By failing to incorporate reservation, the PMRF scheme for promoting research in ‘national priority’ areas has neglected one national priority area.
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The government stipulates that 15%, 7.5% and 27% of all seats in centrally funded educational institutions be reserved for SC, ST and OBC candidates respectively. But the numbers tell a different story. According to an RTI response accessed by The Wire, of 1,681 PhD students at IISc, only 181 (10%) belonged to SC communities and 38 (2%) to ST communities. Similar numbers have been reported by the All India Survey of Higher Education for the IITs.
Last month, the Union Cabinet approved the Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship (PMRF) scheme, which aims to promote scientific and technological research with a focus on ‘national priorities’. This scheme will offer 1,000 PhD aspirants a chance to pursue their studies at the IITs and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, provide them with a monthly stipend of Rs 70,000-80,000 and a research grant of Rs 2 lakh per year for five years.
The scheme’s concept has been roundly criticised by many scientists and students. Since then, it has also become clear that there is no mention of whether reservation as stipulated by the government is to be applied to these fellowships – nor of how they will be distributed among different communities in the country.
Also read: Why the PM’s New Research Fellowship Scheme Is an Utter Disaster
The Global IIT NIT IIM Alumni Network called out this aspect and other shortcomings in an email to the Prime Minister and the President (and accessed by The Wire).
A major issue with the PMRF scheme, which claims to attract the “best talent” from the country, is that it is going to be awarded only to students who “have completed, or are pursuing, the final year of four year undergraduate or five year integrated M.Tech or five year integrated M.Sc. or five year undergraduate-postgraduate dual degree programs in Science and Technology streams from IISc/IITs/NITs/IISERs and centrally funded IIITs”.
Thus, only students from these premier institutes can apply for these financially superior fellowships (a regular PhD student in IITs receive an average fellowship of Rs 25,000 per month), which effectively discriminates against students from other institutions. The alumni network alleged that, thus, the PMRF goes against the fundamental right of equality guaranteed under Article 14 (Equality before Law) of the Constitution of India. The network also fears that this may “set a pretext for offering higher remuneration to graduates from the IIT[s] for government positions”.
In a similar case, campus hiring by public sector undertakings (PSUs) and banks was declared unconstitutional and a violation of Articles 14 and 16 (Equality of opportunities in matters of public employment). Subsequently, the Department of Legal Affairs was required to stop all campus recruitment drives conducted at select institutions.
The constitutional validity of the PMRF scheme is now questionable.
The scheme allows for a direct admission of 1,000 PhD scholars into the IITs and IISc after interviews conducted by the two nodal institutes, bypassing regular admission criteria like the CSIR-UGC NET and GATE exams. While admission with these exam scores, conducted by government agencies, follows constitutionally mandated reservation rules, the PMRF, which seeks to fill nearly 25% of all PhD seats at IITs, has refused to incorporate reservations.
Further, as the alumni network detailed in their email, the CSIR-UGC NET and GATE exams also make special concessions for students from SC/ST communities through relaxation of cut-off marks (by 5%) and age limit (by five years). PhD admission to CSIR labs through the CSIR JRF-GATE exam follows the reservation policy as mandated by the Constitution.
Per RTI replies accessed by The Wire, 35% of faculty positions across all IITs are vacant. This becomes 37% if only the top eight IITs are concerned. Even among positions that have been filled, the representation of SC/ST/OBCs is abysmal.
Of the 5,072 faculty positions across 23 IITs, 198 are occupied by SC, 31 by ST and 441 by OBC, accounting for only 7.4% of all occupied positions. In the top eight IITs, only 76 SC, 12 ST and 163 OBC hold faculty positions, overall a mere 6.4% of the 3,935 occupied positions.
“An institute can hardly represent and do good for the nation if it excludes 85% of the population from its faculty positions,” members of the network wrote in their letter.
Prakash Javadekar, the Union minister for Human Resource Development, had claimed that the PMRF “will convert brain drain to brain gain” and tap “the talent pool of the country for carrying out research indigenously”. But this scheme remains regressive from equality and social justice perspectives.
Members of the network finally urged the government to act on the following three points to make the PMRF a more inclusive and beneficial scheme (quoting verbatim) – notwithstanding its other failures:
- Notify the PMRF scheme with reservation for SC/ST/OBC
- Provide sufficient relaxation in age and qualifying examination cutoff marks
- Ensure strict implementation of the reservation policy under PMRF scheme to undo the past failure of IITs, as reflected in their faculty diversity profile.