Thursday, May 02, 2014: The National Policy on Electronics (NPE 2012) gives special thrust on significantly increasing the number of PhDs in the country to enable India to compete globally in the coming decades, to develop an ecosystem of research, development and IP creation in these knowledge intensive sectors. The NPE 2012, inter alia, sets an objective of creating 2500 PhDs annually by 2020 in Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) and related fields. The DeitY has approved a scheme which proposes to enhance the number of PhDs in ESDM significantly. The details of the scheme are available at www.deity.gov.in/esdm/hrd.
The scheme aims at generating a total of 1500 PhDs for each of ESDM and IT/ITES sectors over a period of 5 years. Out of the above, 500 PhDs for each of ESDM and IT/ITES sectors would be full-time PhD candidates have fellowship support as described in the scheme; and the other 1000 PhDs for each of ESDM and IT/ITES sectors would be part-time PhD candidates who would receive one-time incentive as described in the scheme. The scheme will also identify and support 200 Young Faculty to encourage and recognize Young Faculty involved in research and technology development in the areas of ESDM and IT/ITES with the objective to retain as well as attract young faculty in these sectors.
All PhD granting institutions are eligible for support under the scheme. Financial support to the following would be provided under the scheme
i. Full time PhD candidates: Fellowship @ `22,500 per month in 1st and 2nd year, and @`25,000 per month in 3rd, 4th, 5th years of PhD. In addition, an Annual contingency grant/support: @ `30,000/- per year per full time PhD candidate for consumables etc. is provided. Reimbursement of House Rent is also provided for those fulltime PhD candidates who are not provided accommodation or choose not to avail the accommodation provided by the institution. Support for attending two International conferences @ up to maximum of `50,000/- for each international conference is provided.
ii. Part-time PhD candidates: Part-time candidates who do not avail of any PhD Fellowship/scholarship/stipend from any Central or State Government shall be provided a one-time incentive of Rs 2.5 lakh on successful completion of the PhD degree.
iii. Institutions registering PhD candidates under the scheme: Infrastructure grant for up gradation/creation of the laboratory, equipment etc. (excluding civil construction/expansion of the building) @50% of the actual cost subject to a ceiling of `5 lakhs per full time candidate under the scheme. This grant would be one-time. In addition, Institutional over heads: @ `25,000/- per year per full time candidate under the scheme for a maximum of five year for each candidate.
iv. Identified Young Faculty for undertaking research and technology development Research Fellowship @ `20,000 per month, in addition to regular income, for a maximum of five years. Also, Contingency/research grant of `5 lakhs per annum for presenting paper and research-work at national and international conferences and other research expenses for a maximum of five years.
The assistance will be provided for the academic year 2014-15 itself. This assistance under the scheme will be routed through eligible academic institutions only. No direct funding is provided to PhD students or to Young Research Faculty. Interested institutions have been requested to approach DeitY immediately.
Deity is in the process of finalizing an implementation framework for the scheme. This is expected to be in place in a month or so. Meanwhile, for any question on the scheme, please contact Shri A.K. Arora, Director and HoD, DeitY (Email: aarora@deity.gov.in) and Shri
V.M. Gupta, Sc.D, DeitY (Email: vm.gupta@nic.in)
