What is a Non-NET Fellowship?
The University Grants Commission Non-National Eligibility Test (UGC Non-Net) Fellowship Scheme was started in 2008. This scheme grants a research fellowship of Rs.5000 (to M.Phil) and Rs.8000 (to Ph.D) scholars in central universities, who may have cracked NET but not the Junior Research Fellowship (JRF)/Senior Research Fellowship (SRF), or those who haven’t cracked NET but are still eligible to pursue their research. Compared to the JRF/SRF amount which is Rs. 25,000 - 28,000, it is quite a meager sum, yet the availability of this scheme was meant to encourage students from different socio-economic backgrounds to pursue higher education.
Why Occupy UGC?
On October 7, 2015, under the chairmanship of Ved Prakash, the 510th meeting of the University Grants Council set out a report that had been deliberated upon and decided by an Expert Committee. The report stated that the committee had considered and resolved to discontinue the scheme. However, the students who are already getting non-NET fellowship will continue to do so as per the existing guidelines.
The justification behind the scrapping of Non-NET Fellowships had the obvious reason of the 25% cut in the Union Budget for higher education from the previous year. The decision wreaked havoc upon the research scholars who flooded the UGC office premises to protest the scrapping of Non-NET or Non-JRF Fellowship. With pressures mounting on them, the MHRD appointed a Review Committee to look into the matter of Non-NET Fellowship and submit its report in December. One of the issues entrusted to the Review Committee was to consider “economic and other criteria for eligibility for non-NET economic and other criteria for eligibility for non-NET fellowships.”
On the 5th of November, around 700 students from different universities marched from ITO to MHRD office protesting the decision of introducing economic criteria and a further evaluation of merit for Non-NET Fellowship. They demanded that the fellowship be provided to all in an unbiased manner, since a lot of students depend upon the stipend whether from a lower economic background or not. The revoking of the fellowship will dissuade students from pursuing higher education, since they will be forced to find a sustainable economic situation first.
How is the WTO involved?
In the year 2005, the UPA government had welcomed the opening of higher education to the internal education trade. Students and professors protested that the government’s intention to introduce privatisation in the field of higher education is aligned with the Tenth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) which will be held between December 15-18 in Nairobi, which also coincides with the deadline within which the Review Committee will submit its report to the MHRD regarding the Non-NET Fellowship. The unrestricted involvement of private investors in the field of higher education would mean the unavailability of education subsidies and affordable education fees, which has been an encouraging factor that allows students to pursue education beyond basic graduate levels.
HRD Minister, Smriti Irani had agreed to meet a delegation of student representatives after throngs of students stationed themselves outside the MHRD to continue their protest. Although she told the student delegation that their proposal would be taken into consideration and as of now the Non-NET Fellowship will not be discontinued, a firm decision to repeal the decision of removal of the Non-NET Fellowship hasn’t been taken. In Kolkata, students of Jadavpur University have staged similar protests outside the regional UGC office. University students from different parts of India have also pledged their support towards this movement.
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