Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Mar 12: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology, MoS PMO, Department of Atomic Energy, Department of Space, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Dr. Jitendra Singh today launched “Common Fellowship Portal”, a single interface between applicants and various fellowship schemes by the Department of Biotechnology today at National Media Centre, New Delhi.
The portal will save the energy and time of aspiring students and StartUps, besides bringing ease of applying.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi envisaged “Ease of Doing Science” for igniting scientific minds of Viksit Bharat”, said Dr. Jitendra Singh, while addressing the programme after launch of the portal. He added that this portal will enable a simplified and streamlined process from the submission of application forms for selection. The applicants can create their profile on the portal and use the same information to auto-fill different applications. Thus, this Portal will help all applicants by reducing their time and energy by getting full information and submission of applications at a single place by click of a mouse!
Dr. Jitendra Singh said initiatives of science & technology are in line with PM Modi’s vision of Government Approach- one centralized portal for all research applications. Dr. Jitendra Singh further informed that at present, Departments under the Ministry of Science & Technology (DST, DBT, CSIR) have come together for submission of application forms and soon application forms for all other Departments such as ICMR, UGC and AICTE will also be on-boarded.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said “Eligibility Calculator- a unique feature of the portal will prove to be a real gateway to research aspirations which allows applicants to check their eligibility for various fellowship schemes by providing specific details and also act as a data repository.
The Union Minister categorically mentioned that PM Modi has emphasised on providing a level playing field and giving equal opportunities to students and scholars from even the remotest parts of India. He expressed confidence that in the coming days we will also strive for industry linkage to create a bridge between academia and industry and prevent brain drain from our country.
Dr. Jitendra Singh, while addressing the ceremony, congratulated the team of the ‘Department of Biotechnology’ under guidance of Dr Rajesh Gokhale – for developing the Common Fellowship Portal for benefit of PhD and Postdoctoral students of the country.Dr. Singh guided them by saying that we have set a benchmark in technology and lead by example for other departments.
Dr. Jitendra Singh also congratulated the Working Group consisting of HRD divisions of DBT, CSIR and INSPIRE, KIRAN Divisions of the DST for their hard work in designing and successfully on boarding of application forms of various schemes of the Ministry. He acknowledged that it is not an easy task to coordinate, gather and map the information from various Departments and develop such a common portal.
Dr. Rajesh Gokhale, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology. Prof. Abhay Karandikar, Secretary Department of Science & Technology. Dr Sanjay Mishra, Senior advisor along with Dr.Pragya Palliwal Gaur, Director General, Press Information Bureau and Namita Gupta , head, INSPIRE were also present for the launch ceremony.