Lok Sabha Question No. 5650 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-04-02
Subject: R&D in Technology Field
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: ANANDRAO  ADSUL, SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE, Shrirang Appa Barne, DHARMENDRA YADAV

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5650 TO BE ANSWERED ON 02.04.2018

## R & D in Technology Field

## 5650. SHRI ANANDRAO ADSUL: DR.  SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE: SHRI SHRIRANG APPA BARNE: SHRI DHARMENDRA YADAV

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

(a) whether there is a need to improve education in the country in the field  of technology and Research and Development in  the  colleges  as  well  as  improve  the quality; (b)  if    so,    whether    there    is    still    no  policy  to  ensure    quality    of    education    in  the country and if so, the reasons therefor and  the  steps  taken  by  the  Government for the same; (c) whether the Government  intends to encourage dialogue between educational communities and industry; (d)  if  so,  whether  the  Government  has  prepared  outline  on  this  issue  and  issued guidelines for the educational institutions; and (e) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

## (DR. SATYA PAL SINGH)

(a):  The Government in association with All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) promotes innovations and research & development in established and new technologies, generation,  adoption  and  adaptation  of  new  technologies,  to  meet  developmental requirements  of  the  country  and  for  the  overall  improvement  of  educational  process. Towards  these  ends,  the  Council  operates  three  schemes,  namely,  Modernization  and Removal of Obsolescence (MODROBS), Research Promotion Scheme (RPS) and Nationally Coordinated Projects (NCP).

- (b):  In order to enhance the quality of technical education in the country, the Government is taking the following steps: -

(i) Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA): This is a not-for-profit organization that will leverage funds from the market and supplement them with donations and CSR funds. These funds will be used to finance setting up and improvement in infrastructure and  research  facilities  in  our  top  institutions  and  will  be  serviced  through  internal accruals.

(ii) PM  Research  Fellowship: Under  this  scheme,  the  best  students  who  have completed or are in the final year of B. Tech or Integrated M.Tech or M.Sc. in Science and Technology streams from IISc/IITs/NITs/IISERs/IIITs will be offered direct admission in PhD  programme  in  the  IITs/IISc.  Such  students,  who  fulfill  the  eligibility  criteria,  and shortlisted  through  a  selection  process,  as  laid  down  in  the  PMRF  Guidelines,  will  be offered a fellowship of  Rs. 70,000/- per month for the first two years, Rs. 75,000/- per month for the 3rd year, and Rs. 80,000/- per month in the 4 th  and 5 th   years. Apart from this, a research grant of Rs. 2.00 lakh will be provided to each of the Fellows for a period of  5  years  to  cover  their  foreign  travel  expenses  for  presenting  research  papers  in international  conferences  and  seminars.  A  maximum  of  3,000  Fellows  (1000  per  year) would be selected during a three-year period.

(iii) Smart India Hackathon (SIH): SIH is being undertaken by MHRD on yearly basis to  identify  new and disruptive digital solutions for solving the challenges faced by our country.

(iv) Setting  up  of  virtual  classrooms  and  massive  open  online  courses  (MOOCs): Virtual classrooms under SWAYAM and MOOCs are newer forms of technology-enabled learning  which  help  to  broad-base  quality  education  across  all  geographical  regions. MOOCs have emerged as an inexpensive mechanism for offering quality education online, to  a  very  large  number  of  learners.  The  benefits  of  quality  faculty,  teaching  excellent courses in top institutions, can be transmitted with the help of virtual classrooms and online courses to students & faculty across all institutions irrespective of their physical location thereby making education truly seamless and borderless.

(v) National  Digital  Library: Ministry  of  Human  Resource  Development  under  its National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology has initiated the National Digital Library (NDL) pilot project to develop a framework of virtual repository  of learning resources  with  a  single-window  search  facility. It is  being developed  to  help  students  to  prepare  for  entrance  and  competitive  examination,  to enable people to learn and prepare from best practices from all over the world and to facilitate researchers to perform inter-linked exploration from multiple sources.

(vi) Training and Research in Frontier Areas: It  is  proposed to establish centers of excellence for advanced training and research in the frontier areas including biotechnology,  bioinformatics,  nano-materials,  nano-technologies,  mechatronics,  higher performance computing engineering/industrial design, etc.

(vii) Setting  up  of  Inter-Institutional  Centres,  Creation  of  Excellence  Clusters  and Networks, Establishing Alliances across Institutions: This includes provision for Setting up of Inter Institutional Centers, Creation of Excellence Clusters and Network, Establishing Alliances Across Institutions.

(viii) Startup India Initiative in Higher Educational Institutions: The erstwhile scheme 'National  Initiative  for  Technology  Transfer'  has  been  revamped  as  Startup  India Initiative  in  Higher  Education.  Under  this  initiative,  special  efforts  would  be  made  to strengthen  international  research  linkages  and  involve  a  larger  number  of  Indian institutions in forging such links with industry through a framework of research parks for collaborative and joint research programmes.

(ix) Implementation of the IMPRINT Research Initiative (Impacting Research Innovation  and  Technology): This  scheme  is  meant  for  adopting  engineering  and technology  as  the  vehicle  to  addressing  the  societal  needs  and  achieving  national prosperity.

(x) National Institutional Ranking Framework: This framework outlines a methodology to rank institutions across the country. The methodology draws from the overall recommendations and broad understanding arrived at by a Core Committee set up by  MHRD,  to  identify  the  broad  parameters  for  ranking  various  universities  and institutions.  The  parameters broadly cover Teaching, Learning and Resources; Research and Professional Practices; Graduation Outcomes; Outreach and Inclusivity and Perception.

(xi) Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP): This is a World Bank  funded  project  to  enhance  quality  and  equity  in  selected  engineering  education institutes and improve the efficiency of the engineering education system in focus States/ Union Territories.

(xii) Research  Parks: In  order  to  provide  impetus  to  research  in  the  country,  the Government  has  approved  setting  up  of  9  Research  Parks  one  each  at  IIT  Madras,  IIT Kharagpur,  IIT  Bombay,  IIT  Gandhinagar,  IIT  Delhi,  IIT  Guwahati,  IIT  Kanpur,  IIT Hyderabad, and IISc Bangalore. IIT Madras Research Park has become fully functional with 43  R&amp;D  clients,  4  Incubators,  55  Start-ups,  and  5  Centres  of  Excellence.  IIT Gandhinagar Research Park has been approved with full funding from the Department of Science & Technology.

(xiii) Quality  Initiatives  by  AICTE: AICTE  has  approved  an  action  plan  focusing  on Planning,  Selection,  Induction  Training,  Curriculum  Revision,  Mandatory  Internships, Industry  Readiness,  Promotion  of  Innovation  &  Start-ups,  Exam  Reform,  Teachers' Training and Mandatory Accreditation.

(c) to (e): With a view to promote innovation of a higher order that directly impacts the needs  of  the  Industry  and  thereby  improves  the  competitive  edge  of  the  Indian manufacturing, a scheme called 'Uchhatar Avishkar Yojana (UAY)' was approved by the Government.  The project envisages collaboration between academia and industry -within or outside India. Under UAY Phase- I, 87 projects at a cost of Rs. 265.59 Crore with joint funding by MHRD, participating Ministries and Industry in the ratio of 50:25:25 have been approved.  Under  UAY  Phase-II,  the  Apex  Committee  of  UAY  in  its  meeting  held  on 20.11.2017 has approved 65 projects at a cost of Rs. 139.48 Crore for a period of 3 years.

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