The Hindu : National : Research fellowships to be raised

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 29, 2010
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

National

National

Research fellowships to be raised

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Centre plans to give a boost to research in basic science by increasing the number of research fellowships and fellowship money for scholars.

Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology T. Ramasami said the government was planning to increase the quantum of research fellowships by at least 40 per cent.

A Junior Research Fellow now gets Rs. 12,000 a month plus house rent allowance (HRA), while a Senior Research Fellow gets Rs. 14,000 a month plus HRA.

Participating in a function to release the report of a Task Force on Women in Science and Technology, the Secretary said the government was planning to ensure that every Ph.D scholar in the country got some fund or the other to pursue research.

Noting that a number of new institutions were coming up and at least 7,000 Ph.D holders were required to fill their faculty positions, he said the government was working to ensure that about 10,000 students completed their doctoral research every year.

The research fellowship grants are given by the departments and institutions under various science-related Ministries. DST is the nodal agency for fixing the quantum of the grants.

The move to increase the grants comes close on the heels of the decision taken by the Union Cabinet earlier this month to double the number of CSIR-UGC National Eligibility Test (NET) fellowships during the current plan period for CSIR.

As per that decision, 12,000 fellowships are to be provided by CSIR during the plan period — up from 6,000 offered in the 10th plan period, at an estimated cost of Rs.4434.34 crore.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National