Shillong, Aug 27: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma today released the first installment of the Umbrella Post-Matric Scholarship for Scheduled Tribe students for 2025-26 at Shillong College.
A total of Rs 93.698 crore was transferred through Direct Benefit Transfer to 96,812 verified beneficiaries. Total expenditure for the year is estimated at Rs 198.42 crore, with Centre’s share at Rs 84.55 crore and state’s 10 per cent share at Rs 9.40 crore.
Explaining the delay, the Chief Minister said the Finance Ministry has moved to a new Single Nodal Agency (SNA) mode where the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) directly transfers funds to students after state verification, instead of reimbursing the state.
“Earlier, the Ministry would reimburse us. Now if I give advance, RBI will also transfer, you will get double. So my window to give advance closed, but a new window of direct funding opened,” he said.
He said RBI will process the 96,812 accounts one by one, which may take 4-5 working days, and urged students not to panic if SMS is delayed due to holidays.
The Chief Minister also announced that the National Scholarship Portal for 2026-27 opened on July 3 and will remain open till November 30.
