SC/ST JRF scholars write to Bangalore University V-C, urge review of fee notification

Around 80 Ph.D. scholars and M.Phil. researchers from the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), and Category-I communities, who receive funding under the Union government’s Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) scheme, have raised concerns over Bangalore University directing them to pay the same annual fees as General Merit (GM) category students, according to a recently issued official fee notification.

While the students have recently written to Vice-Chancellor C. Shivaraju asking him to cancel the fee notification and issue a new one, the university said that the matter has been placed before the Fee Review Committee and will soon decide on the issue.

JRF is a premier government-funded programme that provides financial assistance to meritorious candidates pursuing full-time Ph.D. and M.Phil. research. Students aspiring to get JRF write the University Grants Commission National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) exam and qualify in the merit list to get financial assistance or funds from the Centre.

At present, the Centre provides a monthly stipend of ₹37,000 for the first two years (as a JRF) and ₹42,000 per month for the remaining period for a total tenure of up to five years.

A Ph.D. student from the Department of Arts and Humanities, Bangalore University, who spoke to The Hindu, said, “There is a fee slab set separately for SC/ST and Category-1 students, Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, and the General Merit (GM) category students. The fee varies for students of various caste categories; however, Bangalore University has set the same fee slab for SC, ST, and GM students with no logic except that the students are getting more than ₹40,000 per month from the Centre.”

The student further explained, “In the fee notification issued by the Exam Evaluation Department for the year 2026–27, the rules have been changed, and JRF researchers belonging to ST, SC, and Category-1 communities are directed to pay ₹43,117 for the first year in the Arts and Commerce stream and ₹55,388 in the Science stream. It is the same as the GM student fee. Likewise, the fee amount changes accordingly for students in the second, third, fourth, and fifth years.”