NEW ROADMAP TO RESEARCH

More than four years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged to launch an apex National Research Foundation (NRF), the plan is coming to fruition with a bill being readied for debate and adoption in the monsoon session of Parliament.

- Amarnath K. Menon

At the inauguration of the 106th session of the Indian Science Congress in 2019, Modi declared that such a far-reaching initiative was imperative in line with the vision of restoring India's past glory as 'Vishwa Guru'. The goal is to make India a global leader in research and innovation. The delay is attributed to the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

On approval by Parliament, the NRF will be set up later this year to provide "high-level strategic direction" to scientific research as recommended by the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, with an investment of Rs 50,000 crore between 2023 and 2028.

The NRF will be a unique public-private partnership (PPP) entity, for which Rs 36,000 crore of the research funding for the first five years is to come from private partners, mostly industry. It will seed, grow and promote Research and Development (R&D) and foster a culture of research and innovation throughout India's universities, colleges, research institutions etc. "The NRF is to ensure scientific research is funded equitably and greater private participation is forthcoming," explains Jitendra Singh, the Union minister of state for science and technology. "We have also found that, so far, scientific research is conducted in silos-in government departments and laboratories, central and state universities-with no uniformity in infrastructure, such as the kind that th Indian Institutes of Technology have. There has also been a lack of uniformity in the funding of scientific research. These issues have been addressed in the bill."