Threat to Revolutionary Writers Life

Larger Fellowships or More Fellowships?
WITH reference to a news published in Indian Express (April 8) the UGC seems to have succumbed to the pressures of the capital-based lobbies by enhancing the amount of junior and senior research fellowships to Rs 1,800 from Rs 1,000 for the first two years and to Rs 2400 for the third year. Reacting to the announcement of the UGC's revised fellowships, the National Co-ordination Committee of Young Scientists and Research Fellows welcomed it as only "partial success". What the UGC seems to have overlooked is the series of problems faced by a large number of PhD scholars in various universities who continue to pursue their research without any financial assistance. Their research output cannot but suffer due to lack of finance for their research. The UGC might well have retained the amount of the junior and senior research fellowships unchanged and at the same time it could have increased the number of fellowships benefiting a larger number of students.