Govt Scholarships

Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Govt. of India offer various types of fellowships and scholarships for the students interested in pursuing science education and research. These fellowships will help and support students in achieving their career in Sciences. In order to promote young talent and attracting dynamic and talented students towards science research, DBT has initiated number of fellowships. Following are some of these:

1. DBT Junior Research Fellowship (DBT- JRF) program: DBT JRF program was started in 2004 and about 250 JRFs will be awarded through Biotechnology Eligibility Test (BET) which is conducted by University of Pune, Pune. Fellowships under this program will be provided for an initial period of 3 years and could be extended up to five years. Candidates will also get a Contingency grant of Rs.30000/- per fellow per annum. Top 100 students in the program will be given an option to join any institute of their choice in the country to pursue Ph.D. program. Next 100 candidates in merit list can join in DBT supported PG teaching in universities.

2. DBT Post – Doctoral Fellowship (DBT- PDF) program: The Department of Biotechnology has initiated a program for providing 100 Post Doctoral Fellowships (PDFs) per year in 2001. Fellowship of Rs. 30,000 per month in the first year and Rs. 30000+ per month from 2nd year along with a contingency grant will be provided for selected candidates. Selection of candidates for this PDFs will be done by Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Details of all fellowships offered by DBT are available on dbtindia.nic.in

3. DST – INSPIRE Fellowship Program: Under the INSPIRE project, Ministry of Science and Technology, Govt India had initiated an innovative and huge scholarship scheme for candidates interested in science education and research. About 10000 students will be selected and granted $2500 a year to acquire a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Science Subjects. If the candidates willing to continue, 1000 positions will be created at the Ph.D. level in various national level institutes and they will be absorbed into the institutes. The INSPIRE program is intended to attract the talented students to make them highly competitive scientists in the world. More details of the INSPIRE fellowship program can be obtained from http://www.inspire-dst.gov.in/ OR http://www.serc-dst.org/inspire.pdf

A student with sharp intellect is a primary requirement to get success in a career whether it is academic or corporate. But obviously the next thing requires is financial ability of the family. Though there are several national and international fellowships are available and good students are availing those to grow academically and professionally but good financial strength lowers the dependency of the fellowship and helps in having time and setting one’s own way of life. For instance obtaining higher education in India or abroad always differs at least in the views of the recruiters (govt. or private).

So an academically sound student with a very good career finally have to seek a good post doc abroad to fetch a decent job in his own country where as an average merit fellow who has better financial strength can move early for a MS or PhD degree and secure a good position after coming back. Therefore, financial issue is obviously a crucial point in building a better career. Following are sources of financial support for Science students at Graduation and Higher levels:

1. CSIR fellowships: Complete list of various fellowships available on www.csirhrdg.res.in
2. Junior Research Fellowship JRF through CSIR-NET Exam
3. Senior Research Fellowship (SRF)
4. Research Associateship (RA)
5. Senior Research Associateship (SRA)
6. CSIR Nehru Post Doctoral fellowship
7. ICMR fellowship: See www.icmr.nic.in for more details of these fellowships.
8. Junior Research Fellowship
9. Senior Research Fellowship
10. ICMR post doctoral fellowship
11. DBT fellowships:
12. DBT INSPIRE fellowship