Introduction
The Central Council for Research in Siddha (CCRS), functioning under the Ministry of Ayush, Government of India, is the apex body dedicated to promoting and advancing research in the Siddha system of medicine. Headquartered in Chennai, CCRS oversees a network of Research institutes across India, focusing on clinical research, drug standardization, pharmacognosy, literary research, and public health initiatives. The Council aims to validate traditional Siddha formulations and therapies through scientific methods, ensuring their safety, efficacy, and quality. In addition to research, CCRS actively engages in capacity building, training, documentation of classical Siddha texts, and collaborative studies with reputed National and International organizations. It also contributes to national health programs through Siddha-based preventive, promotive, and curative healthcare services. By bridging traditional wisdom with modern science, CCRS plays a pivotal role in strengthening Siddha medicine’s global recognition and its integration into contemporary healthcare systems.
About the Programme :
The Ministry of Ayush is spearheading a modern, outcome-oriented research approach that bridges traditional medical wisdom with contemporary scientific standards to achieve measurable health benefits. The availability of quality research manpower is undeniably a crucial component in realizing this objective. In this milieu, Ministry of Ayush through its Research Councils has already envisaged Ayush Ph.D. fellowship scheme to meritorious scholars from Ayush systems. At this juncture, as an auxiliary initiative, the CCRS Post-Doctoral Fellowship Scheme has been instituted to identify promising young researchers with innovative ideas and to provide them with advanced training and research opportunities in diverse multidisciplinary domains. The scheme is designed to facilitate their transition from Mentored research to independent scientific careers, thereby strengthening the research ecosystem in Siddha medicine. CCRS intends to offer ten (10) such fellowships every year to promising fresh PhD/PG degree holders of Siddha and Ph.D. holders of related science disciplines. The fellows will work under a Mentor/ Co-Mentor from CCRS / National Institutes of Ayush or reputed organizations like CSIR, ICMR, DBT, Other National Institutes and recognized Universities etc. If the Mentor is from other Organization, Co-Mentor from CCRS/ its peripheral Institutes/ Units, is mandatory. This scheme is duly approved in the 5th Executive Meeting chaired by the Secretary, Ministry of Ayush, Government of India held on 22.07.2025, based on the recommendations of 28th Standing Finance Committee (SFC) held on 03.05.2024 and 9th Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of the CCRS held on 22.03.2024.
These fellowships will be allocated by Director General, CCRS, depending upon the needs of the Institute/Centre.
Objective :
1. CCRS Post-Doctoral Fellowship is aimed to identify motivated young researchers of Siddha and related science disciplines, to provide them support for doing research in frontier areas of Siddha and to enhance their academic and research capabilities.
2. This Post-Doctoral Fellowship enables Fellows to acquire new skills, expand their expertise, and engage in cross-disciplinary work, ultimately providing the foundation to develop as independent researchers.
Research Areas :
The Scheme encourages research in Siddha system on any subject focusing on following priority areas
• History and Antiquity of Siddha Medicine
• Ancient Siddha Manuscriptology
• Validation of Siddha Fundamental Principles
• Development of Siddha based Diagnostic tools
• Systems Biology studies in Siddha
• Research on Co-relation of Noi Murkurikunangal with Disease markers.
• Siddha Dietetics and Pharmaco-nutrition Studies
• Siddha Medicines for Antimicrobial Resistance
• Clinical trials on Siddha medicine
• Interventions of Siddhar Yogam
• Scientific validation of Varmam and other external therapies
• Validation of Siddha Anupanam/Vehicle
• Network Pharmacology/In-silico study
• Pharmaco-Informatics in Siddha System of Medicine
• Studies on Drug-Drug interaction (Ayush, Biomedicine and Biosimilars)
• Toxico-genomics of Siddha
• Bio-informatics/Digital Technology to escalate the Siddha system
• Drug development (Pre-clinical/Clinical studies) for challenging disease conditions
• Research on neglected drugs of Rasavatham in all aspects including preparations of formulations, chemical analysis, pre-clinical safety & efficacy studies, genomics safety profile, clinical studies etc. and involvement of reputed industries may also be done as per requirement.
