Chennai: University Grants Commission (UGC) will disburse further grants for scholarships and fellowships only after July 1 through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode, according to a circular issued by UGC secretary Jaspal S.Sandhu.
In a circular to vice-chancellors of all universities, he said, “The commission expresses its inability to bring fellowships/scholarships under DBT with the present details provided by the universities and colleges.” He requested the universities to make payments to research scholars upto June 30, out of the grant already released or from university resources. “It will be reimbursed by the UGC to avoid hardship to scholars. Further grant of fellowships and scholarships will be disbursed by the commission through DBT only with effect from July 1,” he said in the circular.
The UGC plans to create a web portal for uploading data pertaining to beneficiaries who are not covered under the DBT mode. “Universities and institutions are requested to upload data on the portal to enable the UGC to release scholarships through the DBT mode after July 1. Failing to upload data on the portal may lead to stopping of disbursal of fellowships and scholarships and it will be solely the responsibility of the concerned university or college,” the UGC warned.
“The universities are under tremendous financial strain. The UGC has not released proposed funds for various schemes. It will be difficult for universities to cope with this,” an official from the University of Madras said.
“Scholarships are not released properly by the UGC. Universities already have difficulties in disbursing UGC grants. We are not sure how the DBT mode will solve this issue,” he said.
At present, JRF (junior research sellow) scholars receive Rs.16,000 per month from the UGC. Senior research fellows (SRF) receive '25,000 per month. Sakthivel, a research scholar from Anna University also said that the main issue in disbursing scholarships is the delay. “We have never received monthly scholarships on time. Sometimes we receive it once in three monthsand sometimes once in six months. So the UGC has to release the grants monthly. If it does, the DBT will be beneficial to research scholars.” UGC vice-chairman H.Devaraj said,
“Universities can manage the funds as they have already received more grants for various projects from the UGC. The Commission will reimburse the amount.”
