Gujarat ST students: hostel food bill and first-year instrument grants 2026-27, last date 30 November

These are two separate grants, and neither is the post-matric scholarship. They are listed in the same Tribal Development Department notification and share its application window, but they are their own schemes with their own rules — and, importantly, a much higher income ceiling than the post-matric scholarship most ST students apply for. Applications opened on 1 September 2026 and close on 30 November 2026.

Both use the same income test: family income below ₹6.00 lakh a year. That matters, because the main post-matric scholarship cuts off at ₹2.50 lakh for the central route. A family earning ₹4 lakh a year is above that line and may assume nothing here is for them. These two grants are.

VKY-157: food bill assistance in college-attached hostels

• Your annual family income must be below ₹6.00 lakh
• You must be living in a college-attached hostel while studying
• You get ₹1,500 a month, for 10 months, towards your food bill

Ten months rather than twelve is the academic year, so the grant is worth ₹15,000 across a full year of study.

VKY 164: instrument assistance for first-year students

• Your annual family income must be below ₹6.00 lakh
• You must be in the first year of a medical, engineering or diploma course
• The grant is for buying the instruments your course requires

The amount depends entirely on which course you are in:

This is a first-year grant only. The notification restricts it to students studying in the first year of those courses, so it is not something you can claim later in the degree if you miss it now. If you are in the first year of a medical, engineering or diploma course in Gujarat this year and your family income is under ₹6.00 lakh, this is the year to apply.

Where and how you apply is the same as for the scholarship. Go to gssp.gujarat.gov.in, choose Citizen Login under Login/Register, and register with a mobile number and email if you have not before. Applying through digitalgujarat.gov.in also works: Services, then Scholarship Services, then Request a New Service. Schemes still accepting applications show in green; closed ones show in red. The form runs through Registration Detail, Bank Details, Academic Details, Disability Detail and Attachment, then Verify Mobile Number and Confirm and Final Submit.

The rules that decide whether the money reaches you.

• Your bank account must be seeded with your Aadhaar, DBT-enabled, and neither closed nor dormant. Check it at npci.org.in under Customer, then Bharat Aadhaar Seeding Enabler (BASE), then Aadhaar Mapped Status.
• One application per Aadhaar number.
• If you are in a hostel — which is the whole basis of the food bill grant — you need a hosteller certificate certified by the competent authority of that hostel.
• If you study outside Gujarat, the online application is not enough. Documents attested by your institution must also reach your district office.

The department's own closing line applies here too: do not wait for the last date.

Checked on 5 September 2026 against the Gujarat State Scholarship Portal and the Tribal Development Department's own 2026-27 post-matric guidelines document, which the portal links. Gujarat changes these schemes between years, so open the official page linked above before you apply.