PhD fellowships in West Bengal

What does the West Bengal government pay a PhD scholar who has no JRF?

The state’s schemes line up by qualification, each step asking for more than the one before:

If you have a UGC or CSIR JRF, take that instead; it pays far more, as our fellowships guide shows.

All three schemes are for full-time scholars, and all three are tied to institutions in the state. The non-NET fellowship and the University Research Fellowship are paid only in state-funded or state-aided institutions, so a scholar at a private university in Kolkata or elsewhere in the state is outside both.

How does the ₹8,000 non-NET fellowship reach you through SVMCM?

The Higher Education Department created this fellowship by order No. 52-Edn(B)/5B-15/2017 of 7 June 2017. Its money comes from the Swami Vivekananda Merit-cum-Means Scholarship (SVMCM) budget, but the order says in terms that SVMCM’s family-income test does not apply. What the order and the current SVMCM guidelines lay down:

• The amount. ₹8,000 a month for a full-time PhD, for no more than four years, and only until the day you submit the thesis. It covers scholars registered on or after 1 April 2017.
• Who counts as non-NET. The SVMCM guidelines cover scholars without a NET junior research fellowship, including NET-lectureship holders. A NET-lectureship holder stops receiving it on appointment as a teacher, and must tell the university.
• Who selects. Your university or institution, through what the order calls a transparent screening process. Anyone involved in a criminal case, or punished in disciplinary proceedings of the institution, is excluded.
• No second award. Anyone already receiving financial assistance from another source, central or state, is not eligible, and the university takes a certificate from you to that effect.
• An undertaking. You sign that you will submit the thesis, with the relevant published papers, at the end of the fellowship.

The paperwork is the university’s, then yours

Since 1 October 2019 the application has been online, and for research scholars the institution registers you on the SVMCM portal, not you. You then get a 15-digit applicant ID by SMS, log in and upload a photograph, signature, Class 10 marksheet or admit card, a cancelled cheque and your PhD registration proof. Under its 2020 notice, the University of Calcutta’s Development & Planning Office in the Darbhanga Building on the College Street campus collects an information sheet, signed by your head of department, before it registers you.

Keeping it is the harder part. Each quarter the university must send the department a certificate from your guide, countersigned by the dean and the Vice-Chancellor, saying you are registered, meeting your course requirements and behaving well. Renewal on the portal needs a utilisation and claim certificate and a progress report attested by the institution. A delay at any of those desks holds up your money, so keep your progress reports current and ask your guide to sign the quarterly certificate on time. The department can stop payment if you leave the institution or discontinue the research.

Which universities still advertise the state-funded University Research Fellowship?

The University Research Fellowship is the state’s award for NET, GATE and SET holders at state universities, funded under Government Order No. 01(19)-Edn(U)/1U-10/94 of 4 January 2016. The University of Calcutta’s notice of 29 December 2021 is the clearest statement of its terms we could find: ₹18,000 a month consolidated as JRF and ₹20,000 as SRF, no house rent allowance, no contingency grant, four years extendable by one year in deserving cases, and treatment as per UGC guidelines unless the Higher Education Department decides otherwise. Applications went on a paper form to the Development & Planning Office by 20 January 2022.

How many fellowships a university gets, and whether it advertises any in a given year, is the university’s matter. Two recent examples show the range:

• University of Burdwan. Its brochure for the Ph.D. Programme 2024 ran “State Funded Fellowship 2024” alongside admission, with applications from 2 to 17 April 2025 and interviews, including for the fellowship, from 28 to 30 April 2025. The fellowships go purely on merit, to NET, SET, SLET or GATE-qualified candidates admitted to the PhD.
• Jadavpur University. The Faculty of Science notice for 2025–26 (10 October 2025) says “Institutional fellowship is not available”, and the Faculty of Engineering & Technology notice of 24 July 2025 says no institutional scholarship is offered.

So read the admission notice of each university you apply to. At Burdwan the fellowship was decided at the admission interview itself, so a scholar who waited for a separate call would have missed it.

Is the WBSCST Research Fellowship Award still running?

The Research Fellowship Award is run by the West Bengal State Council of Science & Technology (WBSCST) for the Department of Science and Technology and Biotechnology, from Vigyan Chetana Bhavan in Salt Lake. It is small and named: one award each in the names of Jagadish Chandra Bose (life science or telecommunication), Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray (chemical science), Meghnad Saha (river science), Satyendra Nath Bose (theoretical physics) and Upendra Nath Brahmachari (health science).

The call we read, which closed on 7 February 2022, set these terms:

• Money. ₹25,000 a month for two years as JRF with ₹28,000 a year contingency, then ₹30,000 a month as SRF with ₹30,000 a year, for up to five years or until the PhD, whichever comes first.
• Eligibility. A science postgraduate degree with at least 60% in all qualifying examinations and GATE in the relevant discipline; NET or SET is desirable and JBNSTS-qualified candidates get preference. You must be 28 or younger on the date of the advertisement, an Indian citizen residing in West Bengal, and not previously employed on a sponsored project.
• Where. A PhD at a state or central government-aided university or postgraduate college in West Bengal.
• Selection. Screening, then an interview before an expert committee.
• Obligations. A 30-minute progress presentation each year, and at least one first-author paper in a peer-reviewed journal within two years; our research paper guide helps with that. No paid or honorary employment during the tenure.

Is it still running? The scheme is still listed on the department’s Vigyan Sathi portal, but its archive shows no call after the 2022 one as of September 2026. Our advice: if you are a science postgraduate under 28 with GATE, register on Vigyan Sathi and check it each winter, but do not plan your PhD around it.

Does a teaching job end a West Bengal state fellowship?

Yes. The non-NET fellowship is for full-time scholars, and for NET-lectureship holders the rule is written down: the payment stops on the day you are appointed as a teacher. The Research Fellowship Award forbids any employment during the tenure, though WBSCST may allow up to a year of paid research work elsewhere without stipend, on your guide’s recommendation. If you are already employed and want to register part-time, our PhD admission guide covers what the UGC rules require.

Each scheme is also built to be your only support. The 2017 order bars anyone receiving financial assistance from another source, and the SVMCM guidelines bar any other central or state scholarship or stipend for the same stage of study, though one-time grants and fee concessions do not count.

If a better offer comes through, such as a national JRF or an institute fellowship, take it and tell the office that registered you, so that the state payment stops cleanly rather than on an adverse report from the university, which the 2017 order allows the department to act on.

What should you ask your university’s research office before counting on state money?

Much of what decides whether you are paid sits with your university rather than the state. Before you plan your finances, ask:

• Has the university forwarded this year’s non-NET list? Under the 2017 order the Vice-Chancellor signs the list of selected scholars and sends it to the Higher Education Department. Until your name is on it, nothing is paid.
• Is a state-funded fellowship advertised with this year’s admission? At Burdwan it was, in April 2025. At Jadavpur, the 2025–26 notices said no institutional fellowship.
• Who signs the quarterly certificate, and when? Your guide, then the dean, then the Vice-Chancellor. Find out which office collects it.
• Is your bank account one the SVMCM portal will accept? The portal asks for a cancelled cheque and pays only by direct transfer.
• What does your university count as “non-NET”? Ask this if you qualified NET for PhD admission only (see the questions below).

Write down the name of the person who answers. When a payment is late, the question is almost always which signature is missing, and that person will know.