Kozhikode
Students pursuing research in government and aided colleges affiliated to the University of Calicut are not being given fellowships though their counterparts on the university campus are entitled to it.
Sources said that the research students in university departments get ₹11,000 in the first two years and ₹13,000 in the next two years every month as fellowship. This is a solace for those who don’t have Junior Research Fellowship of the University Grants Commission (UGC) or the scholarships given by other agencies. The fellowship would be helpful for students for meeting the expenses for data collection, travel for seminars, hostel fee and others. However, those at 80 research centres in government and aided colleges are not getting any fellowships.
K.V. Arun, Senate member of the university, said that the research students were chosen through a common notification and considering the availability of research guides and other facilities. Many had to seek admissions to the research centres in government and aided colleges because the UGC had restricted the number of research students under one guide and there were vacancies of teachers in university departments. It was nothing but discrimination against the research students in colleges, Mr. Arun claimed. He said that the Mahatma Gandhi University did not have a similar system.
Mr. Arun said when he raised this issue at the Senate meeting in 2019 July, the university authorities had said they would seek funds from the government for the purpose. The meeting held in 2020 July to amend research rules also did not discuss the issue. The Kerala State Human Rights Commission had sought a report from the university based on Mr. Arun’s plea.
He said that a committee was set up later to study the issue. However, apparently, there was no follow-up as the recently presented budget for the 2022-23 just said ₹2.2 crore would be set aside for research fellowships and ₹25 lakh for merit scholarship.
University response
A top-level university official told The Hindu on Saturday that steps would be taken to end the discrimination. “Students in research centres need to get the fellowship. But funding is an issue. Though we approached the State government, the response was to allocate the amount from our own funds,” he said. The official said that the committee was expected to meet in April to discuss the modalities.
