india

Updated: Jan 15, 2015 00:05 IST

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.

The decision will also bring in parity in service conditions including the retirement age of research scientists working in different arms of the government. While scientists working for Indian Council of Agricultural research (ICAR) and Indian Council of Medical Research retire at 62, those in other research institutions under the government retire at 60.

Again, the decision would do away with disparity between academicians, who retire at 65 and scientists working in R&D.

The note said that most research scientists across the world worked as long as they were productive and the global average age of top scientists is 70.

In October last year, the former science and technology minister Jitendra Singh had said the government was considering raising the retirement age of scientists working under his ministry from 60 to 62.