The All India Student Association (AISA) Saturday demanded an increase in the Non-NET fellowship to Rs 20,000, reinstatement of the Maulana Azad National Fellowship and timely disbursement of fellowship funds. The Non-NET fellowship is currently set at Rs 5,000 and Rs 8,000 per month, for science and non-science categories respectively. A statement by AISA said, “It (Non-NET fellowship) should be increased to a minimum amount of Rs 20,000 or in line with the inflation since 2006. Additionally, the eligibility for the Non-NET fellowship should be extended to students in state-funded universities, beyond the limited scope of Central Universities. This expansion will ensure that deserving students from various institutions receive the necessary support to pursue their research aspirations” This comes after an incident where four faculty members were suspended for standing in solidarity with the student protests at South Asian University against the decreased revision of their stipends. The statement further said, “Moreover, what should have been the focus of government rather than giving paltry stipend to Non-NET scholars and removing MANF is to end these different layers of fellowship allocations in the form of JRF/Non-NET/MANF and increase the budget for Research & development so that all the scholars who are pursuing research activity in the country could be given emoluments in line with the scholarship given to JRF"
