For many decades now, the concept of brain drain has been held responsible for the lower than expected growth rate in the country. Now, the central government is planning to take care of this burning issue by coming up with effective policy measures.
The government has embarked upon a scheme to fund pure science scholars, who have completed their PhDs, to enable them continue their post-doctoral research in India. All this is to prevent brain drain.
The scholars would be paid Rs 50,000 per month for the period of three years and would also be given a basic grant of Rs 7 lakhs per year for conducting research, confirmed Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology. The National Post Doctoral Fellowship was launched a month ago and would fund around 1000 scholars this year. Applications have also been invited for the same.
Scholars tend to move abroad after their PhD degree because this is the time they don't get full-time employment since many institutes ask for a post-doctoral degree. There are many universities and institutes abroad that offer the PhDs graduates with post-doctoral opportunities. That's why, this scheme has been launched.
After they get a post-doctoral fellowship in India for three-years, they can continue with their research and get prepared for a job in Indian institutes and universities. Also, there are no criteria to track down students who leave India for studies at different levels (say, under-graduate, graduate and post-graduate). More importantly, there is also no tracking of students coming back. No ministry has data for this record.
For bagging this fellowship the scholar has to send a research proposal. It is also mandatory that the university/ institute in which he wants to do research have to accept the proposal.
Tags: Brain Drain
Government Schemes
Phd Research
National Post Doctoral Fellowship
