Across-the-board hike in fellowship amounts for researchers

New Delhi: Government on Tuesday announced a quantum hike in fellowship of research scholars, which would be in addition to entitlements enjoyed by them such as house rent and medical benefits.

The hike, which comes into effect from this month itself, follows prolonged protests by various research scholars demanding revision in scholarship amount. The decision will put an additional burden of about Rs 750 crore on the exchequer.

With the across-the-board hike, a junior research fellow will get Rs 25,000 per month, a jump of Rs 9,000 per month. Likewise, a senior research fellow will get

Rs 28,000 per month, a hike of Rs 10,000.

The hike in case of a research associate (I) will be from Rs 22,000 to Rs 36,000 per month, in case of research associate (II) it will be from Rs 23,000 to Rs 38,000 per month and for research associate (III) the hike will be from Rs 24,000 to Rs 40,000.

The decision was announced by science and technology minister Jitendra Singh.

"Each ministry and other agencies can now use these hikes as guidelines to make suitable changes to their specific fellowship programmes," he told reporters.

The ministry will also do a periodic evaluation of the fellowship and put in place a web-based fellowship assessment and disbursement mechanism so that delays in disbursement mechanisms are avoidable, he said.

The hike caps a prolonged protest by researchers in premier institutions, including the Indian Institute of Science, IISERs, IITs, JNU, CSIR institutes, NIT, NCBS, AIIMS, who had complained about a discouraging research environment with lack of funding and delays in payment.