About the scheme

• The Government of India under the Ministry of Science and Technology had instituted a scheme “The Swarnajayanti Fellowships” to commemorate India’s fiftieth year of Independence in 1997.
• Under this scheme a selected number of young scientists, with proven track record, are provided special assistance and support to enable them to pursue basic research in frontier areas of science and technology. 
• Scientists selected for the award will be allowed to pursue unfettered research with freedom and flexibility in terms of expenditure as approved in the research plan. 
• The project should contain innovative research ideas and it should have a potential of making an impact on R&D in the discipline. 
• The fellowships are scientist specific and not institution specific, very selective and have close academic monitoring.

Nature of Support

• • The award consists of a Fellowship of Rs 25000/- per month in addition to the salary drawn from the parent Institute for a period of 5 years.
  • The fellows selected along with their projects will be considered for funding by the Science & Engineering Research Board (SERB) as per SERB norms, for fellowship.

• SERB is a statutory body of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Ministry of Science and Technology, established through the SERB Act, 2008.

• Supporting basic research in emerging areas of Science & Engineering is the primary and distinctive mandate of the Board.

• The duration of the fellowship will be for a period not exceeding five years.

Why in the news?

• The Ministry of Science and Technology has invited applications for Swarnajayanti Fellowships Scheme.

Reference:

1. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1795043