Question : Promotion of Research in Colleges

(a) the details of the schemes/ programmes being implemented by the Government to promote and enhance research and development activities in Universities/Colleges across the country;
(b) whether the Government has provided adequate financial assistance under the said schemes/programmes during each of the last three years and the current year, if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise and Scheme/Programme-wise;
(c) whether the Government has received proposal from various State Governments for providing adequate/ sufficient funds under the said schemes/ programmes during the said period, if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise; and
(d) the other steps taken by the Government to give a fillip to the research and development activities in Universities/ Colleges across the country?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (DR. SATYA PAL SINGH)
(a) & (b): The University Grants Commission (UGC) is programmed to spend 1366 crores for promoting research through the following schemes, namely: (i) Special Assistance Programme (SAP); (ii) Basic Scientific Research (BSR); (iii) Universities & Colleges with Potential for Excellence (UPE/CPE); (iv) Research Scientists; (v) Digital repository of research and teaching material; (vi) Minor and Major Research Projects (MRP); (vii) Research Fellowships; (viii) Scholarships and fellowships in engineering and technology; (ix) Research awards; (x) Research workshops, seminars and conferences; and (xi) Emeritus fellowship for promoting and enhancing research and development activities in Universities/Colleges across the country. Details of these schemes are available at www.ugc.ac.in . A statement showing grants provided by the UGC to Universities and Colleges under these schemes for the year 2014-15 to current financial year i.e. 2017-18 is at Annexure.
(c): The UGC does not receive proposals for research funding from State Governments. Proposals for research funding are invited by the UGC from institutions of higher education.
However, the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) under its Component 8: Research, Innovation and quality improvement also provides support to State Governments for enhancing research quality. The component supports facilities such as incubation centers, innovation hubs, procurement of high quality e-resources, initiatives for scaling up industry-academia partnership, promotion of research and entrepreneurial activities, etc. States prepare a Research and Innovation Plan (RIP) which is examined by an expert committee and subsequently placed before the Project Approval Board (PAB) for consideration. Till date, an amount of Rs. 37.27 crore has been approved to 3 states namely Maharashtra, Nagaland and Tamil Nadu.
(d): Two schemes, namely Impacting Research Innovation and Technology (IMPRINT) and Uchhatar Avishkar Yojana (UAY) have been launched for promoting research that is socially relevant and is of use to the end users like the Industry. IMPRINT focuses on research in higher educational institutions in ten socially relevant domains. The UAY promotes industry sponsored, outcome-oriented research projects. A detailed action plan has been formulated for both these flagship programmes of the Ministry.
Further, the Ministry of Human Resource Development has started Higher Education Funding Agency (HEFA) for providing additional funds for research and related infrastructure. These funds would be used to improve the research infrastructure in these institutions to further improve their standing at the global level and would be interest-free loans. Projects worth Rs. 2,000 crore have been approved for funding from HEFA of which 50% is towards improving the research / teaching infrastructure.
To complement the renewed focus of the Government on developing indigenous Research and Development capabilities, boosting manufacturing and creating a successful startup culture in the country, five new Research Parks at IIT Delhi, IIT Guwahati, IIT Kanpur, IIT Hyderabad, and IISc Bangalore at a total cost of Rs.75.00 crore each have been approved by the Government. Approval has also been accorded for continued financial support for two already approved Research Parks at IIT Bombay and IIT Kharagpur at a cost of Rs.100 crore each. The Research Park at IIT Gandhinagar at a total cost of Rs.90 crore is being funded by the Department of Science & Technology. In addition to this, the Research Park at IIT Madras is fully functional.
Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) has been set-up at NITI Aayog. The AIM supports the establishment of Atal Incubation Centres (AICs) that would nurture innovative start-up businesses in their pursuit to become scalable and sustainable enterprises and establish world class incubation centres in specific subjects/sectors such as manufacturing, transport, energy, health, education, agriculture, water and sanitation etc.in India.
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