(a) whether the Government has signed any agreements with the national and international institutions for promoting research during the last two years;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) the number of projects so selected for research during the above period and the outcome of such research; and
(d) the funds provided/utilised for the purpose during the above period?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES
(SHRI Y.S. CHOWDARY)
(a) & (b): An intra-governmental agreement has been signed recently among 25 Departments to address and provide solutions to the most relevant engineering challenges faced by our nation by translating knowledge into viable technology (product and processes) in selected technology domains to enable, empower and embolden the nation for inclusive growth and self-reliance. This initiative titled IMPRINT (IMPacting Research INnovation and Technology) is piloted by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and steered by Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc). India has signed agreements for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project and Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO)-India project with partner countries/scientific organizations. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has collaborated with various institutes both academic and R&D labs from India as well as abroad. The Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), a statutory body of the Department of Science and Technology has entered into Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with reputed overseas universities for deputing Indian students graduating from Indian universities/ institutes to pursue Ph.D. in areas of science, technology, engineering and medicine.
(c) & (d): IMPRINT identified 10 engineering domains, namely Healthcare, Information and Communication Technology, Energy, Sustainable Habitat, Nano-technology, Water Resources and River systems, Advanced Materials, Manufacturing, Security and Defence, Environmental Science and Climate Change with each domain is further divided into themes, sub-themes, target and topics. Close to 3000 preliminary proposals have been received by MHRD, and identification of projects for funding is in process. SERB has signed MoU with 8 overseas universities. Rs. 48.98 crore for TMT project and Rs. 30 lakh for Overseas doctoral fellowship have been released so far. All these programmes have been initiated very recently and it takes time to estimate the research outcomes.
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