved at 15% for Scheduled Castes and 15% for Scheduled Tribes, and that proportion was carried into each state's allocation (PMRDF revised guidelines, April 2014).

Who cannot apply

Exclusions

A candidate who had once been named in the final result sheet for the fellowship and then walked away before finishing the term was barred from taking it again. That is the only exclusion the scheme published as such, and it was aimed squarely at attrition in the districts.

Three other bars operated at the application stage. Anyone found ineligible, or found to have given incorrect or inadequate information, could be disqualified at any stage of the admission process by the Ministry or by the institute running the test. A fee paid by demand draft, pay order or any route outside the listed payment modes led to the application being rejected outright, with no communication sent to the candidate. And an examination centre, once chosen in the form, could not be changed for any reason (PMRDF 2014 online application instructions).

Once selected, misrepresentation stayed fatal. The guidelines allowed the fellowship to be terminated if it emerged at any stage that a candidate had secured it by suppressing or misstating a material fact (PMRDF revised guidelines, April 2014).

Continuation

Renewal conditions

Nothing about PMRDF was renewable in the way a scholarship is renewed year on year. The fellowship ran for a fixed total of two years including an orientation period not exceeding three months, and the agreement each fellow signed described that period as non-extendable (PMRDF revised guidelines, April 2014).

What did depend on performance was money, not time. The second year carried a 10% increment over the first-year rate, granted only where the National Rural Livelihood Promotion Society, in consultation with the Programme Mentor, was satisfied with the fellow's work. Tenure moved in one narrow case: a fellow who took unpaid leave could have the fellowship extended by the number of days spent on it. The 2012 batch had a one-time option, exercised after a satisfactory first year, to choose a two-year or a three-year tenure, with the third year paid 10% above the second-year stipend; fellows who chose the shorter option gave up the degree programme that TISS was to run (PMRDF revised guidelines, April 2014).

What you get

Award & benefits

One word did most of the work in the stipend clause: consolidated.

Consolidated meant the fellow paid for things a salaried officer would not. Rent was borne by the fellow even though the District Collector was asked to help find safe accommodation, and buying health cover and life and disability cover for the whole fellowship, orientation included, was mandatory and came out of the same package (PMRDF revised guidelines, April 2014).

Travel worked on reimbursement rather than allowance. Costs were settled on actuals and capped at AC-II tier train fare by the shortest route or the equivalent, plus local transport, and a woman fellow with a child under five could claim the travel cost of a care-giver accompanying her. Inside the district, the administration was to provide transport for regular work, and the Collector was to supply office space, a computer or laptop and internet connectivity free of charge (PMRDF revised guidelines, April 2014).

The non-cash benefit was an academic one. Fellows studied for a post-graduate degree in Development Practice through distance learning and contact sessions run by a partner academic institution while they worked, and a fellowship certificate along with that degree was awarded on satisfactory completion of both the district engagement and the course requirements.

• The Fellow shall be entitled to a consolidated stipend package of ₹50,000/- (Rupees Fifty thousand only) per month during the orientation period.
• The Fellow shall be entitled to ₹75,000/- (Rupees Seventy Five Thousand only) per month during the first year of the Fellowship (post-orientation).
• The Fellow shall receive a 10% increment during the second year, subject to satisfactory performance.
• This package is deemed to cover the Fellow’s honorarium, boarding and lodging expenses during orientation, accommodation/house rent during the rest of the Fellowship period, health insurance, life and disability insurance cover, and any other contingency expenses.
• Travel reimbursement will be based on actual costs and restricted to AC-II tier train fare by the shortest route or equivalent, plus local transport cost. Women Fellows with children below five years are allowed the travel cost of a care-giver if the care-giver accompanies the Fellow with her child.
• Participation in a post graduate degree programme through distance learning and contact sessions leading to a post graduate degree in Development Practice.
• Award of a Fellowship Certificate and an appropriate post graduate degree in Development Practice upon satisfactory completion of engagement and course requirements.
• Office facilities made available by the District Collector, including suitable space, a computer/laptop, and internet connectivity free of charge.
• Provision of suitable modes of transport by District administration while travelling within the district for regular work.
• Disbursement of Stipend
• During the orientation programme, the stipend shall be paid by the National Rural Livelihood Promotion Society through the Programme Mentor.
• Post-placement, the National Rural Livelihood Promotion Society shall pay the monthly stipend to the Fellows by providing budgetary support to the State Rural Livelihood Mission society.
• The State Rural Livelihood Mission society shall make direct deposits into the bank account of each Fellow immediately upon confirming the attendance of the Fellow from the District Collector at the end of the month.
• The second-year increment is subject to the Fellow’s satisfactory performance as determined by the National Rural Livelihood Promotion Society in consultation with the Programme Mentor.
• _It is mandatory for the Fellows to purchase suitable health insurance and life and disability insurance coverage for the entire duration of the Fellowship, including the orientation period._
• _The Fellow shall not take up any type of employment with any other person, firm, or agency during the tenure of the Fellowship._
• _On successful completion of Fellowship, the Fellow is required to spend at least one year in public service as a paid full-time employee of the State Rural Livelihood Mission in the State she/he is assigned to._
• _Failure to join or complete the required one year of public service mandates the Fellow to return to the National Rural Livelihood Promotion Society the entire amount spent on academic programmes during the Fellowship (including orientation), plus an amount equivalent to the stipend of the last three months of the Fellowship period as compensation._

What to prepare

Documents required

The paper trail split cleanly into three moments, each asking for something different.

