A Complete guide for INSPIRE Fellowship

Official Website: http://www.online-inspire.gov.in/ (For fund release related notices visit here)

Eligibility:

INSPIRE Fellowship, is offered to

i) An INSPIRE Scholar who has secured minimum 65% marks or 6.5 CGPA (in 10 point scale) in aggregate at M.Sc. or Integrated M.S./ M. Sc Course,

ii) First Rank holders in Post Graduate Degrees in Basic & Applied Sciences OR Graduate Degree in Engineering Sciences/ Medical Sciences/ Pharmaceutical Sciences/ Agricultural Sciences/ Veterinary Sciences of any recognized Indian University or Institute/ Statutory Body in India, which is eligible for admission to the PhD Program in any recognized University/ academic Institutions in the country. 

Amount of Fellowship

JRF: 31000/- per month with HRA (as per location of your institute/university, at VB it is 9%) and a contingency of 20000/- per annum.

SRF: 35000/- per month with HRA (as per location of your institute/university, at VB it is 9%) and a contingency of 20000/- per annum. To upgrade to SRF you must have at least one paper with the first authorship. For more info click here.

How to Apply

Please visit inspire website regularly. The 10th advertisement (click to open) was published in August 2017. So keep watching from the beginning of August. 

What you need before applying

•  An Email ID(different from the old INSPIRE account if you had INSPIRE Scholarship)

• Passport size photograph (JPEG max 50 KB)

• Age certificate (PDF max 1MB)

• Mark sheets of educational qualifications (like 12th, UG & PG Program. PG mark sheet should contain the conversion formula from CGPA to the percentage if you obtained absolute CGPA grading. Please note any Degree or provisional mark sheet will not be acceptable. Only authorised mark sheets would be acceptable. Every semester mark sheets need to be provided in one scan upload)  (PDF max 1MB)

• First Rank Certificate for applicants who are not INSPIRE Scholars (Template provided at http://www.online-inspire.gov.in, and at http://www.inspire-dst.gov.in). Improper or incomplete Rank certificate will not be acceptable. Download one from here.  (PDF max 1MB)

• Appointment letter ( if employed)   (PDF max 1MB)

If already enrolled in PhD.

• Admission Letter (issued by University Authorities i.e. Registrar, Dean, Director, etc. Only joining as JRF will not be acceptable, in such case you should submit as non PhD scholar)  (PDF max 1 MB)

• Fee Receipt for Ph. D. admission (PDF max 1 MB)

• CV of the Ph. D. Supervisor   (PDF max 1 MB)

• Endorsement Letter (Template Provide at http://www.onlineinspire.gov.in and at http://www.inspire-dst.gov.in)  (Download here)  (PDF max 1MB)

• Detail write up of research to be done approved by supervisor (PDF max 1MB)

If not enrolled in PhD.

• Three choices of University/Institute and supervisors  (To be filled in TextBox)

• Brief tentative write up of research to be done   (To be filled in TextBox)

Please note

If you are a PhD scholar(either you have taken admission before applying for INSPIRE  or you are a provisionally selected candidate) you should apply as first as you can as the effective date of fellowship is the date of submission of your form. If you transferring from another fellowship scheme, the date of resignation is the effective date for your fellowship.

Procedure:

• Register for a new account.

• Follow this Guideline (PDF file).

Publication of 'Selected/Rejected Students List'

In our case, the list was published in the first two weeks(final for enrolled candidates and provisional for others). Keep visiting INSPIRE's website. Log in to your account and check for Offer Letter. Download a copy of that. Remember that there are two types of selections here- Provisional and Final. Those who have taken admission before the date application, are selected for final selection directly and have to accept the offer at the inspire portal. Then they will apply for Final acceptance which requires few steps as given in the next section. For those who have been selected provisionally, have to take admission and then apply for final offer the portal within one month of admission. Please hurry because the date of application for final offer is the effective date for your fellowship.  Now you need to submit

