Having a vision in mind to prevent the brain drain and Indian students from taking scholarships for frontier research abroad, the Union Cabinet has approved the PM Research Fellowships (PMRF) for students of higher education institutions like the IITs, IISERs and NITs, which will also be the country's most lavish paid scholarships to date.

And in another incentive for engineering graduates who want to pursue research, B.Tech graduates from IITs, IISERs, IIITs or NITs shortlisted for the PMRF will be eligible to directly pursue PhD at IITs or IISc, Bengaluru.

The PM Research Fellowships (PMRFs) includes monthly scholarships of Rs 70,000 to Rs 80,000 and annual research grants of Rs 2 lakh for select scholars. The Centre has approved an allocation of approximately Rs 1,650 crore for these fellows to be spent over three years.

The government is also planning to upgrade research facilities at the IITs and IISc apart from 1,000 annual scholarships under the scheme. Union human resource development minister Prakash Javadekar said the scheme, which was announced in the Budget , will pave the way for BTech graduates or graduates from integrated-MTech or MSc in science and technology streams to be offered "direct admission in PhD programme at the IITs/ IISc".

The minimum eligibility for aspirants will be a cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 8.5. The minister said that the scheme will be rolled out from the 2018-19 academic session.

Source: The Times of India