Prime Minister's Scholarship Scheme: Eligibility & Benefits

Honoring Service Through Higher Education

The Prime Minister's Scholarship Scheme (PMSS), administered by the Kendriya Sainik Board (KSB) under the Ministry of Defence and the Welfare and Rehabilitation Board (WARB) under the Ministry of Home Affairs, provides dedicated monthly financial assistance to dependent children and widows of Ex-Servicemen (ESM) and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF/Assam Rifles) personnel who sacrificed their lives or became disabled in the service of the nation.

Disbursement Amounts and Duration

The scholarship is paid annually directly via DBT for the full sanctioned duration of the professional degree course (typically 4 years for B.Tech, 5 years for MBBS/BDS, and 2 to 3 years for MBA/MCA).

Eligible Professional Degree Courses

PMSS applies strictly to first-degree professional courses recognized by statutory regulatory bodies in India:

• Engineering & Architecture: B.Tech, B.E., B.Arch (approved by AICTE).
• Medical & Paramedical: MBBS, BDS, B.Pharm, B.Sc Nursing, BPT (approved by NMC/DCI/PCI).
• Management & Computer Applications: MBA, MCA, BBA.
• Agricultural & Veterinary Sciences: B.Sc Agriculture, B.V.Sc.
• Ineligible Courses: Non-professional general degree courses such as plain BA, B.Sc, B.Com, and distance learning/diploma courses are not covered.

Order of Priority for Selection

Because scholarship quotas are capped annually (5,500 scholarships under KSB for Defence and 2,000 under WARB for CAPF), selections follow strict statutory priority tiers:

1. Category 1: Wards and widows of defence/CAPF personnel killed in action or internal security duties.
2. Category 2: Wards of personnel disabled in action and boarded out from service.
3. Category 3: Wards and widows of personnel who died during operational service with attributable causes.
4. Category 4: Wards of personnel disabled in operational service with attributable disability.
5. Category 5: Wards of gallantry award recipients (Param Vir Chakra, Ashok Chakra, etc.).
6. Category 6: Wards of retired/ex-servicemen personnel based on competitive academic merit.

Application Gateway

CAPF dependents apply via the National Scholarship Portal (scholarships.gov.in), while Armed Forces dependents apply through the Kendriya Sainik Board portal (ksb.gov.in), requiring certified service books, PPO numbers, and Zila Sainik Board endorsements.