Government hikes research stipend by 24%, much less than the demanded 80%

January 31, 2019

The wait is finally over. The months-long protest has finally reaped ‘fruits’. The anticipations of the research scholar community can now sleep in peace. The government has increased their stipend by 24%, which is the least increment in since 2010. Adding salt to the wounds, Department of Science and Technology is also considering to reduce the number of fellowships in the future.

According to the new revision, the Junior Research Fellow (JRF) will get Rs 31,000 and Senior Research Fellow (SRF) will get Rs 35,000 as their monthly stipend which will come to effect from January 2019 onwards. After the last fellowship hike that took place in 2014, a JRF fellow gets Rs 25,000 and SRF fellow gets Rs 28,000 as a monthly stipend. There used to be an unofficial hike in stipend after every 4 years. Among those hikes, this is the least in terms of percentage.

The researchers across the nation united for the cause. 2000 even got arrested while protesting in front of MHRD. They went for hunger strikes, candle marches, etc. Their demand was a hike of at least 80% and payment without delays. Even after the hike, researchers protested in front of MHRD on 30th January. 700 were detained by the police.

The pathetic state of research in India needs no introduction. India spends less than 1 percent of its GDP on research and development. The scientists, each year organize rallies for increasing that figure to 3% of the GDP. But, it is of no use. The Government keeps patting its back over the achievements of ISRO, BARC, IITs, and IISc. But when it comes to funding and supporting them, they vanish in the thin air and announce such ‘chillar’ increment (term used by the researchers to describe the move).

Role of research in any country’s development is crucial. Decades of research on materials and basic science takes the foundation for the new technology. These new technologies make help the countries to progress with their utilization in their respective industries. The Ph.D. degree is the gateway of the academic career and research. They are the future lecturers and researchers. Supporting them means supporting the nation. Many researchers opt to go abroad for research as they know that India is not the ideal place for their talent and brain. The government is just proving their point.

2000 researchers arrested for demanding stipend hike outside MHRD office

Sugat Srivastava

January 16, 2019

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while inaugurating the 106th Indian Science Congress at Jalandhar on January 3, said, “Our strong research ecosystem must be developed in such universities and colleges. I call upon the Prime Ministerial Science, Technology and Education Council to discuss this issue in detail and formulate an agenda in collaboration with the MHRD.”

Fast forward to January 16th, more than 2,000 research scholars protesting outside the Ministry of Human Resource Development’s headquarters in New Delhi were arrested. The Research scholars across India demand a hike and for on-time payment of their stipends.

The All India Research Scholars Association (AIRSA) and research fellows from all over India started protesting in front of the MHRD’s headquarters in New Delhi from 11 am on January 16, 2019. They plan to shift base to Jantar Mantar where around 2,000 researchers will be on an indefinite hunger strike till their demands are met.

Nikhil Gupta, National Representative of Research Scholars of India, said, “We were peacefully protesting in front of the MHRD head office when the police arrested us around 4 pm. We were packed into five buses and taken to different police stations including Mandir Marg Police Station and the Parliament Street Police Station.”

Despite promises of a speedy solution by principal scientific advisor K Vijay Raghavan, Department of Science and Technology Secretary, Ashutosh Sharma, Dr Harsh Vardhan (Union Minister DST) and Prakash Javadekar (Union Minister MHRD) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s slogan Jai Anusandhan in support of science and Indian researchers, there has been no response to the demands the researchers had made.

The researchers had planned to protest in front of the MHRD office first and then move to Jantar Mantar — the indefinite hunger strike was an integral part of it. “There have been too many fake promises made to us. No more tweets and no more trying to divide us on the basis of caste, funding agencies or examinations. We have written way too many letters to the departments. We will be releasing an official memorandum during the protest at the headquarters,” said Nikhil.

The research fellows from all over the country are joining hands in the protest. “We are yet to know scholars how many institutes will be physically present here. But we are all together and people from all over the country are in support of your cause,” Nikhil added.

Such is the case of the Indian government on research and education. MHRD promised that the decision would be finalized by the end of 2018. The promise is overdue by 16 days and no positive indication has been received till yet.

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Government hikes research stipend by 24%, much less than the demanded 80%

2000 researchers arrested for demanding stipend hike outside MHRD office