On January 30, the central government finally announced a 24-25% hike for the Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) and Senior Research Fellowship (SRF) amounts effective from January 1, 2019. The demands were met after weeks of protest by research scholars all over India who access these fellowships.
The government announced a 20% hike in the stipends for research scholars who were protesting for the hike in their fellowships. For several months, scholars across the country had organised rallies mainly in Delhi where they demanded a hike in their stipends (which had not been renewed since 2014).
On Wednesday, the government, under pressure from the regular protests, came up with the new hike in the stipends of the scholars, which means an approximate increase from ₹25,000 to ₹31,000 in the Junior Research Fellowship.
Research Associates (PhD holders having 3 years of experience) will receive their stipends in the range of ₹47,000-₹54,000 per month. The scholars had been continuously raising their demands of stipend hike for several years and had begun to occupy streets in the form of dharnas and protests last year.
With the rise in the emoluments of the scholars, there is still a sense of insecurity among them, calling this move a ‘flawed’ idea of the government. But why are the scholars disappointed with the recent move of the stipend hike?
The hike which was announced remains lowest since 2010 and has been announced after 5 years. In the recent revision which was in 2014, the JRF stipend was increased by 56%. “We are planning to go on an indefinite hunger strike till our demands are met. We have been demanding an 80 per cent hike in our fellowships,” Nikhil Gupta, the national representative of research scholars of India had said then, reported NDTV.
Research is something that is not considered as a career option by the youngsters of today. Still, many who are enthusiastic bare the hardships and carry the legacy of research forward.
“To sustain in research, the amount that the government has announced is not enough,” said Madhurima, an M.Phil. scholar based in Delhi. “Then there are the costs of books, magazines, research material and field visits and these are a lot of costs that we manage.”
The decision of a stipend hike came weeks after research fellows from across the country protested in Delhi demanding an increase of 80% in their fellowships.
“It’s not a sufficient amount and scientific research takes a lot more than Humanities. Right now, the government has pulled out to invest in research,” said Madhurima. “Research is something that we are using to give back to society and producing knowledge. It’s knowledge production and the government needs to invest in research,” she said.
If viewed globally, India spends less than 1% of GDP in research, whereas other countries like China, the USA, Brazil invest more money. Research is also the backbone of a country’s economy and development. The more a country invests in research, the more they will avail the better standards of education because it’s a tool of knowledge building and facilitates learning.
Now, taking a look at our research scenario, we see that we need to invest more in terms of infrastructure, institutes and hike the stipends of the scholars which would enhance the sustainability of knowledge. “Due to the lack of a sustained system of research in our country, most scholars prefer to migrate to other countries for their research project which benefits the foreign countries and we lose a space of knowledge here,” said Manoj Tiwari, who is pursuing his PhD in History from Delhi.
Now, as the scholars are disappointed with the recent move of the government and are repeating their demands for more hike in their stipends; the question remains: is the government serious enough to give out an effective amount for scholars for carrying the legacy of research forward or will the scholars suffer further in the long run of their lives?