Thank you for your support!

During 2020-21, nine hundred and eighty-one (981) scholarships, a record, were awarded to the students who met our rigorous criteria with regard to need and educational ability. Scholarship recipients belong to families much below the poverty line but who have shown clear evidence of ability and merit in pursuing higher education. In line with recent trends, around three-quarters of the recipients were women, and two-thirds from rural areas. These scholarships have a transformational impact on the lives of the recipients, their families, and their entire communities.

For the current year (2021-22), there have been over 2000 eligible applications—a record, and we hope to provide at least 1200 scholarships. The process of awarding scholarships is well underway and will be completed by the end of March.

The table below provides the distribution of scholarships by discipline for 2020-2021:

Our Success Story 

Amandeep Kaur 

Staff Nurse at American Oncology branch of Dayanand Medical College & Hospital

Amandeep Kaur was born in Butahari a small village in Ludhiana. Her father is a watchman, and her mother cooks food at the hospital for Doctors. An enthusiastic child, Amandeep was a brilliant student in her school days. She won many laurels not only in academics but in extra-curricular activities like model making and Gatka martial art to name a few. She got more than 80% marks in the board exams from Govt. School in 2014. She’s quite lucky in those days to get chosen among 6 students by the Dept. of School Education-Punjab under the scheme of the Society for Promotion of Quality Education for Poor & Meritorious Students where she got admitted to Bathinda in the curriculum of senior sec level and she opted Medical for study. To know more about the scheme, please read:

Punjab Govt has opened six Meritorious schools at Amritsar, Bathinda, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Patiala & Mohali under the "Society for Promotion of Quality Education for Poor & Meritorious Student of Punjab" for students from Govt schools who have scored more than 80% marks in Matric. The schools are residential and affiliated to PSEB and are for 10+1 & L0+2 classes only with the aim of placing deserving students into professional colleges at the all-India level.

Unfortunately in 2015, while she was in 11th class, her father suffered from a Paralytic attack and later lost his one kidney, at that time he was working as a Plumber. Her mother donated her one kidney to save her husband’s life. She too was working from home as a skilled laborer for the woolen hosiery factory. They both have lost their main occupation and compromised with menial jobs.

Amandeep achieved rank 564 in Punjab for MBBS course, as she wants to become Doctor but due to high fees, she gave up the chance and opted for a nursing course. Overall, she cleared the entrance exam and achieved the rank 83 in Punjab. She received help from the village’s local gurdwara committee to pay her initial fee. She was looking for some scholarship help as well and one day she has seen the SHDF Scholarships advertisement given through Nishkam Delhi. She fulfills all the requirements and went on to apply for the scholarship program and got selected. She completed her B.Sc. in Nursing with an excellent score.

At present, she is working as a Staff Nurse in the branch of American Oncology which runs in the collaboration with Dayanand Medical College & Hospital (DMCH), Ludhiana. She has played an important role in saving lives due to Covid this year and giving her best every day. She thanked both SHDF and Nishkam in giving her financial support and strongly believes that “Helping hands are better than praying lips” and is working towards giving back to the needy.