The Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, has introduced the Women Scientist Scheme (WOS) to give women scientists and technologists aged 30 to 50 years an opportunity to return to mainstream science and work as bench-level scientists. Under the scheme, women scientists would be encouraged to pursue research in frontier areas of science and engineering, problems of societal relevance and to take up S&T-based internship, followed by self employment, a press release said here.
Similarly, the Women Scientist Scheme (WOS-A) aims to create opportunities for women scientists to pursue research in basic or applied sciences in frontier areas of science and engineering by providing them research grants for well-defined R&D project proposals.
A special provision has been made under this scheme to encourage those women scientists who have had breaks in their careers owing to personal reasons. It will provide a launch pad for them (up to the age of 50 years) to return to mainstream science and work as bench-level scientists, the release stated.
In this connection, the subject expert committee meeting of DST WOS-A was held at the Department of Biotechnology, University of Mysore, from July 18 to 21, Bharathi P. Salimath, professor in Biotechnology, University of Mysore, said in the release.
