(a) whether the Government has taken any steps to improve the participation of
women scientists in the science and technology sector;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) the number of women scientists working in the various technology departments of the Government;
(d) whether the Government proposes to spend more to ensure the participation of women
in the said sector; and
(e) if so, the details thereof alongwith the present status thereof in each State?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING; MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE
AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (ASHWANI KUMAR)
(a) Yes, Madam.
(b) The Government has taken steps to improve the participation of women scientists in the science
and technology sector by initiating several gender enabling initiatives. These include the Women
Scientists Scholarship Scheme of the Department of Science and Technology which provides opportunities
to women scientists and technologists who desire to return to mainstream science. Under this scheme,
support is provided to women scientists to pursue research in frontier areas of science and engineering,
R&D on problems of societal relevance and to take up S&T-based internship leading to self-employment. The
Department of Biotechnology under the Bio-CARe scheme provides support for women scientists, both employed
and unemployed to build capacities after a career break so as to help them undertake independent R&D projects.
(c) The number of women scientist working in the various Science and Technology departments of the
Government, as per the statistics released in the Report of National Task Force for Women in Science in
January, 2010, was 3019.
(d) Yes, Madam.
(e) The Government has formulated a scheme `Disha` to ensure the participation of women in the S&T
sector by enlarging the scope of gender parity initiatives for greater out reach of existing schemes and
adding new components. The Disha scheme also addresses the issue of women scientists who wish to relocate
to other cities due to family reasons by creating contractual positions tenable in publically funded
institutions. The schemes are operated all over the country. The annual allocation for Disha and Bio-
CARe programmes for the current financial year is Rs. 57.00 crores.