Fellowships are used by a huge number of students in India who are pursuing higher education. However, in the last five years, the number of fellowships awarded to students has decreased by over 25 per cent. This information was provided on February 2 in the Rajya Sabha by the Ministry of Education's Department Of Higher Education in response to a set of questions posed by MP Dr V Sivadasan. Dr Subhas Sarkar, the Minister of State for Education, responded to Dr Sivadasan's inquiry.
From 2016-17 through 2020-21, the University Grants Commission (UGC) awarded twelve fellowships in total, including three fellowships from other ministries that were disbursed by the UGC. All of the other fellowships have seen a considerable reduction in the number of beneficiaries, with the exception of four. According to Dr Sarkar, the UGC has amended its criteria and is now accepting applications under the new set of rules. "After cessation of (the) XII Plan Period, UGC decided to revise and rationalise the guidelines of the fellowship/scholarship schemes and constituted a Committee for this purpose. The revised guidelines prepared by the Committee have been approved by the Commission and UGC is in the final stage of inviting applications as per the revised guidelines," said Dr Sarkar. The UGC's XII Plan Period ended in 2017.
The number of people who have benefited from Teacher Centric initiatives has decreased by 76.6 per cent – the Emeritus Fellowship has lost 377 members in the last five years, from 474 to just 14. The Basic Science Research Fellowship, on the other hand, has lost 82.9 per cent of its recipients. A total of 5,517 students were dropped from the National Fellowship for SC Students' beneficiary list, a loss of 58.05 per cent. While the National Fellowship for Students from Other Backward Classes (OBC) increased by over 73 per cent, the total number of fellowships awarded to students from marginalised communities decreased by 28.38 per cent. The number of recipients of the Post Doctoral Fellowship for SC/ST students has dropped by more than 40 per cent.
But there were some winners as well: the Swami Vivekananda Single Girl Child Fellowship for Research has grown in number of recipients from 77 to 263 – a 241.6 per cent increase. The number of students who are eligible for the National Fellowship for Students from Other Backward Classes (OBC) has also grown, from 714 in 2016-17 to 1235 in 2020-21.
While the administration has promoted educational reforms and a concentration on higher education, the progress appears to be gradual. The XII Plan Period ended in 2017, yet the commission has yet to roll out fellowships based on the new standards five years later.