Government launches prime minister's fellowship scheme for doctoral research

NEW DELHI: The union minister for science and technology, S Jaipal Reddy, launched the prime minister's fellowship scheme for doctoral research in New Delhi today, according to a Confederation of Indian Industry ( CII) statement.

The scheme, launched at CII's global higher education summit, is jointly promoted by science and engineering research board, the department of science & technology, Government of India, and CII.

The scheme will award 100 annual fellowships and the duration of fellowships would be four years. The areas of research covered under the scheme would be science, technology, engineering, agriculture and medicine. The scholarships would be given to PhD scholars for doing projects having practical relevance and industrial applications.

At the summit, the union minister called upon the private sector to invest more in research and development (R&D) to shore up the competitive edge of the Indian industry. "While our public funded R&D systems are busy publishing papers, the industry is searching for technologies for commercialisation," he added.

Dr T Ramasami, secretary, department of science and technology said that higher education in India deserves more focused attention. "While China is awarding 20,000 PhDs every year, the tally in India is at 8,900. The huge disparity should be addressed and corrective measures should be taken."