Hyderabad: Fellowship stipends under the Rajiv Gandhi National fellowship for PhD scholars belonging to SC communities have not been released since 2016 by the UGC.
The scholars belonging to ST and BC communities, too, received their fellowship stipends only after two years of continuous representations to the government. The allowance amount ranges from Rs 25,000 to Rs 32,000 per month.
UoH PhD scholar R. Vinod Kumar wrote to the UGC and the Union human resource development ministry for a solution as it had been three years since he received his last stipend. He did not receive any response.
The fellowship is funded by the ministries of social justice and empowerment and tribal affairs for the SC and ST students pursuing PhD and MPhil.
Mr P. Shekar, a computer science researcher, said, “The fellowship is our only source of income. Students who come from financially weak backgrounds find these scholarships to be one way in which they can survive and carry out research.”
A senior administration official of UoH said the fellowship requires mandatory clearance of the UGC’s national entrance test. “This has been strongly protested by scholars and we have not yet received a response from the UGC. This is primarily why no new scholars have been taking in after 2016.”
