Scholars from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras staged a protest on Sunday, May 14, demanding a hike in fellowship stipends. A statement issued by the student organisation ChintaBAR stated that the last time a hike was implemented was in 2019. The stipend had been increased by 24% that year. However, ChintaBAR said, inflation, which is currently at 5.6%, has students struggling. A representative of ChintaBAR told TNM that the 2019 hike was brought about only after students protested against the low payment.
After the 2019 hike, it was decided that the stipend would be increased every four years. Even though the four year mark was crossed in January 2023, there has been no increase in the stipend. The ChintaBAR representative said, “The stipend that scholars get in India is half of what people get when they pursue higher education abroad. Most scholars prefer to go abroad for higher studies because it is not sustainable to do research here.” According to ChintaBAR’s statement, students are expecting a 80-100% hike, at par with what scholars are paid abroad.
Apart from the demand for an increase in stipend, the students are also demanding timely payments. The ChintaBAR representative said that payments get delayed by up to three months sometimes, making it difficult for students to manage their finances. Currently, scholars have not received their payments since March, the representative added.
Students of IIT Madras believe that the stipend hike does not pertain only to their institute or to IITs, but to all government-run universities that offer PhD programmes. Similar protests have been organised in the Delhi and Palakkad IITs, according to ChintaBAR.
Speaking about the Maulana Azad National Fellowship for minority students that was recently stopped, the ChintaBAR representative said, “This feels like an indirect way of saying that only people from the elite classes must do research. It is like people who do not have money should not do research. Students cannot sustain themselves if they have a family to support and have no other means of income.”
The representative also said that students from IIT Madras will organise a signature campaign and send a memorandum to the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development. He added that the students are planning a national-level protest as well, in collaboration with multiple universities across the country.