Postdoc Salary in India
Arun Pratap
Saturday, 21 February 2009 18:36 UTC
Hello All
I am Arun, pursuing postdoc in India. I am personally not satisfied with the postdoc stipend offered in India and I believe that the handful of students doing postdoc in India might concur with my view.
The low salaries offered to Postdocs in India is one of the major factor which is impelling Indian students to either pursue postdoc abroad or to join private R&D establishments. This is slowly devolving the scientific future of India.
As a postdoc, I receive stipend of just Rs 15,000/-per month, which is just Rs 1,000/- more than what a SRF (Senior Research Fellow) gets in India. The salary is too low to ensure proper running of a family of even two. Whereas, private R&D establishments offers anything between 50,000-70,0000 per month, which is a decent salary, so why not the young researchers be attracted to such establishments? A call centre employee (with Bachelors degree or diploma holder) gets more than a Post doc fellow. Such disparity enrages us and makes us to feel that is the years of long and hard research pays off only this much? Is our studies worthless?
I dont understand, on one hand we acclaim that India is an evolving superpower, but when it comes to investments in Scientific Institutions and thereby encouraging them, India seems to be still a poor country. I wonder is technology alone can drive a nation and science as such has no role to play. If not, than why the science is lagging behind in this country? I feel that in this aspect India must learn from its neighbor china, which is doing much better in Science than India despite being a developing country.
Atlast, I feel that some immediate steps be taken and postdoc problems be addressed at the earliest or else India will soon face the dearth of scientifically skilled people and such a loss will be irreparable.
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I fully agree with you. Poor salary is major reason we are unable to attract/retain talent in in science in India. This is the reason our student are working as Postdoc abroad not in India. Major research force in western countries is Postdoc which is trained from developing countries. In India we do not have postdoc culture because nobody wants to work as Posdoc in India due to poor salary. Long time back I post Role of Money in Indian Science , number of persons said money is not major reason. In india we talk about idealism where one should work for nation not for money, in reality everybody think first about self and then about nation. We wish to enjoy all facilities of the world and expect that other should sacrifice for country. I strongly believe that we can not retain indian talent without paying competitive salary. If we can not retain talent then we cannot do good science in India. There is need to rethink about salary of scientific forces in India particularly of Postdoc, if we wants to do good science in India
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I completely agree with Dr.Raghav and Dr. Arun.Money is one of the most important driving force.In India we give wrong sermons, teachings to people who are doing science. It was the requirements of those early days in India (post-independence) that it made sense to work even at a low salary with the spirit of nationalism. But now, when things have changed dramatically and we are going to be one of the superpowers, we need to change the attitude.We should promote doing science as any other profession. Haven’t you heard “Bhukhe peet honhi bhajan na Gopala”?The same logic applies here too. The most important reason for brain drain is “money” followed by the rotten “sciento-cratic” system.Attitude needs to be changed. There is no doubt that people are returning back but most them are doing so because of personal compulsion or because of receiving the “no more welcome” card from the foreign countries. The top leaders must think about this grave situation and try to mend it before its too late. People from science background should stand for their cause and not it to “some class 8th pass ministers” to dictate our fate and make decisions for us.
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I was not aware of the postdoctoral salary in India but yes I admit it is low. IISc is better in terms of salary and work environment.
http://www.iisc.ernet.in/opportunities/Poster_1.pdfTo be honest, Postdoc salaries are low everywhere (including USA). Average Postdoc salary in US is around 40K pa but average income of US is 43K. So a Postdoc earns less than what an average US citizen is earning. If you calculate on hourly basis it is lower than what cleaners get in our departments. NPA has taken up this issue and every year they increase the salaries by a small amount.
I think in India, Postdocs too should form an association like NPA and voice their concerns.
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Dear Harpreet Singh, Dinesh and Gajendra Raghav
Thank you so much
Thanks so much for kind reply and saying about your frank comment. Well, I am in JNCASR, Bangalore which is a sister institution of IISc and that weblink mentioned for IISc have salary of 25K/20K plus HRA but that is for those who have crossed atleast 2 years after PhD. Well, for me as I have just finished PhD few months back from Mumbai, I will get 15000/- plus HRA but after PhD VIVA is done and if I produce my PhD degree certificate to this institution then fellowship will marginally increase up to 17000/- plus HRA.
Its indeed too low in India and also in USA as you said that average income of one USA citizen in more than a POSTDOC (postdoc gets 40K and average income of USA citizen is 43K)? What a fun, hai na? Why there is always LOW PAY in science field? All over world It seems science is low paid in academia/institution/university etc (except some R&D Establishments).
Our scientific community should voice high to demand hike our salaries for the funding agencies and government …Arun
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Dear Friends,
Besides poor salary the selection of candidates is based on their links with bigshots or relatives in the science field. These people had made science field purly political. E.g. If you are from North India you will not get postdoc in south India. These are other factor which makes us to look honest west world. -
Postdoc salary is low, all over the world. The average salary for a postdoc in any developed countries is no exception either. And it will remain so in near foreseeable future. The main reason is the age old supply-demand question and also accountability.
It mainly started as different countries started adopting US system of corporate “education” and “research”. The supply of PhD degree holders outpaced the demand for such people in the society and by the industry. According to a study published in “Science” about 92-95% of US postdocs will never get any academic position in US. Other than publications, there is very low impact of such huge “research” infrastructure (of US) on the well-being of general people or employee and the country or the company (as applicable) as a whole. That does not go well for allocating more tax payers’ (or corporate) money, particularly in such resource crunch. It also discourages industries to increase their R&D budget.
