New Delhi: The inordinate delay in release of fellowship to the PhD and MPhil students by the University Grants Commission (UGC) has made the research work more challenging, although the commission has provided some relief to the researchers by extending the thesis submission date by six months.
Several research students pursuing PhD and MPhil in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Jamia Milia Islamia University (JMI) and Delhi University have not received their fellowship for several months.
The students alleged that they have been charged for their stay and food in hostels as per the university rules. Since the scholarships have been delayed for several months, the students alleged that carrying forward research work would be a Herculean task.
It is to be mentioned here that many scholars in JNU and other universities come from very poor financial background.
Bijayini Mishra, a student of JNU pursuing PhD in Sociology, said, “I have not received my fellowship amount for the period of July 2019 to January this year. The university has been charging us for our stay and food as per the rules. We are completely dependent upon the scholarship amount for all the expenses,” said Mishra, adding that the University must provide us the fellowship amount which we have earned for our higher studies.
Prabodh Mallick from Balasore in Odisha and a research scholar at School of International Studies in JNU, said, that the fellowship amount of Rs 73,000 has been pending for release. A member of BPL family, Prabodh said his parents are largely dependent on him for their survival. His mother is a daily wager who is jobless nowadays due to lockdown and his father is not healthy enough to work.
“I’m completely dependent on the scholarship. My ICSSR fellowship amount of Rs 65,000 from February to April is pending despite the submission of all papers and UGC fellowship for January has also not been paid. I’m unable to bear my research related expenses,” said Prabodh.
Anand Singh, a PhD History scholar from Jamia Milia Islamia said they couldn’t submit the papers to get the scholarship amount from January to March months. “The UGC can create a platform on its website where students can verify themselves and then UGC and supervisors can verify the students. Online process is needed at this moment. If the release of fellowship amount gets delayed by a few more months then it would create more difficulties,” said Anand.
JNU Students Union president Aishe Gosh, pursuing MPhil in International Relations, also said her fellowship for almost seven months is pending.
Shashank Kishore Singh, a student from Delhi University pursuing MPhil in Geography has been facing similar issues in the lockdown. He said that despite the completion of Paper work in January, he has not received fellowship amount of Rs 40,000.
Kuldeep Singh, OP