8 highlights
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The concept of the NRF to cultivate research in higher education institutions emerged from the National Education Policy of 2019 to address long-standing concerns that less than 1 per cent of India’s 40,000 HEIs are engaged in any research.
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India has only 15 researchers per 100,000 population, compared to 111 in China and 423 in the US. Only 15.8 per cent of India’s research papers appear in the top 10 journals, compared with 27.6 per cent of Chinese papers and 36.2 per cent of US papers.
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“Many of the NRF’s objectives overlap with those of existing agencies such as the departments of science and technology and biotechnology,”
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“As long as the NRF budget is in addition to those of existing agencies, it would be welcome. But unless there is clarity in relation to those of existing agencies, there is room to doubt that the wings of existing agencies may be clipped,”
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Majumder and other scientists said they worry about centralised decision-making because it often results in, as Majumder put it, “erosion of collective thinking and collective decision-making”.
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Scientists point out that the Science and Engineering Research Board, established through an Act of Parliament in 2008, under the Union science and technology ministry is already tasked with funding research across many fields covered by the NRF.
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The 2022-23 budget outlay for the Science and Engineering Research Board is Rs 803 crore, about 10 per cent lower than its anticipated expenditure of Rs 900 crore in 2021-22.
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“Some of us fear that once the NRF emerges, the support for other agencies will decrease — and funds will be concentrated with one agency,”