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

That cold morning on Dec 6, there was a quiet buzz at Hameeri Kalan Senior Secondary School in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan. For the students, teachers, and parents gathered there, it wasn’t an ordinary day. It felt like a festival — a scholarship festival.Class 9 student Kajal, clutching her notebook, ran toward her mother, who had taken the morning off from her job as a daily wage worker. “Maa, mobile de na,” she asked, eager and out of breath. “Kai karegi?” her mother said, handing over the phone. Kajal tapped the screen, and suddenly, her face lit up. “Ho gaya! Paisa aa gaya!” she yelled. Other students looked up and quickly ran to their parents, grabbing phones, dialing numbers, and checking messages. “Mujhe bhi SMS aaya!” (Even I got a money transfer SMS), one of them shouted. Yet another student said Rs 3,600 had been credited to their account. For the teachers, and staff of nonprofit Piramal Foundation who stood watching, it was a proud moment. “It felt like a lottery. Very often, students don’t receive their scholarships even after passing out from school,” says Hameeri Kalan school vice-principal Rajkamal Kataria.In a scholarship system riddled with delays and mistrust, Digi Vritti, a small digital pilot in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan is using real-time technology to help students get their scholarships within days, not months. Just as a FASTag gets rid of toll queues and Digi Yatra speeds up airport boarding. medium nocaption118806189For Piramal Group chairman Ajay Piramal, the Digi Vritti pilot is not just about fixing delays and inefficiencies. It’s about reimagining how India delivers opportunities to its most deserving 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 aims to reduce benefit delivery times from 40 weeks to under a week, using digital wallets and verifiable credentials to simplify processes and ensure transparency.Sher Singh Rajput and Shraddha Patel of the Piramal Foundation say two schools were chosen for the pilot, Hameeri Kalan and Bajawa Suron Ka, as both had high numbers of SC/ST and marginalised students, with less than 20% of those eligible receiving scholarships over the years. The platform — powered by the Open Network for Employment and Skilling Transformation (ONEST), part of the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) framework — connects 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 could scale up to include govt scholarships in the future.Every year, India sets aside over Rs 50,000 crore for scholarships and benefits to support marginalised communities — nearly a quarter of the population. Yet, much of this money goes unspent. A study by the Piramal Foundation highlights how endless paperwork and fragmented systems discourage students from even applying.Most students in India must navigate multiple portals, often without reliable internet access to apply for scholarships. Aadhaar cards or caste certificates are frequently mismatched, forcing families to make repeated trips to govt offices. Besides, for every application, one must 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 teacher at the school who manages the process.For MNREGA labourer Suman, every minute lost chasing paperwork for daughter Ronak’s scholarship means lost 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. ShowQuotesDigi Vritti eliminates these pain points by making the process easy (see box). It also makes scholarships easier to understand, ensuring even small grants like exam fees or skilling courses reach the right students quickly. Verification of all documents happens directly at the school, cutting through the usual layers of bureaucracy. District block education officer Manish Kumar Chahar says the best part is that students won’t have to apply repeatedly. “They’ll simply get notifications about scholarships that match their eligibility and profiles,” he says.For students like Ronak and Kajal, who dream of becoming police officers one day, the scholarship money means buying new computers and other essential tools. One student, almost shyly, mentions wanting a jacket — something warm for the cold mornings at school. Piramal sees this project as a model for broader reforms. “Philanthropy and technology are increasingly converging to address deep systemic challenges,” he explains. “Digi Vritti exemplifies this synergy.”