Govt proposes raising retirement age of scientists from 60 to 65: Hindustan Times
The government has proposed raising the retirement age of scientists working in all ministries, departments and autonomous institutions from 60 to 65 years.
In a draft cabinet note that has been circulated to all ministries, the science and technology ministry has argued that such a move will help attract scientific manpower and that all institutions would be able to harness the expertise of scientists for a longer duration.
“Most of the scientists at 60 would be leading productive research groups and are involved in mentoring students and young scientists. It is therefore necessary to make use of the productive age of the scientists beyond 60 years so that the effective scientific strength and correspondingly the scientific wealth of the country get enhanced,” the draft note said.
Read more at: Hindustan Times
Totally agree with the aboce comments Essential to increase the retirement age of the scientists.
Welcome move.
Welcome this proposal of increasing the retirement age of scientists. To develop a scientist, the Govt spends lakhs and even crores of rupees in the form of salary, laboratories, costly equipment, chemicals etc. unlike in any other profession. For a Scientist, to attain full pledged research capabilities it takes several years. In his initial years of research, most of the years he will be spending on training himself and acquiring research knowledge and hands on experience in the laboratory etc. By the time a scientist achieves a result oriented knowledge and capabilities of producing fruitful results, he reaches the retirement age of 60 years.
If a scientist is allowed to retire at this age, It is a great loss not only to the science, but also to the Govt and the people of the country and in this process, we are losing the expertization of the experienced scientist.
The Govt of India should have taken into consideration of this and thought of increasing the retirement age of these senior Scientists upto 65 years and utilize their scientific expertise for another 5 years and reap these benefits to the development of the country and the people. It is not too late that the present govt led by the dynamic leadership of Sri Narendra Modi consider the issue seriously and increase the retirement age of the Scientists from 60 years to 65 years on par with that of the faculty members of Central Universities, IITs and the Supreme Court Judges.
The work and nature of duties of a scientist are completely different to that of other professions and their service cannot be compared with those professions. One should understand that research scientists almost forego their personal priorities and devote their entire life in the discovery of new things which are in turn great benefit to mankind.
Apart from this for the past several years there are no recruitment at the entry level in Research institutes , hence there is a huge gap. There are a very few middle level scientists. Once the seniors retire there will not be any one to take up some important areas of research or to lead or even to guide other scientists. In addition, there is a huge scarcity of scientific personnel in the recent years as most of the younger generation getting attraction towards IT. Even basic science students are moving towards IT creating dearth of candidates opting for scientific research.
In such circumstances the decision to increase the retirement age of scientists is a golden thought.