BERLIN: Soon after his arrival here today, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh, who is part of the Prime Minister’s official delegation, met Indian StartUps,Students and young professionals and held nearly a two hour long interaction with them.
The Minister appealed to them to avail of various fellowships, joint training programmes and professional options initiated by the government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He told the Indian students, some of whom are doing Post Doc, doctoral and Master degrees, to avail of wonderful new opportunities back home to do cutting-edge research in Science, Technology and Innovation.
Dr Jitendra Singh mentioned that those students doing Post Doc assignment here, and would like to return can apply for Ramanuja Fellowships by Department of Science and Technology for researchers in all areas and Ramalinga Swamy Fellowships by Department of Biotechnology for researchers in Biotechnology, Health Sciences, Agricultural Sciences. The Minister said that both these fellowships provide immediate placement of 3 years, which could be extended by another 2 years. He added that this is an adequate period to prove one’s worth and get absorbed in an academic/ research organisation in India.
Dr Jitendra Singh is in Berlin to hold consultations with their German counterparts as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first leg of tour to Germany at the invitation of H.E. Mr. Olaf Scholz, Federal Chancellor of Germany.
Dr Jitendra Singh also pointed out that DST offers INSPIRE fellowships, at various levels, which include both doctoral and post-doctoral. This is a five year assignment in an academic organisation, where one could take academic and research assignments.
Dr Jitendra Singh also underlined that Indo-German Science & Technology Centre (IGSTC) has offered few fellowships like Paired Fellowships (young scientists in India and Germany need to make a Pair), Women in Science, Education & Research (WISER) – for placement of women researchers in ongoing projects, and Industrial fellowships – to provide exposure to Indian students in German industrial ecosystem.
Moreover, the Minister informed that India and Germany have bilateral programs with a number of German organisations, including Ministry of Education & Research (BMBF), German Academic Exchange Program (DAAD), and German Research Foundation (DFG). He said, these programs provide opportunities for 3-5 years research collaboration between Indian and German organisations. If someone is currently working in a German organisation and his or her Professor has a collaborative project under any of these programs, one can get an opportunity to work with Indian organisations, while you are still working in Germany.
Similarly, Dr Jitendra Singh flagged other opportunities like VAJRA, GIAN, SPARC and said that under these programs, inter-institutional activities are developed between Indian and collaborative institutes and participation of young students are encouraged in all these activities. Two other schemes are ICMR International Fellowships – for Medical Students and ICAR International Fellowships – for Agriculture Students
Our Science Counsellor in Germany is actively involved in dialogue with Indian student’s community, through the Indian Students in Germany (ISG), an initiative of the Embassy of India. The Embassy maintains a database of Indian students and researchers in Germany to reach out to them.
Dr Jitendra Singh concluded that India and Germany have a long history of collaborative research, technology partnership, and higher education cooperation. The Indo-German science and technology partnership has massively grown in the last couple of years and high-level diplomatic visits have further boosted the bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
The Minister recalled that in November 2019, during Chancellor Merkel’s visit to Delhi, Germany and India agreed to establish a joint research programme in Artificial Intelligence. They also decided on the extension of the Indo-German Partnership in Higher Education for another four years, with contributions of 3.5 Million Euros each.
