Central Government Allots Rs.70,000 Fellowship for PhD Researchers

PhD Researchers at IITs or IISc will now receive a fellowship of Rs 70,000. This was announced by the Union higher education secretary Kewal Kumar Sharma.

What did the official say?

"As part of the research fellowship scheme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we wish the meritorious students who are being forced to leave the country for purely financial reasons stay within the country. We will provide 2,000 such monthly fellowships across the IIT system and IISc Bengaluru," Sharma said at the 67th Foundation Day of IIT Kharagpur at its Kharagpur campus in West Midnapore district yesterday. It will be given for a period of five years, he said.

Current fellowship amount

Presently researcher-students get Rs 25,000 as monthly scholarship at IITs.

Why has the Ph.D. research fellowship amount been increased?

This will also enable meritorious researchers, keen to further their research but forced to opt for corporate jobs for higher pay, to pursue their goal, he said. However, the scholarship recipients can't do any other job, the senior official said. "The cabinet nod for the proposal should come soon. We are hopeful to start it from the next session," he said. Also according to IIT-KGP director Partha Pratim Chakrabarti, this is a very good proposal.