DRDO and MoST are looking to hire as many as 2,900 scientists

• As many as 70 laboratories and institutions in the country are facing talent shortage as 2,896 scientist posts lie vacant.
  
• Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) is also hiring for 40 vacancies.
  
• The government’s budgetary allocation included nearly ₹50 billion for CSIR, ₹3 billion up from last year.
  
• Central Food technological Research Institute (CSIR) Mysuru has 111 vacancies while National Chemical Laboratory Pune is filling 123 scientist positions.

India is facing a serious dearth of scientists. As many as 70 laboratories and institutions in the country are facing talent shortage as many as 2,896 scientist posts lie vacant, reveals the Ministry of Science & Technology.

And many such organizations are on a recruitment drive. The Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) has come up with a recruitment plan to fill as many vacant positions as possible.

“Filling it at a go would mean a similar shortfall after, say 20 years. What we’re doing instead is following a formula that accounts for existing vacancies, the number of scientists who will retire. So we’ll fill these vacancies over time,” Shekhar Mande, Director-General, CSIR told The Hindu.

These positions include over 100 vacancies each in National Institute of Oceanography Goa, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology Hyderabad(102), National Chemical Laboratory Pune(123), Fourth Paradigm Institute Bengaluru, and Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) in Mysuru (111), Financial Express reported citing Harsh Vardhan, Science and Technology Minister.

Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) is also looking to hire 40 vacancies. The recruitment drive will be conducted by Recruitment and Assessment Centre (RAC)

The Indian government, on its part, stepped up its efforts to address the challenges.

“As and when a vacancy arises, the concerned laboratory/institute initiates steps to fill it up in accordance with the extant rules,” the ministry noted. The government allocated as much as ₹50 billion for CSIR, which is higher by ₹3 billion as compared to last year.

The government introduced a fellowship program Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) to attract people towards science and research. It also encourages female innovators by accelerating patent filing process, to boost women in science.

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