The Ministry of HRD has announced various changes in the Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship (PMRF) scheme. One of the major amendments that is of interest for engineering students across the nation is that the required GATE score of 750 has been reduced to 650.
The ministry has also introduced a lateral entry option to attract more students to the research fellowship scheme, and reduced the minimum CGPA to 8 or equivalent from any of the recognized institute or university (other than IISc, IITs, NITs, IISERs, IIEST and IIITs).
In lateral entry, the students, who are pursuing PhD in PMRF granting institutions (like IITs and NITs) can also apply to become fellow under the scheme as per new guidelines. This lateral entry channel would be in addition to the direct entry way.
According to Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, these amendments have been carried out in the Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship Scheme to boost research in the country as most of the seats were going vacant every year. After making these changes in eligibility criteria, the HRD ministry now hopes that more seats will get filled up.
Now a student can pursue research fellowship under PMRF from all the IITs, the IISERs, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, some of the top central universities and NITs that offer science or technology degrees. Explaining about the selection procedure, the HRD minister said, “The candidates will be selected through a rigorous selection process and their performance will be reviewed suitably through a national convention. Starting Academic Year 2020-21, candidates can apply for PMRF through either direct entry channel or lateral entry channel.”
