The Expert Empowered Committee (EEC) which was set up in order to enhance the fellowship structure for Ph.D. scholars, they have been instructed to prepare and offer incentives for research scholars in two months.
The Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology Ashutosh Sharma believes Ph.D. students are the “backbone” in the progress of a country.
Speaking of the committee, Sharma asserted that officials of various ministries, in order to enhance the quality and experience of doctoral research, will be setting up fellowships and prepare to offer incentives as well.
“We want to look at the value of Ph.D. in a holistic way. Ph.D. students are the backbone in progress of a country as they strongly contribute to various fields. “An empowered committee has been formed to bring all ministries together to periodically visit the quantum of fellowship and incentivize research,” Sharma said while attending the press conference held at CSIR Science Centre.
It was also discussed the hike in fellowships beneficial to 6000 research students. Sharma asserted the importance of quality of research over quantity of research.
“Sometimes quantity of research gets marred by the quality of research which may not be up to the mark. This gap needs to be reduced and quality of research can be improved by improving the incentives for it,” he said.
“We will consider what and how much incentive is to be given after the full budget comes,” he added.
The Ministry also released a statement where it was stated that there has been an improvement of 30-35 percent in the stipends offered to research associates, and the highest stipend offered remains at ₹54000.
The stipend offered to the Junior Research Fellowships for the first two years of the research has been increased from ₹25000 to ₹35000 per month after the continued agitation by the students demanding 80% raise. The Policy started functioning by January 1.