Sans fellowship, OBC students of PhD struggle to make ends meet

Thousands of students belonging to other backward communities (OBC) pursuing PhD at various universities in Karnataka are struggling to continue their research as they have not received monthly fellowship from the government for the last three months.

The department of social welfare has not even invited applications from candidates to distribute this fellowship and this is causing inconvenience for students to continue research activities.

These students are entitled to a monthly fellowship of Rs 10,000.

In fact, some of the universities, including Bangalore University (BU), have mentioned during the PhD admission notification this year that, “the fellowship will not be given to OBC students”.

Speaking to DH, some of the students said, “This is not just a problem of students in Bangalore University. None of the OBC students pursuing PhD courses in state-run universities have received fellowship this year.”

Amount reduced

“Even the fellowship for SC/ST students was reduced from Rs 25,000 to Rs 10,000. Following protests from students, BU withdrew the decision and retained the earlier amount,” said another student.

Students said they need to go out for field work and it has become difficult for them to manage the expenses.

“Due to the pandemic, even our families are in a financial crisis and we are struggling to manage fuel costs and even food expenses,” said a student who is awaiting fellowship.

“It has become our daily routine to check the students’ scholarship portal, looking for the fellowship application,” said another student.

Naveen (name changed), a PhD student of BU, said, “A majority of us quit jobs to join PhD programme and are dependent on the fellowship. The officials concerned should understand this as we do not have any other source of income.”

No funds allocated

Officials of the social welfare department told DH that funds have not been allocated by the government.

“We have written to the government about it. Unless the funds are released from the government, we cannot proceed further,” said an official.

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