1. Any candidate of Indian nationality belonging to minority community as notified under National Commission of Minorities Act 1992, (Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, Jains, Parsis, and Sikhs) is eligible to apply for the scheme.

2. In the States/UTs where some other minority communities notified by respective State/UT Governments exist, they may also be considered eligible for the programme but should not occupy more than 5% of the total seats in PM VIKAS scheme.

3. An assertion to this effect from the respective state government(s) shall be required.

4. The beneficiaries should fulfil the following eligibility criteria:

• Possess an Aadhaar card and an Aadhaar-linked bank account at the time of registration. In case the beneficiary does not possess an Aadhaar card or an Aadhaar-linked bank account, the PIA would be required to make provision for the same and get his/her Aadhaar card made and/or get his/her active bank account linked with Aadhaar card before initiation of training program.

• Preferably, beneficiaries belonging to EWS category and in the age group of 14-45 years shall be targeted for enrolment in the Traditional Training sub-component, Non-traditional Skilling sub-component and Education component in the scheme.

• Beneficiaries in the age group of 18-45 years shall be eligible for Leadership and Entrepreneurship Component in the scheme.

• Candidates under Skilling and Training component and Women Leadership and Entrepreneurship Component must fulfil the minimum education and experience qualification for the respective job role as prescribed in the NSQF norms.

5. Earmarking of seats for women beneficiaries:

• At least 33 percent of the total target shall be reserved for women beneficiaries in the Traditional Training and Non-traditional Skilling sub-components,

• At least 50 percent of the total target shall be reserved for women beneficiaries in the Education component and

• Women Leadership and Entrepreneurship Component shall exclusively be for women beneficiaries.

6. 3 percent of the total seats shall be reserved for Persons with Disability (PwDs) across all of the above three components.

7. Special provisions and dispensation shall be encouraged for mobilising minority candidates exclusively from disadvantaged communities such as persons with disabilities, transgenders etc.

8. To promote inter-community solidarity, up to 25 percent of the non-minority community among the Traditional Training Component and 15 percent in other components (belonging to EWS category) may be considered at scheme level in respective components.

9. In case reserved categories as prescribed under this scheme remain vacant, these vacant seats may be treated as unreserved.