Why govt scrapped KVPY exam and merged the fellowship scheme with INSPIRE | Education News,The Indian Express

According to DST sources, the high operational cost of conducting the aptitude test forced the government to scrap it. But this decision does not affect the number of fellowships that were being offered under Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana

The union government has discontinued the aptitude test for the Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana (KVYP) and merged the fellowship scheme with another programme. However, this will not affect the number of fellowships that were offered every year under KVYP, a senior official of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) told The Indian Express.

According to sources, the DST used to offer anywhere between 250 to 300 KVYP fellowships each year and this number will be protected even though the scheme has been merged with the INSPIRE programme. “There is no discontinuation of the fellowship, only the exam has been stopped. The fellowships still be offered, but under another programme,” the DST official said.

Instituted in 1999, KVPY aimed to encourage students to study basic and natural science subjects at undergraduate and postgraduate levels and pursue research as a career by providing fellowships to interested and deserving students. The aptitude exam to select deserving students was conducted by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and was followed by an interview.

Sources said the decision to scrap the aptitude test, which is taken by nearly two lakh students each year, was made at a “high-level meeting” held on June 1 to review KVPY.

The officer pointed out that the review on June 1 showed that the operational cost of the exam was too high. “It actually cost us more to conduct the exam than the value of the fellowships that were being awarded. So we decided to drop the exam and use the saved money towards awarding more number of fellowships. So in future we will start awarding more than 300 such fellowships,” the officer said.