Saptarshi Biswas, a ninth (IX-th) semester student of Indian Institute of Science Education & Research (IISER), Kolkata and a recipient of KVPY Scholarship, discusses various aspects of the prestigious 'KVPY Scholarship' created by the Department of Science & Technology, GOI, New Delhi. The aim of this scholarship is to encourage the students to take up research career in 'Basic Science'. This article is based on Saptarshi's discussion in the 'CASILab Webinar' on 'Career in Physics for the UG & PG Students' held on August 23, 2020.
Posted by: Saptarshi Biswas, Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science Education & Research (IISER), Kolkata
Email: saptarshibiswas531@gmail.com
KVPY, abbreviation of Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana, is a National fellowship program run by Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and funded by Department of Science and Technology (DST) of the Government of India. It is mainly aimed to encourage the students to take up research career in Basic Sciences and provide financial support during their Undergraduate and Masters studies. Every year a generous monthly fellowship and a contingency grant is provided to the selected students up to the pre-PhD level or for 5 years whichever is earlier. Apart from this, during their freshman year as a KVPY fellow, the students get the opportunity (indeed, a mandatory component of this program) to attend the National Science Camp (VIJYOSHI), commonly held around the month of December, where the students attend a week-long series of lectures delivered by eminent Scientists of India as well as from different countries, get an opportunity to interact with them. In this way during the camp, the scholarship recipients get an adequate ambiance and exposure to the research facilities of the premier research institutes of India. Afterwards, in each successive year, the students can carry out summer projects in any prestigious research or educational institutes of India or abroad during their summer vacations in close-collaboration with any researcher group and thereby get a real-time experience of professional research. The contingency grant, which is provided yearly, is dedicated mostly for this purpose.
Selection of students is made from those studying in XI standard to the first year of any undergraduate program in Basic Science. There are three channels to apply for the fellowship: Students of class-XI may apply through the SA-channel, class-XII students may apply for the SX channel and first year UG students are selected through the SB channel. The syllabus of the exams for the respective channels covers all the contents from Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Biology of any standard course. The entire selection process comprises two parts, first one is a computer-based aptitude test which contains MCQ-type questions. Based on that, a selected number of students are called for an interview. The final selection is made by considering both the marks obtained in aptitude test (75% weight-age) and interview (25% weight-age). This also serves as an entrance exam to various premier science institutes of India such as IISc and IISERs. The exams are held once every year, and the advertisement for application and other details appears in all the National dailies around the months of May - July. For more general information and important dates, all aspirants may visit the official website “www.kvpy.iisc.ernet.in” of KVPY.
The qualified students receive a monthly fellowship of Rs. 5000 during their first 3 years (or, end of Bachelor degree, whichever earlier) during their undergraduate studies with an annual contingency grant of Rs. 20000. In subsequent two years during their Masters, the fellowship amount is enhanced to Rs. 7000 per month along with an annual contingency grant of Rs. 28000. However, the fellowship is provided is subjected to the condition that, the recipient takes admission and continues his or her studies in a degree course of Basic Sciences, with a consistently good performance in their course work and satisfactory performance in the summer projects they take-up each year, scrutinized through a yearly renewal process.
A very special thanks to CASILab for organizing such unique career opportunity related program in basic science for the aspiring students. Finally, Good Luck to all participants to enjoy the KVPY scholarship to enter into the 'Wonderful World of Science'.
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