Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government, under the direction of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, has begun distributing scholarships for the 2025-26 academic year, officials said on Thursday.

In the first phase, around Rs 62.13 crore was disbursed to benefit more than 2.5 lakh OBC students from classes 9 to 12. The second phase, scheduled for Friday, will transfer Rs 126.68 crore directly to the bank accounts of over 4.83 lakh students. The chief minister will personally oversee the direct transfer during a ceremony at Lok Bhavan Auditorium organized by the Backward Class Welfare Department.

Minister of State for Backward Class Welfare and Divyangjan Empowerment, Narendra Kashyap, said the government's goal is to ensure no talented student is deprived of education due to financial constraints. He added that the scholarship process has been made faster, fully digital, and transparent through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to Aadhaar-linked accounts.

Kashyap noted that the budget of the Backward Class Welfare Department has risen from Rs 1,295 crore in 2016-17 to Rs 3,124.45 crore in 2025-26, while allocations for scholarship and fee reimbursement schemes have also grown significantly.