Good News For Non-JRF Scholars: They Will Get Research Money From Odisha, But Conditions Apply

The government of Odisha has announced that it will be granting fellowships to scholars who qualified National Eligibility Test (NET) but failed to receive the Junior Research Fellow (JRF) awarded by the University Grants Commission (UGC).

As per the policy released by the government, it will provide research fellowships only to the top ranking NET qualifiers in each subject who are not eligible for JRF for research in state universities. However, as per rules, the applicant has to be a permanent resident of Odisha.

According to Odisha State Higher Education Council’s (OSHEC) vice-chairman, Asoka Kumar Das, the fellowship will be granted for a period of four years and can be extended for another one year with prior approval of the council.

The candidate must be below 30 years of age as on 1 January of the year in which the fellowship award is being made. “We will start this programme from the coming academic year,” said Das, reports Times of India.

This scheme was announced by Higher Education Minister, Ananta Das, at the Make in Odisha conclave. Along with it, he released the policy guidelines for ‘Odisha University Research and Innovation Incentivisation Plan (OURIIP)’ along with higher education secretary, Bishnupada Sethi, and renowned educationists.

An eligible candidate would get a fellowship of Rs 15,000 per month with a exigency of Rs 25,000 per year for subjects having laboratory work and Rs 15,000 for subjects without laboratory work. The number of fellowships in each subject is capped at five, with two fellowships reserved exclusively for female students. It will be given in 35 subjects.

President of National Academy of Sciences, Ram Ramaswamy, attended the session of the Academic Meet. Educationists discussed and deliberated on various issues relating to higher education in four parallel sessions.