The North campus of Delhi University, the University Science Instrumentation Centre (USIC), has announced the list of charges from 1st May 2022 for using the laboratory instruments by science PhD students. The students have to pay Rs. 150 per experiment on electron microscope scanning to Rs.500 per hour for modulated differential scanning.

Since the USIC had announced the charges, a Physics PhD scholar said, “Since the inception in 1984, no money has been charged for using the instruments.

These expenses were covered by the funds that the student’s supervisors and professors gather by the universities Grant Commission (UGC)/ Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).”

According to the students, all experiments require 15-20 trials to get the desired result, which needs an instrument; if there are charges on single experiments, they will be discouraged from doing further experiments to complete their research program.