- Fellowships of around 300 PhD scholars across the country were terminated by the CSIR after they failed to submit annual progress reports to the CSIR-Human Resource Development Group; later CSIR granted relaxation and set a deadline August 31.
For Sunil Naidu (name changed), a physically challenged PhD scholar at Rayalaseema University, Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, it was a big relief when the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) relaxed the guidelines on March 1 for research fellows and associates whose dates of assessment fell between March 1, 2020 and February 29, 2024 to submit the documents.
Naidu was among the 300 PhD scholars across the country whose fellowships were terminated by the CSIR earlier this year after they failed to submit annual progress reports to the CSIR-Human Resource Development Group (HRDG). But on March 1, the council granted relaxation to the research fellows and associates whose dates of assessment fell between March 1, 2020 and February 29, 2024. They were asked to submit the documents, upgradations, extensions or continuations by August 31.
However, many scholars now allege that they are not able to login to the CSIR portal and their research work cannot be submitted and hence the fellowship is not being disbursed. Many of them who sent their documents through a registered post were later asked to login to the CSIR only to see that it could not be accessed.
“After the CSIR relaxed the guidelines on March 1, I was relieved and thought that the hard days were now over. I am the only hope to my mother, a coolie, and I am going through a lot of mental stress owing to debts,” Naidu, who has to stay at home due to his inability, tells indianexpress.com.
Another researcher said the CSIR HRDG official he had contacted had been dismissive when he explained his inability to access the portals. The CSIR helpline offered no real assistance, he added.
PhD student Sheela Mehta (name changed) said that despite the official relaxation, she was unable to submit her documents or check the application status. “Repeated attempts to get help from the CSIR helpline have been met with unhelpful and often rude responses,” Mehta complained.
The All India Research Scholars Association (AIRSA) has since then been urging the CSIR to address the issue affecting the PhD research scholars across the country.
“A CSIR official when contacted through the helpline number also said that although there are relaxations and students asked to upload documents, the office does not have any information on it and we cannot do anything about it (non-disbursal of fellowship amount),” added another student.
When indianexpress.com reached out to CSIR, the Council said that it is committed to timely disbursal of the fellowships and has been sensitive towards the concerns of researchers and has taken suitable measures from time to time.
The CSIR has said that it has successfully processed the majority of the long-pending cases of fellows covered under the relaxations, reiterating that relaxations were notified on March 1 based on the receipt of the recent concerns from research fellows.
It further added that for the few pending cases that could not be processed online will be taken to their logical conclusions shortly.
