Research scholars all over the country, who have been demanding a hike in their stipend, may soon have a reason to cheer.
K Vijayraghavan, secretary, Department of Science and Technology, a contact point between the students and the Ministry for Human Resource Development (MHRD) on the matter, told the research students of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) here on Saturday that the hike would, in all probability, be announced next week.
Vijayraghavan was a participant in a panel discussion as part of the third edition of IISc’s annual career fair, Samanway-2014.
On Friday, a student had posted a query on Vijayrahgavan’s Twitter page, pointing out that the deadline set by the MHRD for the proposed hike was coming to an end.
Hike next week
To this, Vijayraghavan had replied that the hike would come early next week for sure. The monthly stipend for a junior research fellow (JRF) is Rs 16,000 and Rs 18,000 for a senior research fellow (SRF), presently. The last hike in the stipend was in 2010.
Thousands of research scholars from various research institutes throughout the country, including IISc, had pressurised the MHRD to raise the stipend that had remained unchanged for four years.