Some countries like Japan are giving governmental incentives to industries to employ postdocs to do jobs which used to be done by bachelors degree holders (Japan to pay firms to relieve postdoc glut)! There are documented proofs that successful and big US industries (e.g Microsoft, Boeing, GE etc) are very worried about trained manpower supply despite of the fact that thousands of PhDs are generated from many high profile Universities in US and abroad. It’s mainly affecting their ability to “innovate and invent” and remain technologically compititive. This is mainly because even the US system is now being increasingly dominated by mediocrity and it all started during 70s-80s (when countries like India and China became the main supplier of scientific manpower).
Due to several reasons the quality of science education and research is deteriorating very fast in India. And that is bound to affect the quality of those who largely depend on India for their technical manpower supply. Unless we take long term rescue plan, Indian research will be taken over by foreign companies (both academic and industrial) for their profit generation and outsourcing of routine jobs (we may call it “research”). We are great to do routine jobs but not for “invention, innovation or discovery”. We need to remember that doing routine jobs will never guarantee higher salary, better living condition and long term prosperity- both at personal and national level. If we want a better salary and better living-working condition, we must impose a strict accountability (for spending public and corporate money) towards the society/country/company and streamline higher education and research to produce less (in number) with more (in productivity for PhDs and Postdocs and faculties/scientists). We must understand that higher education and research must not be a tool to solve national unemployment problem but have a bigger role to play in social evolution. -
Sometime ago there was a thread, Role of money in Indian science. You may get some useful info about why postdoc salary (and salary of “scientist” designated employees) is low in India. Postdoc salary is low in other countries as well, including in USA.
On macro level, the salary of any employee are decided by many factors, mainly by market force in a open society- depending on real productivity and accountability towards its employer (in public funded research the productivity and accountability towards the country/tax payers; and in private research- towards the organization).
Secondly, Higher “education” and “research” became an assembly line in an industry. And we all know what happens to any industry when it produces much more than market demand and when the quality of the product is not competitive.
In majority of the cases, PhD degree is not adding much scientific and technological value to a person these days. So Japan now needs to give Govt incentive to its industries to employ Postdocs to do the jobs which bachelor and/or masters degree holders used to do! It indicates that value-addition is almost negligible for those postdocs.
Technology “development” and “innovation” is slowing down worldwide. The main reason is deterioration of our education system from the very bottom. Developing countries like India are hardest hit for its age old negligence of primary and secondary level education. If you really like to know where the problem lies, you can have a look at the thread I initiated, Primary and secondary education reform should be India’s top priority. Unless we streamline our basic education, restrict higher education to fewer people with talent and dedication and make public funded research more productive and accountable towards general society, we can never solve low salary problem for postdocs, ever. -
In 2007, the average annual household income in USA rose 1.3% to $50,233.00. Average annual household income for India is $ 370 (INR 17,775). The average postdoc salary in USA is about $30,000 per annum while that in India is INR 1,44,000 per year (i.e 12,000/- per month).
Postdoc salary in medical subjects inflates the US postdoc salary data to a great extent. The salaries for other postdocs (who are not working in medical line) are much less while the salary for Indian postdocs working in different fields are almost uniform. -
I have met one Indian postdoc in my university who got only $1100 per month (gross salary). That’s almost the poverty line, even in a poor state like Ohio. Only 36 odd universities in US have implemented the NIH guideline for postdoc employment (with a minimum salary limit and minimum paid holidays). Majority of US universities, including state universities do NOT have any minimum salary and no, yes NO, paid holidays (as per university rule for postdocs) . Only “medical leave” (for about 14 days per year, depending on Univ). “Maternity leave” for new mothers are only 8 weeks and that too in very few US universities and that is true for US industries as well (while that is at least 30 weeks in all European countries). Many US universities do not give more than 2 weeks leave for new moms. All the paid leaves are arranged by “kind consideration” of respective supervisors/bosses. Postdocs are having different designations (PD fellow, PD researchers, RA etc) and that also have an impact on their salaries and parks. The working conditions for “visiting scholars/fellows” are worst.
Here research workload for an average postdoc are very high, compared to PhD candidates. Majority of them do not get proper holidays and weekends. Many can not visit their homes abroad (e.g India) for years, both for money and lack of holidays. Majority of Indian postdocs do not tell the real story when they go to India or talk to other people who are not aware of the situation.
COnsidering all these, Indian postdocs are living in much better condition. -
Anonymous
This is in response to Harpreet Singh’s comment.
It’s very dangerous and almost suicidal to try to form a postdoc association in majority of US universities. It will be wise not to expect moral and ethical behavior from faculties and University administration. They do not take it lightly and will be very revengeful. It may finish your research career in a country like US where personal connections (in form recommendation and reference letters) matters a lot to get and sustain a job and where “winners take it all” mentality prevails being a society evolved through immigrants (mostly Europeans who could not establish themselves in their own countries).
If you officially complain against a university faculty who published a high profile paper using research material you developed, or not giving you proper health insurance and so on; then do not expect any cooperation from university administration. Majority of them are only in interested in their own career, own salary and fame. More famous university you go, more pressure you will experience. They hardly care about others, be it PhD or Postdocs. They just use them mainly for personal benefit. It will be foolish to expect them to fight for justice. If someday, some honest person with some sense of morality and justice and have the guts and knowledge (to fight powerful lobbies) takes office then only the system in that particular university might change. Till then just grin and bear or go to a different lab and keep on changing labs thinking that one day you might get a suitable one!
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