Mr PM, do you care about research as much as industry?: Siva Ranjan Upala

On Monday, Siva Ranjan Upala, a 29-year-old research scholar from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Mohali, led 1.5 lakh other research scholars from IIT Delhi, AIIMS, DRDO, Delhi University, JNU, Jamia Hamdard University on a hunger strike at Jantar Mantar. Their aim is to 'expose' the central government which 'failed' to keep its promise of implementing a 50% hike in research scholarships announced in October last year.

Siva, who is doing research on solid state nuclear magnetic resonance in the field of fundamental science, has just one question for PM Narendra Modi, "Mr PM, do you really care for research in India in the same way as you care for industrial development?" Speaking to dna over phone, he said, "The prime minister is doing everything to give 'Make in India' a big push. Wish he did the same for research too, rather than just doing lip-service."

The union science and technology ministry had announced a 50% hike on stipends in October last year after continuous protests by researchers. This was dubbed as the 'biggest ever' hike in scholarships till date. The hike was aimed at 'motivating' young researchers to continue their work in India and curb the brain drain.

The announcement was followed by notifications from the ministry and the University Grants Commission (UGC), according to which the junior research fellowship was hiked to Rs 25,000 from Rs 16,000, while the senior research fellowship was hiked to Rs 28,000 from the existing Rs 18,000 a month. The stipend for post-doctoral studies went up from Rs 22,000 to Rs 36,000 (for research associate-1), from Rs 23,000 to Rs 38,000 (research associate-2) and from Rs 24,000 to Rs 40,000 (research associate-3).

While neither UGC nor the S&T ministry have implemented the hike till now, the technical education department of the HRD ministry, which disburses grants to nearly 50,000 scholars doing research in the fields of engineering, pharmacy, architecture etc, didn't even issue a notification, leading to unrest.

Siva had undertaken a 7-day padyatra from Mohali to Delhi in December to highlight the issue. "None of us have got a hike until now. Due to such step-motherly treatment, most talent research students go abroad," rued Shubham Badjate from IIT Bombay. Over 2,700 students from IIT-B led a rally against the MHRD on Wednesday.

Ratikant Panda, another research scholar from IIT-B said, "While most of my classmates who took up job are getting Rs 1 lakh per month, I took up research because I am passionate about it. I earn just Rs 18,000 a month."

Bowing to mounting pressure, the HRD ministry issued a notification announcing the enhanced scholarships on Wednesday. As per the notification, scholarships for all scholars who are drawing fellowships from MHRD-affiliated bodies like AICTE, IIT's, NIT's, IIIT's, ISc, IISER, NITIE, Mumbai, ISM, Dhanbad, NIFFT, Ranchi, NERIST Arunachal Pradesh, SLIET, Longowal, SPA's and NITTR's have been revised from February 1, 2015.

Research scholars however rejected the proposal. "The S&T ministry offers it from October 2014, UGC offers it from December 2014 and MHRD is giving it to us from February 2015. Why so much discrimination and disparity?" asked the students.

HRD minister Smriti Irani didn't respond to calls and messages.