Mumbai: For the past 15 months, thousands of scholars eligible for the National Fellowship for Other Backward Classes (NFOBC) have been left in limbo. These are students from OBC backgrounds who cleared the UGC-NET or CSIR-NET exams, but narrowly missed the cut-off for the Junior Research Fellowship (JRF). For them, the NFOBC was launched in 2014-15 as a parallel support system.

The fellowship places these students at par with JRF awardees, offering Rs 37,000 per month for Junior Research Fellows and Rs 42,000 for Senior Research Fellows (revised in January 2023), along with house rent allowance and biennial contingency grants. Yet the National Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation (NBCFDC), the authority responsible for releasing selection lists, has not released lists for the last three consecutive cycles – June 2024, December 2024 and June 2025 – citing a lack of clearance from the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE).

In response to an RTI filed on July 28, 2025 by Shubhi Yadav, a research scholar in political science at Bundelkhand University who is eligible for the NFOBC, first appellate authority at the NBCFDC Suresh Kumar admitted that while it has already received the list of selected candidates from the National Testing Agency (NTA) for the UGC-NET June 2024 cycle, it cannot release the list until it receives “necessary instructions” from the MoSJE. For the December 2024 cycle, NBCFDC said it was still awaiting the candidate list from NTA. “The list of selected candidates will be published on NBCFDC’s website after receiving clearance from the ministry,” the reply stated, adding that further queries should be directed to the MoSJE.

At the moment, those who had qualified for the fellowship previously are still receiving their stipend – though there is a delay of about two months, on average, in disbursal.

When asked why there was a delay and why the funds were not reimbursed regularly, Rajesh Kumar Makkar, deputy secretary in the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, declined to comment, stating that he was not authorised to speak to the media. The Wire also reached out to Indu Thapa, the Central Public Information Officer, NBCFDC, with the same queries. This article will be updated when a response is received.

The contrast with other fellowships under the MoSJE is striking. Fellowships for Scheduled Caste students and persons with disabilities continue to release selection lists and disburse stipends with regularity.

Instituted in 2014 and now running under the ministry’s SHREYAS umbrella (Scholarships for Higher Education for Young Achievers Scheme, 2021-26), the NFOBC provides 1,000 fellowships annually. Of these, 750 are tied to UGC-NET disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, while 250 go to CSIR-NET disciplines in the sciences, engineering and technology. This offers OBC candidates a parallel pathway to pursue doctoral research, and similar schemes exist for SC students and students with disabilities.

At Ranchi University, Amit Kumar, a research scholar who had been accessing the NFOBC, described the despair this situation has created. “Since its inception, this fellowship has been plagued with delays. But now, the complete non-release of lists for three cycles is pushing scholars into despair. The same ministry releases SC, ST and disability fellowships on time, but we are kept waiting,” he said. For many scholars, the problem is not simply uncertainty but survival itself. “Many of us are in debt,” said Sai Kiran, a scholar pursuing a PhD at Hyderabad Central University. “Without stipends, we cannot pay semester fees, do fieldwork, or even sustain our families. The fellowship bars us from taking employment, but the government doesn’t release funds. How are we supposed to survive?”

The impact is not only financial but also psychological. Students face pressure from families to abandon research and take up employment. Some have married and begun families, and without the stipend, the academic commitment becomes unsustainable. Others have spoken of depression and anxiety as they wait endlessly for a list that should have been released a long time ago.

Scholars have regularly written to the authorities. A letter signed by 60 research students across the country and sent to President Droupadi Murmu in November 2024 warned that “this situation not only undermines affirmative action but endangers the academic futures of hundreds of socially and economically disadvantaged students. The fellowship must be administered with transparency, timeliness and accountability.”

The MoSJE, in response to a grievance filed with the PMO, has acknowledged that the delay in releasing NFOBC lists for the June 2024, December 2024 and June 2025 UGC-NET cycles is due to the non-availability of sufficient funds under the scheme. It stated that an Expenditure Finance Committee proposal is under preparation for enhanced allocation and continuation of the scheme, and the grievance has been marked as “case closed” as of August 29, 2025.

The administrative picture is also murky. Official guidelines make clear that the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment owns the policy, the University Grants Commission implements it by drawing lists from the NET results, and payments are routed through the Direct Benefit Transfer system. Yet in response to RTIs, the NBCFDC has stated that it is “awaiting directions from the ministry” before declaring results. The bureaucratic buck-passing has only deepened student distrust.

Goutam Kumar Shaw, a PhD scholar in political science at Jadavpur University, narrowly missed qualifying for the JRF and has pinned his hopes on the NFOBC. The government’s failure to release selection lists for over 15 months has left him and many others in deep uncertainty. “We kept hearing that the list will come in the next 10-15 days. But for more than a year now, nothing has moved. This limbo is making us extremely anxious. At least if they declared the names – whether selected or rejected – we would have closure and could plan our research accordingly,” Shaw told The Wire.

Shaw, the sole earning member of his family, says the delay has only compounded his financial and emotional stress. Without fellowship support, even routine tasks such as traveling to libraries for research have become burdensome. “PhD students are forced to do everything except [their] PhD. The absence of fellowships is forcing us into debt, and many of us cannot sustain ourselves or our families,” he said. He worries the prolonged inaction signals a larger intention. “It feels as though they want to discontinue the fellowship altogether,” Shaw said.

“The prolonged suspension of NFOBC lists is more than just an administrative delay. It is a question of equity, accountability and the future of thousands of scholars from disadvantaged backgrounds. Unless the government takes urgent steps to resolve the funding bottleneck and restore confidence in the fellowship, it risks not only derailing individual academic careers but also undermining the very principles of social justice on which the scheme was founded,” said a scholar from Calicut University.

Osama Rawal is a law student, translator and journalist who reports on human rights violations, working-class issues, and communalism.

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