Lok Sabha Question No. 2787 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-03-12
Subject: Implementation of Vigyan Jyoti Programme
Ministry: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Gajanan Chandrakant Kirtikar, Rebati Tripura, Feroze Varun Gandhi, Anurag Sharma, Ganesan Selvam, Gautham Sigamani Pon, C.N. Annadurai, Vijay Kumar Dubey, Arvind Ganpat Sawant, Dhanush M Kumar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

## DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 2787

## ANSWERED ON 12/03/2021

## IMPLEMENTATION OF VIGYAN JYOTI PROGRAMME

2787.          SHRI GAJANAN KIRTIKAR:

SHRI REBATI TRIPURA:

SHRI FEROZE VARUN GANDHI:

SHRI ANURAG SHARMA:

SHRI SELVAM G.:

SHRI GAUTHAM SIGAMANI PON:

SHRI C.N. ANNADURAI:

SHRI VIJAY KUMAR DUBEY:

SHRI ARVIND GANPAT SAWANT:

SHRI DHANUSH M. KUMAR:

Will  the  Minister  of  SCIENCE  AND  TECHNOLOGY वान  और ौयोगक मंी be pleased to state:

- (a)     whether his Ministry is implementing Vigyan Jyoti Programme to encourage girls to choose Science and Technology as career;
- (b)     if so, the details thereof along with the challenges faced and the success achieved since inception of this programme;
- (c)     the number of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNV) in which the programme is being run,  State/UT wise;
- (d)     whether the Government is planning to expand the programme to more  JNVs  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  if  not,  the  reasons therefor;
- (e)       whether  the Government has also started the second phase of Vigyan  Jyoti  programme  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  aims  and objective behind the move; and

- (f)        the  other  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  encourage  and empower girls to pursue STEM courses?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE; MINISTER OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; AND MINISTER OF EARTH SCIENCES (DR. HARSH VARDHAN)

वाय और परवार कयाण मंी , वान और ौयोगक मंी और पृवी वान मंी ( डॉ . हष वधन)

- (a)  & (b)   Yes Sir.  The Department of Science and Technology (DST) has started a new programme 'Vigyan Jyoti' for girl students of Class 9-12 to encourage them to pursue education and career in science and technology particularly in the areas where women are underrepresented. During 2019-20, Vigyan Jyoti  programme  was launched in 50 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) in different parts of the country and around 2,500 girls were benefitted. During the year 2020-21,  around  739  online  special  classes/lectures  were  conducted covering basic and complex concepts of Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics  and  Biology  which  are  important  to  qualify  entrance examinations  for  admission  into  premier  institutions.  More  than  150 lectures by eminent  scientists/role  models  were  also  organized. Further, four (4) science camps, twenty two (22)  visits to Knowledge Partners/Industry/Lab, seven (7) Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) workshops and fifty eight (58) student-parent counselling sessions were organized.  Despite  the  challenges  posed  by  the  COVID-19  pandemic, all Vigyan Jyoti students were being connected through distinctive elearning modules.
- (c)  to  (e):   Vigyan  Jyoti  Programme  is  being  implemented  in  one hundred districts of the country in partnership with Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs).  The States/UTs and Districts wise list of fifty JNVs where programme was implemented in first phase (2019-20) is given below:

|   Sl.No. | States/UTs     |   Number Districts | of District wise JNVs   |
|----------|----------------|--------------------|-------------------------|
|        1 | Chhattisgarh   |                  2 | Raipur, Dhamtari        |
|        2 | Odisha         |                  2 | Cuttack, Sambhalpur     |
|        3 | Madhya Pradesh |                  2 | Indore, Vidisha         |
|        4 | Chandigarh     |                  1 | Chandigarh              |

