It looks like 2020 is set to end on a good note for the CSIR researchers in the country. An official associated with the research institute, in an email to a student, confirmed that the pending fellowship stipends for the students will be released within a week's time. He also stated that there was a delay in the stipend payment because of a change in policy to control fellowship fraud.
"Now, payment of the government money will be directly released by the RBI," reads an email sent to a student. "The inconvenience is regretted," it further reads. Researchers have been raising their voice about not receiving their fellowships since the beginning of the year. At the same time, a few researchers who claimed to have met the CSIR officials have also informed EdexLive that the cheques for the stipends are being processed now. A few of the researchers have also reportedly received the pending payment.
A few weeks ago, the Minister of Education Ramesh Pokhriyal has directed the University Grants Commission to clear all the pending fellowship payments within a week. However, a lot of researchers have claimed that they are yet to receive their stipends. Since the suicide of Aishwarya Reddy, a student of Lady Sri Ram College for Women who had qualified for the INSPIRE scholarship, student organisations had raised their voices against the delay in payment of the fellowship stipends.
