Union Minister Jitendra Singh stated the ‘Vaibhav’ fellowship was “open-ended”. File
| Photo Credit: Nissar Ahmad
The Department of Science and Technology (DST) introduced the first batch of ‘Vaibhav’ fellows – a scheme meant to draw Indian-origin scientists primarily based overseas for short-term collaboration – at a perform on Tuesday.
Twenty-two scientists, principally primarily based at North American and European institutes together with the California Institute of Technology, the University of Oxford, the University of Michigan, the University of Geneva, the University of Waterloo, Canada, and the University of Oslo, will spend wherever from a month or two yearly, for a most of three years, at host Indian institutes. Currently, the establishments embrace the Indian Institute of Science, the Indian Institutes of Technology, the Indian Institutes of Science, Education and Research, and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, amongst others.
Apart from these, two ‘distinguished fellowships’ had been additionally supplied to senior professors, Arogyaswami Paulraj (Stanford University) and Jitendra Malik (University of California, Berkley).
Those chosen would get a stipend (₹4 lakh per 30 days), lodging, and their host establishments, a analysis grant, to allow them to host the fellows. The Vaibhav fellows are anticipated to start a mission, know-how start-up, inside three years together with the host institute, construct long-term analysis connections with the institute, collaborate with the host college and usher in new concepts to the sector, in Indian college and analysis settings.
The Vaibhav fellowship scheme, first set into movement in June 2023, and credited to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s name to contain the Indian diaspora extra carefully to additional India’s growth, bears placing similarities to a different scheme, known as Visiting Advanced Joint Research Faculty (Vajra) scheme, once more of the DST, initiated in 2018. Here too, diaspora Indian scientists had been incentivised to spend brief durations in Indian establishments. Officials stated that each schemes would proceed as they’d completely different aims. “Vajra was open to all foreign scientists, whereas Vaibhav is exclusively for the Indian diaspora,” stated Professor Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Advisor.
While the Vajra scheme did see participation and visits by international college, the Vaibhav scheme – apart from the emphasis on Indian diaspora – anticipated clear, translational outcomes in areas of science of analysis that the federal government had earlier recognized as vital to growth.
Science Minister Jitendra Singh stated on the perform that the scheme was “open-ended” and was meant to facilitate long-term, significant collaboration, and probably entice diaspora scientists to work in India. “There’s no explicit plan to coax NRI scientists back to India. However India has changed and is advancing rapidly and if these scientists can see opportunities for themselves, that would be welcome,” he added.
