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) Ministry of Science & Technology has successfully supported more than 3850 women scientists under its women scientists scholarship scheme being run by Department of Science & Technology. In addition, more than 200 (Employed and Unemployed) women Scientists have been supported under the Biotechnology Career Advancement and Re-orientation Programme (Bio-CARe) scheme of Department of Biotechnology.
(b) Yes, Madam. The Department of Science & Technology (DST) started Women Scientist Scheme, now known as KIRAN (Knowledge Involvement in Research Advancement through Nurturing) for women scientists & technologists in the age group of 27-57 years who had a break in career and who desire to return to mainstream science and work as bench-level scientists. Under this scheme, women scientists are being encouraged to pursue research in frontier areas of Science & Technology and on problems/issues of societal relevance besides taking up Science & Technology based internship in Intellectual Property Rights domain followed by self-employment/entrepreneurship. In addition, in 2009, DST initiated a special programme- Consolidation of University Research for Innovation & Excellence in Women Universities- CURIE)- for Women-only Universities in the country to strengthen their R&D infrastructure in order to facilitate women who wish to pursue higher studies and subsequently careers in science & technology. In order to enhance the participation of Women Scientists in Biotechnology Research, the Department of Biotechnology launched a Biotechnology Career Advancement and Re-orientation Programme (Bio-CARe) for women scientists. This is mainly for Career Development of employed/ unemployed women Scientists. The scheme is open for all areas of Life Science / Biology.
(c) Yes, Madam. Under Women Scientist Scheme-C (WOS-C) of KIRAN programme of DST, one year training in the domain of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) is given to women scientists who wish to pursue a career as IPR specialists. Since the inception of the scheme, four hundred five (405) women scientists have been trained under the WOS-C Scheme. About 60% of them are pursuing their career in the area of IPR and are working in leading IPR attorney firms, IP Departments of Government agencies, Multi National Companies and Knowledge Processing Organizations. One hundred thirty eight (138) women scientists are registered as ‘Patent Agents’ with the India Patent Office and 12 women scientist alumni have started their own IP attorney firms and IP consultancy firms.
(d) The year-wise amount distributed under Women Scientist Scheme during the last two years and in the current financial year is given below:
Financial year Amount distributed
2013-14 43 Crores
2014-15 44 Crores
2015-16 58 Crores
So far, total of Rs. 71.20 crore have been sanctioned including scholarship provided to the women scientists under BioCARe.
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