PHILATELY SCHOLARSHIP SCHEME “Deen Dayal SPARSH Yojana”

PHILATELY SCHOLARSHIP SCHEME “Deen Dayal SPARSH Yojana”

[For the year 2024-2025 for students of class VIth to IXth ]

Department of Posts has launched a philately scholarship scheme called ” Deen Dayal SPARSH Yojana (Scholarship for Promotion of Aptitude & Research in Stamps as a Hobby)” for students from Class VI to IX for generating interest regarding Philately amongst students.

About scheme:

Students of class VI to IX having good academic record and pursuing philately as a hobby will be awarded scholarship on the basis of Philately Quiz & Philately Project to be conducted in Karnataka Circle Level. The amount of Scholarship per awardees is Rs. 6000/- per annum @ Rs. 500/- per month.

1. Eligibility Conditions:

• a) A Candidate must be a student (Class VIth to IXth) of a recognized School within Karnataka.
• b) Concerned School should have a Philately Club and the candidate should be a member of the Club,
• c) In case the School Philately Club hasn’t been established a student having his own Philately Deposit Account may also be considered.
• d) A candidate must have good academic record. At the time of selection for award of scholarship the candidate must have scored at least 60% marks or equivalent grade/ grade point in the recent final examination in 2024 (i,e V, VI, VII & VIII final exams for students studying in VI, VII, VIII & IX respectively). Copies of progress report/marks card/certificate from the school authorities should be enclosed along with the application. There will be 5% relaxation for SC/ST.
• e) Requirement of having a Philately Account/Membership of the School Philately Club would be with respect to the Date of Application and the student applying has to mention the same in his/her application form. This is mandatory.

2. Selection Process: The Selection Process will be consisting of two levels (Level 1- Philately Written Quiz & Level-2-Philately Project).

Level 1: A Philately Written Quiz at regional level will be conducted on 30th September 2024 by postal authorities in their respective divisions which would act as a Screening Test for the second level. The last date for submission of the application of level -1 is 3rd September 2024. Time duration for the written quiz test will be of One Hour. Department of posts reserves the right to change the dates at a later stage. The change if any in last date for submission, date of written quiz etc will be uploaded on www.karnatakapost.gov.in website. No direct communication will be made in this regard.

Level 2: Students selected at the Regional Level Written Quiz will have to submit a Philately Project for final selection within Fifteen days after their selection is announced. There will be no weight age of the marks secured in Philately Quiz in the final evaluation and the final selection would be decided solely on the basis of the marks secured in Philately Project. The results of the selected candidates of Level 1 the quiz will be uploaded on Karnataka Postal Circle website www.karnatakapost.gov.in

The candidates selected at Philately Written Quiz should submit their project on any one of the topic from the list provided within 15 days to the concerned Divisional Office (As in Annexure appended). Participants are requested to regularly visit the website and keep themselves updated about the scheme from time to time.

3. Syllabus:

Philately Written Quiz will be a Multiple-Choice Question (MCQ) quiz consisting of 50 (Fifty) questions from following subject: Current Affair, History, Science, Sports, Culture, Geography and Philately (local & national).

Philately Project should not be of more than 4 to 5 pages. In the project, student may use not more than 16 stamps and not more than 500 words. Detailed guidelines regarding the Project & sample project template will be uploaded on Karnataka Postal Circle website www.karnatakapost.gov.in after announcement of Philately written quiz to the selected candidates.

4. Amount of Scholarship: The amount of Scholarship is to be Rs. 6000/- per annum @ Rs. 500/- per month for a selected candidate. Top 40 students from Level 2 (10 students from each of the VI, VII, VIII & IX Class) will be awarded scholarships.

5. Disbursement of Scholarship: The scholarship will be transferred in the joint account (with parents) of awardees in India Post Payment Bank or Post Office Savings Bank in a branch, which has core banking facility.

6. General Conditions:

• An awardee is eligible for the scholarship provided he/she maintains good conduct and continues his/her studies as a regular student.
• Scholarship may be revoked at any point of time by the competent authority on finding any irregularities in the eligibility criteria.
• A student must continue to have a Philately Deposit Account during the scholarship period.
• Students selected last year has to apply afresh. The Philately Deposit Account opened by them earlier should be live without a break.

7. Application Procedure:

• Application form can be downloaded from www.karnatakapost.gov.in Application for participation in the level-1 written exam should be submitted to the Superintendent / Senior Superintendent of the Postal Division (As in the Annexure appended) where school of the student is situated, by registered post or speed post.
• The applications of all the interested candidates of a school can also be sent in one envelope by the school incharge alongwith a covering letter with details of students. Before sending the applications the candidates should ensure that they fulfill all the eligibility criteria prescribed.
• Last date for submission/posting of application is 3rd September 2024. Application posted after 3rd September 2024 and applications posted through ordinary post/ private courier or by hand submission will not be entertained

8. Please visit www.indiapost.gov.in and www.karnatakapost.gov.in from time to time and keep updated about the scheme, eligibility etc. Department reserves the right to change the dates/modify the scheme/eligibility criteria. The decision of Chief PMG, Karnataka Circle, Bengaluru-560001 is final on the issue. Participants (both level 1 and 2) are requested to regularly visit the website mentioned and keep themselves updated about the scheme from time to time. No direct communication will be made in this regard.