Progress of work done by Junior Research Fellows (JRF) is assessed at the end of the two-year term of the fellowship. If the work of the fellow is found satisfactory, he/she is promoted to Senior Research Fellow (SRF). This extension comes with a good increment in fellowship amount also and is a crucial turn in the journey towards a PhD degree.
Fellowship amount
A CSIR Junior Research Fellow gets a fellowship of amount worth Rs. 31,000/- with HRA amounting Rs. 7,440/-. Upon up-gradation, a Senior Research Fellow receives a stipend of Rs. 35,000/- with HRA of Rs. 8400/-
Note:- HRA rates are 8%, 16% and 24% depends on cities/location where the CSIR fellow working or university location. The above HRA rate is 24% as applicable in cities like Delhi.
Step by step procedure
- After the 2-year JRF term is over, one must ask the supervisor for a fellowship extension. As a response supervisor asks the HR department to arrange a 3-member evaluation committee. This committee includes the supervisor, the HOD, and an external member from outside the institute.
- A fellow needs to fill a progress proforma in a format specific to the institute and submit it to HR. In this form, the fellow furnishes the details regarding the JRF term, joining date, Supervisor name & designation, Ph.D. Registration date, thesis title, objectives, and details of work carried out in two years.
- Along with the form, the fellow submits an abstract of his/her research work.
- After that, the student prepares a PPT describing the work in detail. This PPT must be as per the guidelines of the institute. The 3-member committee reviews the work on the basis of the presentation given by the fellow. It makes suggestions and take a decision regarding the fellowship extension.
- Based on its decision, HR prepares a progress assessment report. All three members of the committee sign this report. Later the Director of the institute signs the report. One must ensure that report prepared by HR must be in the format as prescribed by CSIR. The report must be signed and must have the stamp all of the supervisor and HOD.
- Once the fellow has got the 3-member assessment committee report in hand, he needs to prepare two more documents:- a) Annual progress report and b) Ph.D. registration proforma
- The annual progress period report must have the JRF period clearly indicated. The supervisor signs the document along with his/her stamp.
Takeaway
JRF period is not exactly 2 years from the date of joining as found in the records of CSIR. For example, if the joining date of a fellow is 20th July 2018, then he will receive JRF till 31st July 2020 and not till 20th July 2020. The fellow will receive SRF till 31st July 2023. In conclusion, he/she will get 10 or 11 days benefit in terms of fellowship received. However, a Three-member committee may be set up as per the 2-year term from joining.
One response
For three years I was working on serb-dst project, my project is over in 10th july 2020, I have applied for direct srf. But interview is still pending. So other than this where I can apply for fellowship.