• Studies on injectable forms of Siddha medicines and exploration of clinical dosage form and uses of classical injectable Siddha medications.
• Biomedical Instrumentation pertaining to Siddha
• Agro-techniques and cultivation protocols for RET Species including Good Agricultural and Collection Practices (GACP) used in Siddha
• Folklore/Ethnomedicine/Ethnopharmacology/Field survey
• Evidence based Siddha/Ethno-veterinary practices
• Any other domains that will be beneficial to the stakeholders which encourages research in Siddha system of medicine.
Eligibility :
1. CCRS Post-Doctoral Fellowship is open to Indian citizens only.
2. For Siddha Discipline: Any Ph.D./PG degree holders of Siddha may apply within three years of award of Ph.D./PG degree. However, the candidate presently pursuing Ph.D. is not eligible. Any Siddha candidate, who has received his/her provisional Ph.D. /PG degree can also apply for PDF.
3. For Basic and Allied Sciences Disciplines: Any Ph.D. degree holder of Basic and Allied science disciplines may apply within three years of award of Ph.D. degree. However, the candidate presently pursuing Ph.D. is not eligible. Any Basic and Allied sciences candidate, who has received his/her provisional Ph.D. degree, can also apply for PDF.
4. Applicants should have research publications in high impact factor SCI journals.
Maximum Age Limit :
1. The candidate should not be more than 40 years of age on the last date of application. Maximum relaxation up to 5 years in case of SC/ST/Physically handicapped candidate and women candidates and 3 years in case of OBC (Non-Creamy Layer) candidates, as per the rules in force at the time of selection.
2. For deserving candidates age can be relaxed maximum up to 3 years based on academic performance, earlier work done, publications, patents, awards etc. The Director General, CCRS, may consider and grant relaxation on the recommendation of the Screening Committee.
Tenure :
The CCRS Post-Doctoral Fellowship is a full-time research work for a period of two years
(commence from the date of first release of contingent grant and monthly fellowship) and
extendable for maximum one more year (without remuneration) based on outstanding performance
and recommendation from the Mentor at University/Institution/Lab where the PDF is working and
the approval of the Director General, CCRS.
Remuneration :
1. The remuneration of the fellowship is Rs.60,000/- per month plus House Rent Allowance (HRA) as admissible. A contingency grant with the maximum ceiling limit of Rs.3.00 lakh per annum will be provided subject to submission of the proposal through Mentor forwarded by the Head of the Institution which will be examined by the Research Council for any adjudication, if required before consideration for approval.
2. Contingency grant can be used for expenses on purchase of books, consumables, stationaries, minor equipment etc. The Fellow is expected to undertake the research objectives independently on their own during the entire duration of the fellowship.
3. A maximum of Twenty-five percentage of the contingency grant can be used for domestic and international travel including per diem expenses and visits pertaining to the project activities only.
4. The fellows are not eligible to receive any other fellowship from any Government or Non-Governmental source during the tenure of the fellowship and also not eligible for Government /Private/Contractual employment.
5. The fellowship cannot be utilized for any other research work except the approved research work of the PDF proposal.
Mode of Selection :
1. Eligible candidates can apply in the prescribed format (Annexure - I), proposed research project (Annexure - II) and Letter of Undertaking (Annexure - III) available on the website: https://ccrs.ayush.gov.in/ The selection will be made bi-annually/as per the requirement. The notification for CCRS-PDF Scheme will be published on the CCRS website and National dailies. Applications duly forwarded by the Mentor would be shortlisted and called for subsequent intervi ew/pre sentati on.
