This fellowship is dedicated to empowering youth with disabilities who are passionate about their dreams and currently pursuing education. Empower to Rise focuses on creating meaningful opportunities, building essential capacities, and increasing accessibility in education for young people with disabilities.
What the Fellowship Offers
Each selected fellow will receive comprehensive support, including:
- Financial Reward: A cash award of Rs 50,000 to advance academic pursuits. This amount offers flexibility and can be used for:
- Payment of course fees.
- Setting up digital and technology requirements.
- Improving accessibility of physical and educational infrastructure.
- Upgrading or purchasing assistive devices and software.
Covering the costs for sign language interpreters and other support required for inclusive participation.
- Mentoring Support: Six months of personalised, individual mentoring to support in achieving academic and professional goals.
With over 35 applications received, the selection process was highly competitive. The 8 Empower to Rise 2026 Fellows are:
- Aditya Shankar Mishra, 20-year old student with locomotor disability from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Aditya is pursuing his 2nd year in B.A. (Hons) English from St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi.
- Bhumika Singh, 28-year old student with locomotor disability from Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh. Bhumika is pursuing her 1st year in MSW from Dr. Shakuntala Misra National Rehabilitation University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
- Marbilous Nongsteng, 28-year old Deaf student and from Meghalaya. Marbilous is pursuing her 1st year in B.Ed. from North East Regional institute of Education, Shillong, Meghalaya.
- Mayank Raj, 25-year old student with multiple disabilities from Nawada, Bihar. Mayank is pursuing his 1st year in MBA from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.
- Mohammad Arshad, 22-year old student with blindness from Allahabad. Arshad is pursuing his first year in M.A. History at University of Delhi.
- Rohan Carlo, 25-year old student with low vision from Bengaluru, Karnataka. Rohan is pursuing his 1st year in MS Research from International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore, Karnataka.
- Sandeep Kumar, 21-year old student with locomotor disability from Patna, Bihar. Sandeep is pursuing his 3rd year in B.Tech from Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh.
- Yashweer Singh, 21-year old student with locomotor disability from Champaran, Bihar. Yashweer is pursuing his 4th year in B.Sc. LLB (Hons.) from Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar.