Government has launched several initiatives recently to promote research in Higher Educational Institutions

New Delhi: Ministry of Human Resource Development and its organizations like University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) are undertaking various research projects in the different Higher Educational Institutions. Department of Science & Technology and Department of Biotechnology also provide funding support to higher educational institutions for various research projects. These research projects are both domestic and also with international collaboration.

 As informed by the UGC, it has released a sum of Rs. 82.35 crores to 819 projects under the Major Research Project Scheme from 2016-17 to 2018-19 (till December 2018) . The state-wise distribution is as detailed below:

UGC has further informed that no proposals for research projects have been received from Nagaland, Sikkim, Andaman & Nicobar, Dadar & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu and Lakshadweep.

Apart from the above Major Research Project scheme, UGC has funded several schemes for research and innovation like Special Assistance Programme (SAP), Colleges with Potential for Excellence (CPE), University with Potential for Excellence (UPE), Centre with Potential for Excellence in Particular Areas (CPEPA), Fellowships support for Research to students and teachers. In 2017 -18, an amount of Rs. 1769 crores has been spent under these schemes. 

UGC is actively involved in promoting research through international collaborations through important initiatives like UK India Education Research Initiative (UKIERI), Israel Science Foundation (ISF), Indo Norway Cooperation Programme (NCP), Indo German Programme (IGP), 21st Century Knowledge Initiative with United States of America. They aim at joint research projects with collaboration between Indian institutions and foreign institutions. In the last one year, around Rs. 46 crores is spent on 83 joint research projects.

Various other initiatives to improve the research ecosystem in Indian Higher Educational Institutions have been taken up.

Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC) is a recent initiative of the Ministry to support Joint Research Projects through collaboration of top ranked Indian Institutions and globally ranked Foreign Institutions. It aims to support 600 research projects in two years, at an outlay of Rs. 418 crores. To channelize technical research, the Impacting Research Innovation and Technology (IMPRINT) scheme has been launched. Under IMPRINT-I, 142 research projects with an outlay of Rs. 318.71 crores for 3 years have been accepted. Under IMPRINT-II, a total of 122 projects at an estimated cost of Rs. 112 crores have been approved. For the promotion of Research in Social Sciences, the scheme for Impactful Policy Research in Social Sciences (IMPRESS) has been launched. Under this scheme 1500 research projects, at a total sanctioned cost of Rs. 414 crores, will be awarded for implementation upto 31.3.2021.     

This information was given by the Minister of State (HRD), Dr. Satya Pal Singh today in a written reply to a Rajya Sabha question.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.