MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI Y.S. CHOWDARY)
(a) to (c): Yes, Madam. Government has reviewed the fellowship amount payable to various categories of research scholars and associates working across the country and revised it with effect from 1st October, 2014. The revised fellowships are given below:
Fellowship Earlier Fellowship (w.e.f Revised Fellowship (w.e.f 01.04.2010) (Rs. per month) 01.10.2014) (Rs. per month) Junior Research Fellow (JRF) 16,000 25,000 Senior Research Fellow (SRF) 18,000 28,000 Research Associate (RA) - I 22,000 36,000 Research Associate (RA) - II 23,000 38,000 Research Associate (RA) - III 24,000 40,000
The revision of the fellowship was recommended by an Inter-Ministerial/ Departmental/ Agency Committee. Several factors including salary of the regular employees in the Government sector with same qualification increase of Dearness Allowance in the intervening period since last revision, inflation, financial resources available etc. were taken into account for fixing the revised fellowship. It is estimated that about Rs. 755 crore additional amount is required annually to meet the hike in fellowship.
(d) & (e): Government has taken some measures to check migration of research scholars and associates to other countries after obtaining scholarship. This includes institution of fellowships/associateships like Senior Research Associateship and Nehru Post-doctoral Research Fellowship of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR); INSPIRE Faculty Scheme of Department of Science and Technology (DST); Research Associateship Programs of Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and DST; Dr. D.S Kothari Post-doctoral Fellowship of University Grant Commission etc. for undertaking quality research in the country. These programs not only help to check migration, but also attract the Indian researchers working abroad.
