"If you educate the man, you educate the person, but if you educate the woman, you educate the nation."  Mahatma Gandhi

Higher education, especially in developing economies like India, directly contributes to the vertical upliftment of women, moreover towards economic sustainability. Representation of women in higher education is growing fast, but the representation of women from marginalized sections of the society, i.e., SC/ST, OBC and Minority has not been increased proportionately. Gross enrolment of girls in higher education is 25.4% whereas GER of girls from SC/ST is 21.8% and 15.9% respectively as compared to total GER in higher education 25.8% in All India Survey on Higher Education (2017-18).   The enrolment of scheduled Casts students is 14.4% and Scheduled Tribes students are just 5.2% of the total enrolment. There are about 35.0% of students in higher education belong to Other Backward Classes and merely 5.0% of students who belong to Muslim Minority and 2.2% from Other Minority Communities. On the other hand, female enrolment in institutions of national importance is still marginal in number.  Enrolment of Ph.D. scholars contributes to merely 0.10% of the total population in the higher education sector (AISHE, 2018). This paper here made an attempt to look into the status of girls/women in higher education and more specifically the financial assistance schemes in higher and research level of education among the marginalized community. 

KEY WORDS: Women Empowerment, Higher Education, Financial Assistance Scheme, Marginalized Sections