2. This selection of "CCRS Post-Doctoral Fellowship" will be made based on the merit of the proposed research project, followed by interview of short-listed candidates by an Assessment Committee as under:
(1) . Chairman- Director General, CCRS
(2) . *6 Subject Experts nominated by DG, CCRS from reputed institutions like CSIR, DBT,
ICMR, University & National Institutions of Ayush etc.
a. Siddha Expert - 01
b. Expert from Drug Development/Chemistry - 01
c. Pharmacology & Toxicology - 01
d. Life Sciences/Biotechnology - 01
e. Medicinal Plant Research - 01
f. Bioinformatics/IT - 01
g. Biomedical Information - 01
h. Biostatistics - 01
(3) . Member Secretary- Director (Siddha)/ Assistant Director (Siddha) /Research Officers
decided by Director General, CCRS.
*The above Members will be called as per requirement and type of proposal received from
time to time. DG, CCRS may co-opt the members as per requirement.
Joining & Release of Fellowship :
1. The selected candidates will be issued the award letter. The fellow has to join the fellowship within one month of the date of the award letter by submitting all required documents to CCRS through the Mentor of the respective Institution/Lab. This joining time may be extended by the Director General, CCRS up to six months in exceptional circumstances/ deserving cases.
2. The tenure of the PDF will commence from the date of first release of contingent grant and monthly fellowship. In respect of Projects requiring regulatory approvals viz. IAEC, IHEC, the funds towards contingent grant and monthly fellowship will be released only after the regulatory approval. Subject to the above conditions, the contingent grant will be released on receipt of the prescribed request (Annexure-IV). The contingency fund to the extent for which the amount can be spent during the financial year should only be claimed by the PDF through Mentor and the due amount will be released and it should be fully utilized during the financial year itself but before 15th March. Statement of receipts and expenditure as in Annexure-VI with bank statement and vouchers have to be submitted to CCRS.
A separate request (Annexure-IV) for grant of contingency amount for the next financial year may also be submitted on or before 15th March along with Progress Report.
The renewal of the Fellowship for the next financial year shall be subject to the receipt of satisfactory Annual Progress Report (Annexure-V) duly recommended by the Mentor of working University/Institution/Lab and Co-Mentor.
3. The Provisional Utilization Certificate (UC) as per GFR 12-A (Annexure-VII) as on 15th March of the respective financial year should be forwarded by the Mentor, without any delay, to CCRS/ its’ peripheral Institute/ Unit in which the Co-mentor is working and the Fellow is attached. At the end of the fellowship, final Utilization Certificate along with the cumulative statement of expenditure should be submitted.
Monitoring of Fellowship
1. Regular monitoring of Fellowship is done based on Annual Progress Reports in the prescribed format submitted by the Fellow.
2. The fellowship may be discontinued if research progress is found unsatisfactory or any CCRS - PDF conditions are violated.
3. The CCRS may ask for annual presentation/ mid-term appraisal of the research work.
4. During the fellowship, the PDFs are required to publish at least one research publication per year in peer reviewed indexed journals strictly on the research undertaken.
Completion of Fellowship
1. (a). If a CCRS PDF discontinues the fellowship within one year on any valid grounds, he/she has to submit a detailed progress report of the work done with publications, if any, through the Mentor and Co-Mentor ensuring the settlement of account which approved by the Council for the working period of fellowship. In such cases, monthly fellowship amount so far paid should be returned to the CCRS before getting relieved.
(b) . If a PDF discontinues the fellowship after one year, he/she has to submit a detailed progress report along with an undertaking to complete the study and to submit the final report on or before the completion of the duration of fellowship with published research papers, through the Mentor of the affiliating institution. In such cases, the Mentor and Co-Mentor must ensure the completion of the research and to bring out the outcome.
In the afore-said circumstances of discontinuing the Fellowship, he/she has to apply for the approval of Director General CCRS by submitting the progress report along with the Utilization Certificate (Format in Annexure-VII) and Statement of Receipt and Expenditure (Format in Annexure - VI) through the Mentor and Co-Mentor. However, the final decision will be at the discretion of DG, CCRS.
