Capacity Building through Council of Scientific and Industrial Research CSIR Fellowship Scheme

Abstract

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) through its human resource (HR) initiative has been contributing significantly to the generation of highly qualified Science and Technology (SandT) manpower at national level by awarding largest number of Junior Research Fellowship on the basis of National Eligibility Test (NET) for pursuing research in basic sciences. The selection of candidates for PhD programs, scientific projects and for employment as faculty in colleges (Eligibility for Lectureship) are also being done on the basis of NET, thus making it one of the most credible qualitative capacity building measure in the country. newlineNational Eligibility Test (NET), conducted by CSIR twice a year across the country, evaluates science students from wide spectrum of Indian universities at a common platform and encourages them by providing incentives by way of fellowships to pursue doctoral research in colleges, university departments/national laboratories/institutes in various fields of basic sciences. The biggest beneficiary of this examination is the university system and the national laboratories under CSIR, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) etc where majority of the students join to pursue PhD in specialized disciplines. newlineThe study focuses on the performance of academic institutions and evaluation of demographic efficiencies in fulfilling SandT Capacity building goals on the basis of NET. newlineData from ten consecutive National Eligibility Tests, conducted by CSIR indicates that 60% of the qualifying candidates are only from 32 universities and same set of universities repeatedly show their presence in terms of selection as well as enrolment of candidates. The huge difference in selection percentage of the candidates from different universities in NET and very few number of universities securing most of the fellowships repeatedly year after year leads to the conclusion that concerted efforts are required to be made to raise standard ...