A FasTag for scholarships? Jhunjhunu pilot shows way in easing student pain | India News

GRANT A WISH: (From left) Piramal Foundation’s Shraddha Mishra with MNREGA employee Suman, her daughter Ronak and batchmate Kajal (in college uniform)

That chilly morning on December 6, there was a quiet buzz at Hameeri Kalan Senior Secondary School in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan. For the scholars, academics, and oldsters gathered there, it wasn’t an unusual day. It felt like a pageant — a scholarship pageant.
Class 9 student Kajal, clutching her pocket book, ran towards her mom, who had taken the morning off from her job as a each day wage employee. “Maa, mobile de na,” she requested, keen and out of breath. “Kai karegi?” her mom mentioned, handing over the cellphone. Kajal tapped the display, and abruptly, her face lit up. “Ho gaya! Paisa aa gaya!” she yelled. Other college students seemed up and rapidly ran to their dad and mom, grabbing telephones, dialing numbers, and checking messages. “Mujhe bhi SMS aaya!” (Even I received a cash switch SMS), one among them shouted. Yet one other student mentioned Rs 3,600 had been credited to their account. For the academics, and workers of nonprofit Piramal Foundation who stood watching, it was a proud second. “It felt like a lottery. Very often, students don’t receive their scholarships even after passing out from school,” says Hameeri Kalan college vice-principal Rajkamal Kataria.
In a scholarship system riddled with delays and distrust, Digi Vritti, a small digital pilot in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan is utilizing real-time expertise to assist college students get their scholarships inside days, not months. Just as a FASTag removes toll queues and Digi Yatra quickens airport boarding.
For Piramal Group chairman Ajay Piramal, the Digi Vritti pilot is not only about fixing delays and inefficiencies. It’s about reimagining how India delivers alternatives to its most deserving college students. “The existing scholarship system faces numerous challenges. From manual verification and delays in disbursement to trust deficits among beneficiaries, deserving students are often left without timely support,” he says. Digi Vritti goals to cut back profit supply occasions from 40 weeks to below per week, utilizing digital wallets and verifiable credentials to simplify processes and guarantee transparency.
Sher Singh Rajput and Shraddha Mishra of the Piramal Foundation say two colleges have been chosen for the pilot, Hameeri Kalan and Bajawa Suron Ka, as each had excessive numbers of SC/ST and marginalised college students, with lower than 20% of these eligible receiving scholarships through the years. The platform — powered by the Open Network for Employment and Skilling Transformation (ONEST), a part of the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) framework — connects college students needing scholarships with bhamashahs (donors). “It’s like Flipkart,” Rajput explains. “Buyers are matched with sellers — it’s as simple as that.” This system might scale as much as embody govt scholarships in the longer term.

How it really works

Every 12 months, India units apart over Rs 50,000 crore for scholarships and advantages to assist marginalised communities — almost 1 / 4 of the inhabitants. Yet, a lot of this cash goes unspent. A examine by the Piramal Foundation highlights how limitless paperwork and fragmented programs discourage college students from even making use of.
Most college students in India should navigate a number of portals, typically with out dependable web entry to use for scholarships. Aadhaar playing cards or caste certificates are incessantly mismatched, forcing households to make repeated journeys to govt workplaces. Besides, for each software, one should dish out between Rs 500 and Rs 1,000. “It’s disheartening to get them to fill the forms as we never know when and whether at all the kids will receive the scholarship amount. Most of them have stopped applying altogether,” says Kisturi, a trainer on the college who manages the method.
For MNREGA labourer Suman, each minute misplaced chasing paperwork for daughter Ronak’s scholarship means misplaced wages. “I’ve been waiting for her scholarship since she was in Class 6. She’s in Class 9 now. Last time, I spent almost Rs 1,000 on photocopies, bank visits, running from one office to another. That’s what I earn in 10 days of hard work,” Suman says.
Digi Vritti eliminates these pain factors by making the method simple (see field). It additionally makes scholarships simpler to know, guaranteeing even small grants like examination charges or skilling programs attain the precise college students rapidly. Verification of all paperwork occurs instantly on the college, slicing by means of the same old layers of forms. District block schooling officer Manish Kumar Chahar says the perfect half is that college students gained’t have to use repeatedly. “They’ll simply get notifications about scholarships that match their eligibility and profiles,” he says. Piramal sees this challenge as a mannequin for broader reforms. “Philanthropy and technology are increasingly converging to address deep systemic challenges,” he explains. “Digi Vritti exemplifies this synergy.”