2. The PDF is eligible for leave of one day per month during the Calendar Year. If a PDF Fellow remains on leave/absence for more than 30 days due to maternity/medical/extra ordinary circumstances (not to exceed six months) it should be duly approved by the Director General, CCRS. However, the tenure of fellowship only will be extended by that period, but the total period of remuneration will not exceed 24 months. Beyond the above period, the fellowship will not be entertained further.
3. On completion of the fellowship, he/she should submit the following:
1. (a) Two copies of book-length final Report in a publishable form
(b) Five copies of Summary of the work done (3000-4000 words)
(c) Five copies of Published research papers (Minimum two nos.)
(d) All soft copies in a pen-drive
2. A Statement of Expenditure with UC in GFR-12A (Annexure-VII) duly signed by the competent authority of the affiliated institution.
3. Assets and books, whatsoever purchased out of the contingency grant shall be handed over to the Mentor and subsequently to CCRS through Co-Mentor. The Final report after completion of the PDF should be submitted at the earliest but within three months duration.
Conditions
1. The post-doctoral research work should not be the same as M.D (Siddha)/Ph.D. work.
2. The CCRS Post-Doctoral Fellowship is a full-time research work for a period of two years with remuneration and extendable for maximum one more year (without remuneration) based on outstanding performance and recommendation from the Mentor at University/Institution/Lab where the PDF is working and with the approval of the Director General, CCRS.
2.1. The contingency grant may be utilized for purchase of books, stationery, computer related costs, and the field work expenses connected with the research work.
2.2. The CCRS reserves the right to publish the PDF work by all means.
3. The fellow shall acknowledge CCRS in all publications resulting from the research output of the fellowship and should submit a copy of the same to CCRS.
4. All Fellowships are subject to income tax deductions as per the extant of Government of India.
5. CCRS follows Government of India Rules & Directives regarding SC, ST and Persons with benchmark disability.
6. A fellow is not entitled for the same fellowship of CCRS more than once.
7. While accepting PDF fellowship from the CCRS, he/she should not accept any other fellowship or research project or regular financial benefit/assignment from any other institution.
8. Any kind of paid or honorary, part-or-full-time employment is not permissible during the tenure of Fellowship.
9. The selected fellows are expected to do full time research in India. They could, however, undertake data collection outside India in exceptional cases and if warranted by the needs of the proposal after the approval of Director General, CCRS.
10. The fellow should not have been subjected to any Police action/ disciplinary/legal proceedings/ financial penalties in his/her career/ research career.
11. The final report submitted by the fellow will be considered for acceptance only after its evaluation by the Evaluation Committee nominated by DG, CCRS for awarding of completion certificate.
12. Books/Periodicals/Instruments etc. purchased by the fellow out of the contingency grant should be handed over to the Council and a certificate to this effect may be submitted along with the final report.
13. Applications submitted against one notification in CCRS website will not be considered for the subsequent notification. A fresh application needs to be submitted again for each notification.
14. The Council reserves the right to reject any application. Any postal loss/delays in communications will not be entertained.
15. Incomplete applications in any aspect shall not be considered.
16. The final authority related to the interpretation of the guidelines, or any issue left here is vested with the Director General, CCRS.
17. The Council shall abide to maintain confidentiality of the research proposals submitted and research outcomes of the selected proposals. All IPR issues will lie as per the prevalent regulations of the CCRS.
Accommodation and Other Benefits
1. The candidates who are joining in CCRS and its Peripheral Institutes as PDF have to manage their own accommodation. However, accommodation if available may be provided by the University, Institute, or Lab, where the PDF has joined. If provided, the fellow shall not be eligible for HRA. Post-Doctoral Fellows are entitled to avail themselves one day leave per month during the calendar year. Participation in scientific workshops held in India or abroad will be treated as on duty. Maternity leave as per the Govt. of India instructions issued from time to time would be available to female candidates in all categories and when approved.
