 "#RIPResearch: As Jaitley announces Rs 150 crore for research, scholars protest measly stipend")
On Friday 20 February, HRD minister Smriti Irani met a bunch of protesters on hunger strike at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, promising them that their demands would be addressed. The protesters in question were research scholars from institutions such as AIIMS, IIT Delhi, Delhi University, JNU and Jamia Hamdard University. They were trying to bring to attention the the government’s failure to implement the 50 percent hike in research scholarships that had been announced in October 2014. However, a week since then and with no update on the hike, the protesters have taken to social media to get their voices heard. #RIPResearch has been trending on Twitter since morning, with tweets about the salaries of researchers and a lack of funds allocated to research in India. Some of the people who tweeted with the hashtag, said how they had to wait for one whole year for their monthly stipends. [caption id=“attachment_2131169” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Research labs in India. Photo by AFP[/caption] Incidentally, in this year’s budget, finance minister Arun Jaitley has announced Rs 150 crore for ‘research and development’ under a scheme called ‘Atal Innovation Mission’. ““The AIM platform will also promote a network of world-class innovation hubs… Initially, a sum of Rs.150 crore will be earmarked for this purpose,” he said. However, Jaitley’s lofty promise hasn’t brought cheer to researchers in India who have been struggling with measly allowances for years now. One of the protesters pointed out a serious question in a Times of India report “Why do we have to protest each time to get a hike? Why can’t there be a system for automatic revision of stipend just like bureaucrats get the pay commission to revise their salaries every now and then to keep up with rising inflation?” Following are a few tweets trending on the web:
#RIPResearch A whole group of educated people have to request an uneducated person for their scholarship.
— Sound wave storm (@Soundwavestorm) March 2, 2015
Dad-scientist bano bahot scope hai
— Mostly Carbon (@s_manjari) March 1, 2015
Aftr 10yrs
Me- sirf 'microscope' hai dad, and paisa nahi.#HikeFellowship #RIPResearch
You and I are researchers But still being protesters #RIPResearch
— Kush Tripathi (@biomedikals) March 2, 2015
The protesters have decided to continue their strike until their demands have been met.
#RIPResearch is actually treading! Hopefully that will give some media attention to #HikeFellowship movement
— Rudra Nayan Das (@Rudra_nayan) March 2, 2015
#RIPResearch Researchers are the lifeline of the country. A hike will change the perception of the people towards research.
— Harsha (@Harsha_MP) March 2, 2015
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