At application, the candidate proved citizenship, age, qualification and marks, with a caste certificate where a reserved seat was claimed and the medical fitness certificate on the format printed as Annexure-3 of the guidelines. Work experience, leadership roles and extra-curricular distinctions were supporting material against the desirable criteria, not entry requirements.

Inside the online form, the upload list was short: a photograph, a signature, and, where the fee had been paid in cash, the scanned PMRDF copy of the bank challan (PMRDF 2014 online application instructions).

At joining, the fellow signed an agreement with the National Rural Livelihood Promotion Society on Indian non-judicial stamp paper of Rs 100, along with the guarantor's undertaking attached to it as an appendix (PMRDF revised guidelines, April 2014).

Step by step

How to apply

There is no live application route. No batch has been selected since 2014 and the Government decided to close the scheme in July 2021, so no portal, no advertisement and no offline form is open for PMRDF (Ministry of Rural Development, Lok Sabha Unstarred Question 323). Scheme directories still set out the eligibility, benefit and document rules in the present tense, because those rules were never withdrawn on their own; what was withdrawn was the scheme they belonged to.

While it ran, recruitment began with a public advertisement, and applications were submitted on the format notified by the Central Government (PMRDF revised guidelines, April 2014). The second round moved online. Candidates filled an application form on a web system, chose an examination centre inside it for a computer-based entrance test, and paid a fee of Rs 770 by credit card, debit card or net banking, or Rs 750 plus bank charges in cash at a State Bank of India branch. Unemployed Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates whose parent's or guardian's annual income for 2012-13 fell below Rs 2.5 lakh paid Rs 270 online or Rs 250 in cash. A separate notice on the same system announced 20 fellowships set aside for Jammu and Kashmir, open to candidates from anywhere in India, with applications closing on 20 December 2013 (PMRDF 2014 online application instructions).

The nearest thing to a status check ran through the bank rather than through any dashboard. A candidate paying in cash downloaded the challan from the form, deposited the money at any State Bank of India branch and got the stamped copies back carrying the bank's journal number; that number then had to be typed into the challan details section of the online form and the scanned PMRDF copy uploaded before the payment registered against the application. Candidates were told to keep their own copy of the challan until the later selection stages were done, since it was the only proof of payment the process recognised (PMRDF 2014 online application instructions).

How winners are picked

Selection process

Selection ran as an open competition conducted through the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, which the guidelines named as the Programme Mentor and made responsible for recruitment, selection, initial orientation, mentoring and monitoring (Ministry of Rural Development, Lok Sabha Starred Question 37).

The written stage was a computer-based entrance test taken at a centre the candidate had locked in on the form (PMRDF 2014 online application instructions). Shortlisted candidates were then assessed on motivation, leadership, professional skills and pro-poor orientation, which is how the guidelines describe the stage rather than as a subject examination (PMRDF revised guidelines, April 2014).

Where a fellow landed was decided by score. States were allotted on a merit-cum-choice basis by the Ministry, so a fellow with higher marks in the recruitment examination picked a state before anyone below them, and the state repeated the same procedure when allotting districts. Two women fellows of the same batch who wanted to be posted as a pair could be, with their average score deciding when their joint choice came up. The base was deliberately not the district headquarters: the guidelines called a block-level town in a poor part of the district the ideal posting (PMRDF revised guidelines, April 2014).

Fine print

Terms & conditions

One obligation outlasted the fellowship itself. On successful completion, a fellow had to spend at least one year in public service as a paid full-time employee of the State Rural Livelihood Mission in the assigned state. Failing to join or to finish that year meant repaying the entire amount spent on academic programmes during the fellowship, orientation included, plus an amount equal to the last three months of stipend as compensation (PMRDF revised guidelines, April 2014).

Leaving early had its own price. A fellow could exit on two months' notice or by refunding two months' stipend in lieu, and the academic cost was recovered on a stated formula: what the Society paid every educational institute running the fellows' programmes, divided by the number of fellows in the batch, divided by 24 months, multiplied by the months the fellow had actually spent (PMRDF revised guidelines, April 2014).

Outside work was barred for the whole tenure, and leave was thin: 8 days of casual leave, 2 restricted holidays and 15 days of earned leave in a calendar year, with up to 45 days of unpaid leave where adequately justified and an additional sixteen weeks of unpaid maternity leave, every day of it sanctioned by the District Collector (PMRDF revised guidelines, April 2014).

Reporting was continuous. The fellow kept a daily diary, sent a weekly report to the District Collector and filed a monthly attendance statement countersigned by the Collector before the stipend was released, and the Collector gave written feedback every three months and a written appraisal once a year.

Get help

Contact

What a fellow got in place of a helpdesk was a named chain of escalation. A fellow raised concerns with the District Collector first; where the Collector could not resolve them, or was himself the subject, the fellow took the matter to the Mission Director of the State Rural Livelihood Mission or to the National Rural Livelihood Promotion Society, which acted on the recommendations of the state's Principal Secretary for Rural Development and was required to keep the matter confidential (PMRDF revised guidelines, April 2014). With the scheme closed, no PMRDF helpdesk, applicant helpline or programme office is published; the Department of Rural Development in the Ministry of Rural Development remains the department of record for it.

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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References

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