As was informed by Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar, the Union Cabinet has given approval for the Prime Minister Research Fellowship Scheme. The scheme envisions providing research scholarships for 1,000 B.Tech students for pursuing Ph.D at premier institutes. The scholarship scheme would cost the govt. INR 1,650 Cr and would be given for a period of seven years, beginning in 2018 – 19.
It was informed that students, who were selected, would receive a huge monthly scholarship amount towards completing their research programme. Besides providing a monthly stipend of INR 70,000 – 80,000, the Prime Minister Research Fellowship Scheme would be giving a yearly grand of up to INR 2 lakh. Govt. would be dispersing the scholarships, strictly based on the academic performance of the students. While announcing the scheme, Minister Javadekar fondly called the scholarship as a move for turning ‘Brain Drain into Brain Gain’.