Centre plans to revise non-NET fellowships

The Centre is considering revising the non-NET fellowship scheme and extending its benefit to “meritorious” MPhil and PhD students of all the universities, instead of only Central varsities.

The development comes days after the University Grants Commission (UGC) decided to discontinue it, resulting in protests from students here.

The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry is examining a proposal to relaunch the scheme with provisions for allocation of grants “strictly” on the basis “merit” as the UGC has decided to junk the scheme mainly due to lack of a mechanism to ensure that its benefits were being availed only by “deserving candidates, said a ministry official.

“The ministry is examining the proposal to strengthen the scheme and extend its benefits to the students across the country. The scheme was discriminatory as it was available to Central universities only, while a major chunk of students requiring such benefits study in state universities,” he said.

The ministry will hold a consultation with state governments on this issue and then decide on implementing a revised scheme, he added.

The development comes after students' groups intensified their protest against the UGC decision. Scores of agitating students were detained as they tried to enter the UGC premises to demand rollback of the decision.

“The (non-NET fellowship) scheme was being run on reimbursement basis without any UGC control on quality of students or outcomes, in comparison to the NET fellowship where all-India test for junior research fellowship ensures quality and equality of standards,” said a UGC official.

The universities had their own process of selecting candidates for financial grants assistance under the scheme.

“The selection process varied from one university to another. There was no mechanism to ensure that the benefits were being availed by deserving students only. There were lots of complaints,” added the official. The UGC spent Rs 99.16 crore in the implementation of the scheme in 2014-15. “Continuing the scheme would have meant a huge financial implication for the UGC,” said the official.