• Admission Letter (issued by University Authorities i.e. Registrar, Dean, Director, etc. Only joining as JRF will not be acceptable, in such case you should submit as non PhD scholar)  (PDF max 1 MB)

• Fee Receipt for Ph. D. admission (PDF max 1 MB)

• CV of the Ph. D. Supervisor   (PDF max 1 MB)

• Endorsement Letter (Template Provide at http://www.onlineinspire.gov.in and at http://www.inspire-dst.gov.in)  (Download here)  (PDF max 1MB)

• Detail write up of research to be done approved by supervisor (PDF max 1MB)

(Please refer to INSPIRE's official website for any changes in the procedure or the documents you need to upload.)

Final Acceptance of Fellowship

After obtaining your offer letter you have to apply for Final Acceptance. Download this form. Attach required documents and Collect signatures of your guide, Head of the Department, Head of the institution with seal. Upload it on INSPIRE portal (your account).

Sanction Letter

In our case, our sanction letter was released in the second week of June 2018 (almost 6 months after offer letter). Download it.  Apply to your competent authority for the release of your fellowship. If you got your sanction letter it means DST will send the money to your institution within one week or so. To track your fund follow the next section. Check the consolidated list from here. Search with the name of your Host institution and count the number of selected students from your institution and multiply it with 344000(for each). Find that amount of money transfer in PFMS.

Tracking of Released Fund in PFMS System (https://pfms.nic.in):

a) For University/Institute concern

•Login into PFMS through University/Institute login id & password.

•Click My Fund-> Received from Central Govt.

•Select Scheme Name: 1817- Science & Technology Institutional and Human Capacity Building and click on Search button

•Click on Sanction Number to view the release status in that particular sanction.

•And finally, click on Received button to receive your sanction.

b) For any Individual (concern student):

•Go to PFMS Home Page(https://pfms.nic.in)

•Click "Know Your Payments"

•Click "Know Payments by Account Number"

•Provide Bank Name and Account Number of the concern University/Institution then click on "Search" button

•Check the column with Scheme Name "Science and Technology Institutional and Human Capacity Building-[1817]"

•Compare the consolidated released amount of the particular University/Institute with Consolidated Sanction Order (displayed here) after the date of sanction.

For more FAQ click here.

posted by Mainul Hossain

UGC CSIR JRF and SRF

• Official Website: 

• Eligibility: A large number of JRFs are awarded each year by CSIR to candidates holding  BS-4 years program/BE/B. Tech/B. Pharma/MBBS/ Integrated BS-MS/M.Sc. or Equivalent degree/BSc (Hons) or equivalent degree holders  or students enrolled in integrated MS-Ph.D program with at least 55% marks for General & OBC (50% for SC/ST candidates, Physically and Visually handicapped candidates) after qualifying the National Eligibility Test ( NET) conducted by CSIR twice a year June and December. Candidates with bachelor’s degree, whether Science, engineering or any other discipline, will be eligible for fellowship only after getting registered/enrolled for Ph.D/integrated Ph.D. programme within the validity period of two years.

•   SELECTION PROCEDURE: The Selection for award of JRF shall be made on the basis of a competitive written test called the National Eligibility Test (NET), conducted by CSIR at national level twice a year ( June and December ).

•  AGE LIMIT: The upper age limit for applying for the award of JRF shall be 28 years, which is relaxed upto 5 years in the case of candidates belonging to Schedule Castes/Schedule Tribes/OBC, Physically Handicapped/Visually Handicapped and female applicants.

• Amount: Rs 25,000/ p.m for the first two years. In addition, annual contingent grant of Rs. 20,000/- per fellow will be provided to  the University / Institution. On Completion of two years as JRF and if the fellow is registered for PhD, the fellowship will be upgraded to SRF (NET) and the stipend will be increased to Rs. 28,000/- p.m for the 3rd and subsequent years, on the basis of assessment of Fellows’ research progress/ achievements.

• For more details visit this webpage.