That chilly morning on December 6, there was a quiet buzz at Hameeri Kalan Senior Secondary College in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan. For the scholars, academics, and fogeys gathered there, it wasn’t an unusual day. It felt like a competition — a scholarship competition.
Class 9 scholar Kajal, clutching her pocket book, ran towards her mom, who had taken the morning off from her job as a day by day wage employee. “Maa, cellular de na,” she requested, keen and out of breath. “Kai karegi?” her mom mentioned, handing over the cellphone. Kajal tapped the display, and instantly, her face lit up. “Ho gaya! Paisa aa gaya!” she yelled. Different college students appeared up and rapidly ran to their mother and father, grabbing telephones, dialing numbers, and checking messages. “Mujhe bhi SMS aaya!” (Even I received a cash switch SMS), certainly one of them shouted. Yet one more scholar mentioned Rs 3,600 had been credited to their account. For the academics, and employees of nonprofit Piramal Basis who stood watching, it was a proud second. “It felt like a lottery. Fairly often, college students don’t obtain their scholarships even after passing out from faculty,” says Hameeri Kalan faculty 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 know-how to assist college students get their scholarships inside days, not months. Simply as a FASTag eliminates toll queues and Digi Yatra hastens airport boarding.
For Piramal Group chairman Ajay Piramal, the Digi Vritti pilot isn’t just about fixing delays and inefficiencies. It’s about reimagining how India delivers alternatives to its most deserving college students. “The present scholarship system faces quite a few challenges. From guide verification and delays in disbursement to belief deficits amongst beneficiaries, deserving college students are sometimes left with out well timed help,” he says. Digi Vritti goals to cut back profit supply instances from 40 weeks to beneath per week, utilizing digital wallets and verifiable credentials to simplify processes and guarantee transparency.
Sher Singh Rajput and Shraddha Mishra of the Piramal Basis say two faculties had 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 Community for Employment and Skilling Transformation (ONEST), a part of the Open Community for Digital Commerce (ONDC) framework — connects college students needing scholarships with bhamashahs (donors). “It’s like Flipkart,” Rajput explains. “Consumers are matched with sellers — it’s so simple as that.” This method may scale as much as embody govt scholarships sooner or later.

The way it works

Yearly, India units apart over Rs 50,000 crore for scholarships and advantages to help marginalised communities — practically 1 / 4 of the inhabitants. But, a lot of this cash goes unspent. A examine by the Piramal Basis highlights how countless 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 often mismatched, forcing households to make repeated journeys to govt places of work. Moreover, for each utility, one should dish out between Rs 500 and Rs 1,000. “It’s disheartening to get them to fill the kinds as we by no means know when and whether or not in any respect the children will obtain the scholarship quantity. Most of them have stopped making use of altogether,” says Kisturi, a trainer on the faculty who manages the method.
For MNREGA labourer Suman, each minute misplaced chasing paperwork for daughter Ronak’s scholarship means misplaced wages. “I’ve been ready for her scholarship since she was in Class 6. She’s in Class 9 now. Final time, I spent nearly Rs 1,000 on photocopies, financial institution visits, operating from one workplace to a different. That’s what I earn in 10 days of arduous work,” Suman says.
Digi Vritti eliminates these ache factors by making the method straightforward (see field). It additionally makes scholarships simpler to grasp, guaranteeing even small grants like examination charges or skilling programs attain the appropriate college students rapidly. Verification of all paperwork occurs instantly on the faculty, chopping by the same old layers of forms. District block training officer Manish Kumar Chahar says one of the best half is that college students received’t have to use repeatedly. “They’ll merely get notifications about scholarships that match their eligibility and profiles,” he says. Piramal sees this venture as a mannequin for broader reforms. “Philanthropy and know-how are more and more converging to handle deep systemic challenges,” he explains. “Digi Vritti exemplifies this synergy.”