Internship stipend for TANUVAS’s final year students hiked by Rs 3K

CHENNAI: Finally accepting the demands of final year veterinary students, the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (TANUVAS) revised the internship allowance by Rs 3,000.

Students, for their internship after final year, were being paid Rs 7,500 per month. After repeated protests, TANUVAS recently hiked the stipend to Rs 11,000.

As nearly 350 students are already 2 months into their internship, some tell DT NEXT that they were paid Rs 7,500 till December. And, the revised stipend would be effective from January only.

As per the circular, TANUVAS registrar had requested to hike the stipend to Rs 14,000 per month, which will incur an expenditure of Rs 2.93 crore to the government every year.

Subsequently, the government, considering the nature of internship, working hours and on the cases attended on daily basis, decided to enhance the stipend for final year Bachelor of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry (BVSc and A.H.) from Rs 7,500 to Rs 11,000 per month.

This revision will cause the government an added expenditure of Rs 1.57 crore per year, noted the circular.

A final year student-cum-intern said, “Originally, we demanded the government to increase the stipend amount to Rs 25,000 per month, on par with medical students. But we received a marginal hike only. Nonetheless, we’re thankful that our demands were heard. It barely covers our expenditure and is very less compared to veterinary students in other States. We urge the upcoming final year students to keep insisting on a stipend hike.”

Currently, across 4 veterinary institutions in Tamil Nadu — Namakkal, Tirunelveli, Orathanadu and Chennai — 352 students have completed their fourth year and begun internship in October.