Govt amends CM-ASPIRE scheme, extends fellowship to existing PhD scholars

Bhubaneswar: The state govt has removed a major hurdle for hundreds of PhD scholars in govt technical universities by bringing existing eligible researchers under the ambit of the Chief Minister’s Augmenting Soft Skill and Promoting Innovation, Research & Excellence (CM-ASPIRE) scheme.An amendment notified recently by the skill development and technical education department will allow scholars who enrolled before the scheme’s launch in Sept 2025 to receive research fellowships and contingency grants. Senior department officials said the amendment aims to extend benefits under the Research Fellowship for Government Technical Universities component to scholars who had registered for PhD programmes before the scheme was notified.Under the revised guidelines, existing PhD scholars enrolled in govt technical universities like the Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT) in Rourkela, Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology (VSSUT) in Burla, and Odisha University of Technology and Research (OUTR) in Bhubaneswar, will be eligible for the fellowship if they fulfil the prescribed eligibility conditions and are working under approved research guides.

The department clarified that although these scholars were admitted before the scheme came into force, the fellowship will be granted only from Sept 9, 2025, the date on which CM-ASPIRE was notified. For determining the upper age limit, the relevant year will be that in which the PhD admission notification was issued and the candidate was selected.The amendment also caps the fellowship tenure for such scholars at four years from the date of PhD registration.

Eligible candidates will receive financial support only for the remaining period within this four-year limit or until the award of the PhD degree, whichever is earlier.Besides the monthly fellowship, eligible existing scholars will also receive the contingency grant under the scheme. The grant will be provided concurrently with the fellowship to support research-related academic and laboratory expenses, the amendment states.Titled the First Amendment of the CM-ASPIRE Scheme Guidelines, the notification will have retrospective effect from Sept 9, 2025.The department’s commissioner-cum-secretary, Bhupendra Singh Poonia, said CM-ASPIRE was launched to promote research, innovation and academic excellence in the state’s govt technical universities by providing financial support to PhD scholars. “The latest amendment addresses a key gap in the original guidelines by bringing scholars who had already begun doctoral research before the scheme’s introduction within its ambit, subject to the prescribed eligibility conditions,” he added.