2. Faculty with regular service in public funded universities/colleges and research institutes getting UGC pay-scales may be considered for pay protection in exceptionally meritorious cases to be decided by the Assessment Committee of the CCRS subject to the condition that the pay and allowances so protected is to be borne by the respective University, Institute, or Lab. However, special allowances like children’s education allowance, medical reimbursement, LTC, etc. are not admissible from CCRS. The parent institution may, however, pay/reimburse the same as per their rules and regulations.
Termination of the Fellowship :
The DG, CCRS reserves the right to terminate the Fellowship at any stage if it is convinced that appropriate progress is not being made or the grant has not been utilized properly. CCRS will not incur any expenditure from the date of termination of the project or the date of termination of fellow. In such cases, monthly fellowship amount paid so far should be returned to the CCRS before getting relieved subject to the discretion of DG, CCRS.
Other Relevant Information :
1. Candidates who have worked for their PhD from a particular university/ institute/ laboratory will not be eligible for becoming a PDF in the same University/ Institute/ Laboratory under this scheme.
2. In all other matters not spelt out here, the decision of DG, CCRS shall be final.
3. All disputes pertaining to this Scheme shall fall within the jurisdiction of Chennai only.
(a) Budget Summary for Post Doctoral Fellowship Scheme
Fellowship
Rs.60,000/-HRA per month
1 year : 7,20,000/- + HRA
2 year : 7,20,000/- + HRA
Contingency
Rs.3,00,000/- per year
1 year : 3,00,000/-
2 year : 3,00,000/-
Total Rs.20,40,000/- + HRA* per candidate for 2 years**
1 year : 10,20,000/-+HRA
2 year : 3,00,000/-
* HRA will be admissible as per the place of work and the revision in rates will be as per the orders of Ministry of Finance.
** The fellowship may be extended for third year as per the provisions of the scheme.
Release of fund and accounting procedure :
i. As the CCRS has entered the PFMS-TSA Regime of Government of India, a separate "Zero Balance Subsidiary Account" should be opened, based on the Authorization Letter that will be given by CCRS. Immediately after selection and approval of the project by CCRS, the fund receiving Organization, where the Mentor is working, will furnish the Zero Balance Subsidiary Account details viz. Name of the Bank, Branch, Account No., IFSC etc. to CCRS or its peripheral Institute/Unit where the Co-Mentor is working, for providing funds. However, in respect of Projects requiring regulatory approvals viz. IAEC, IHEC, the funds will be released only after such approval and submission of claim by the PDF with the approval of Mentor to CCRS HQ/peripheral Institute/Unit where the Co-Mentor is working. The tenure of the PDF will commence from the date of first release of contingent grant and the first monthly fellowship.
ii. The subsequent monthly Fellowship amount will be paid by CCRS or its Peripheral Institutes/Units where the Co-Mentor is working, after receipt of copy of attendance duly signed by the Mentor. The contingency fund to the extent of which the amount can be spent during the financial year should only be claimed by the PDF through the Mentor and the due amount so released should be fully utilised during the financial year itself but before 15th March. Statement of receipts and expenditure as in Annexure-VI with bank statement and vouchers have to be submitted to CCRS or its’ peripheral Institute/Unit along with a separate request (Annexure-IV) for grant of contingency amount for the next financial year on or before 15th March. In respect of purchases/getting services, wherever necessary, GST bills should be obtained. If any expenditure voucher is not acceptable to CCRS or the respective Peripheral Institute/Unit, that amount should be borne by the respective PDF only and will be recovered from the next monthly fellowship amount payable.
iii. For the purpose of closing of Annual Accounts as on 31st March and for facing Audit by CCRS, Provisional Utilization Certificate as on 15th March (in respect of the ongoing Fellowship on that date) and Final Utilization Certificate on completion of the Fellowship should be submitted to CCRS along with the bank statement of the respective period.
How to apply
The CCRS PDF Scheme, Format of Research Proposal and Application Form are available at the Council's website https://ccrs.ayush.gov.in/. Eligible candidates can apply in the prescribed format available on the CCRS website on or before 25th August 2026. Additionally, the application may also be submitted through an email to ccrspdf2026@gmail.com
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