Few takers for PM research scheme

The prestigious Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship (PMRF) scheme, a lucrative scholarship that enables students to pursue PhD at country’s premier technical institutes, seems to be flying under the radar of students.

So far, only 176 students have qualified for the scholarship, forcing the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry to write a letter to the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to “groom” their students to enable them conceptualise and develop “good abstracts” for submission of their proposals.

“In the two calls of proposals we have had so far, only 176 fellows have been selected as against the envisaged target of 3,000 fellows over a period of three years,” the ministry noted in its letter to the AICTE.

The PMRF scheme provides the highest amount of research grants, ranging from Rs70,000 to Rs80,000 per month in addition to an annual research grant of Rs 2 lakh per student per year for a period of five years.

No other existing scheme of the government offers fellowship involving such huge amount of money.

The scholarship — now open for all students of higher education institutions offering UG programmes in science and engineering — was rolled out by the HRD ministry in February last year.

The aim was to attract meritorious students to PhD programmes of the IISc, IITs, NITs, IIITs and IISERs for carrying out research in science and technology “with focus on national priorities”.

The scheme seeks to benefit at least 3,000 fellows till 2021.

In its advisory to the AICTE, the HRD ministry said, “Advise engineering universities/ institutions to take necessary steps to popularise the scheme among students, encourage and motivate them to apply whenever the next call for submission of proposals is made.”

Eligibility

A science and technology graduate with a minimum 8.0 CGPA in their B Tech is eligible to apply for the PMRF.

Students in final year of their four-year B Tech or five-year UG-PG dual degree programmes in S&T streams can also apply

Students pursing M Tech or MS at IISc, IITs and IISER after clearing GATE are also eligible to apply