New Delhi, 23 March 2022: The number of students who have completed Humanities and Social Sciences courses under the National Overseas Scholarship (NOS) Programme during the past five years is given in the table below. However, this Department does not maintain sub-field wise data for the awardees under the NOS scheme therefore data for awardees who have studied Indian Culture is not maintained.

*the students are still studying abroad in their respective field

** From 2020-21 Field wise distribution of seats has been abolished.

This Department reviews the NOS scheme guidelines from time to time and makes changes for simplifying the procedures and to make the process more transparent. Since there is greater demand for study in science and technology fields, in order to better utilise the resources, scholarships can be prioritized for those subjects in greater demand. The fields of study where India has strength or where the field work is to be done in India can be left out of the list. Accordingly, topics/courses concerning Indian Culture, Heritage, History & Social studies on India will not be considered for award of scholarships from 2022-23 onwards, whereas other Humanities/Social Sciences which need international exposure such as Law, Economics, Psychology etc. are still available for funding. This change has provided more opportunities for the poor SC students to study in global best universities.

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