Lok Sabha Question No. 5837 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-04-10
Subject: Shodhganaga
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: ANTO  ANTONY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 5837 TO BE ANSWERED ON 10.04.2017

## Shodhganga

## 5837. SHRI ANTO ANTONY:

Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) the objectives and salient features of the scheme called, 'Shodhganga';
- (b) whether the Government has any record regarding the number of thesis uploaded onto 'Shodhganga;
- (c) if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether the Government has taken note that some of the universities in the country are reluctant to make thesis available to Shodhganga; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof, and the response of the Government thereto?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (Dr. MAHENDRA NATH PANDEY)

(a): Para 13.1 of the University Grants Commission (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award  of  M.Phil./  Ph.D  Degrees),  Regulation,  2016,  mandates  that  after  successful completion  of  the  evaluation  process  and  before  the  announcement  of  the  award  of  the M.Phil./Ph.D.  degree(s),  the  Institution  concerned  shall  submit  an  electronic  copy  of  the M.Phil.  dissertation  /Ph.  D.  thesis  to  the  Information  and  library  Network  (INFLIBNET),  for hosting the same so as to make it accessible to all Institutions/Colleges. To implement this provision  of  the  UGC  Regulations,  2016,  Shodhganga  repository  was  set  up.  The  task  of setting-up  of  this  repository  was  assigned  to  INFLIBNET  Centre,  Gandhinagar  -  an  InterUniversity Centre of the University Grants Commission (UGC).

The main objectives of Shodhganga are to:

- (i)  develop  a  national  repository  of  theses  and  dissertations  with  an  intuitive  interface which  enables  submission  of  electronic  version  of  theses  and  dissertations  by
- Universities  in  India  and  facilitates  search,  browse  and  downloading  of  theses

available in the repository; (ii)  avoid  unnecessary  duplication  and  repetition  that,  in  effect,  is  wastage  of  huge resources, both human and financial; (iii)  providing  access  to  Indian  theses  and  dissertations  in  open  access  to  world-wide academic community and making visibility of Indian research to other countries; (iv)  extend access to plagiarism detection software to eligible universities; and (v) fund eligible Universities (that are under purview of the UGC) for digitization of back

- lists of theses submitted to their universities.

The salient features of Shodhganga are as follows:

-  Shodhganga  facilitates  Universities  to  deposit  their  theses  in  the  respective Departments / Centres.
-  The  system  also  permits  online  or  offline  submission  of  theses  by  students  on voluntary basis.
-  Shodhganga interface supports basic search, advanced search and subject-wise browsing.

(b) & (c): Yes, Madam. So far, 1,35,942 theses have been uploaded onto Shodhganga.

(d)  &  (e):  INFLIBNET  Centre,  Gandhinagar  has  informed  that  no  University  has,  so  far, responded negatively or shown reluctance to join the scheme.

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