| 5.   | Himachal Pradesh     |   2 | Mandi, Hamirpur                              |
|------|----------------------|-----|----------------------------------------------|
| 6.   | Karnataka            |   3 | Banglore Urban, Chitradurga, Mangalore       |
| 7.   | Kerala               |   2 | Kottayam, Palakkad                           |
| 8.   | Telangana            |   2 | Rangareddy, Warrangal                        |
| 9.   | Delhi                |   1 | Jaffarpurkalan                               |
| 10.  | Haryana              |   1 | Gurgaon                                      |
| 11.  | Rajasthan            |   4 | Barmer, Dausa, Jaipur, Jodhpur               |
| 12.  | Uttar Pradesh        |   4 | Allahabad, Kanpur Nagar, Lucknow, Saharanpur |
| 13.  | Uttarakhand          |   3 | Almora, Dehradun, Haridwar                   |
| 14.  | Bihar                |   3 | Nalanda, Patna, Vaishali                     |
| 15.  | Jharkhand            |   3 | Hazaribagh, Ranchi                           |
| 16.  | West Bengal          |   3 | East Medinipur, West                         |
| 17.  | Dadar & Nagar Haveli |   1 | Silvasa                                      |
| 18.  | Goa                  |   1 | Canacona                                     |
| 19.  | Gujarat              |   1 | Gandhinagar                                  |
| 20.  | Maharashtra          |   3 | Nagpur, Pune, Sangli                         |
| 21.  | Arunachal Pradesh    |   1 | Lohit                                        |
| 22.  | Assam                |   2 | Kamrup, Nalbari, West Imphal                 |
| 23.  | Meghalaya            |   1 | East Khasi Hills                             |
| 24.  | Nagaland             |   1 | Kohima                                       |
| 25.  | Sikkim               |   1 | North Sikkim                                 |
|      | TOTAL                |  50 |                                              |

The  Vigyan  Jyoti  programme  has  been  extended  in  second phase to cover 100 districts in partnership with JNVs with inclusion of Class IX-X during 2020-21 with aim to encourage and motivate more girls towards Science & Technology at early stage. The goal of Vigyan Jyoti is to bring gender parity in STEM  fields where  women participation is under represented. The States/UTs and Districts wise list of newly added JNVs is given below:

|   Sl. No. | States/UTs     | Number of District wise JNVs   | Number of District wise JNVs   |
|-----------|----------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
|         1 | Andhra Pradesh | 3                              | Ananthapur, West Godavary,     |
|         2 | Andaman        | and1                           | Middle Andaman                 |

| 3.      | Nicobar Assam    | 2   | Jorhat, Golaghat                     |
|---------|------------------|-----|--------------------------------------|
| 4.      | Bihar            | 2   | Katihar, Muzaffarpur                 |
| 5.      | Chhattisgarh     | 2   | Bilaspur, Kanker                     |
| 6.      | Diu              | 1   | Diu                                  |
|         |                  | 3   | Bhavnagar, Vadodara, Tapi            |
| 7.      | Gujarat          | 2   |                                      |
| 8. 9.   | Haryana          |     | Hisar, Kurukshetra                   |
|         | Himachal Pradesh | 2   | Solan, Shimla                        |
| 10.     | J&K              | 2   | Udhampur, Ganderbal                  |
| 11.     | Jharkhand        | 2   | Dhanbad, West Singhbhum              |
| 12.     | Karnataka        | 2   | Shimoga, Mysore                      |
| 13.     | Kerela           | 1   | Ernakulam                            |
| 14.     | Laddakh          | 1   | Leh                                  |
| 15.     | Madhya Pradesh   | 3   | Jabalpur, Mandla, Dhar               |
| 16.     | Maharashtra      | 2   | Nanded, Aurangabad                   |
| 17.     | Manipur          | 1   | Chandel                              |
| 18. 19. | Meghalaya Odisha | 1 2 | Ri Bhoi                              |
|         |                  |     | Khordha,Sundergarh                   |
|         |                  | 1   | Faridkot                             |
| 21.     | Puducherry       |     | Puducherry                           |
| 22.     | Rajasthan        | 2 1 | Kota, Dungarpur                      |
| 23.     | Tripura          |     | Khowai                               |
| 24.     | Uttar Pradesh    | 4   | Varanasi, Bareily, Gorakhpur, Jhansi |
| 25.     | Uttarakhand      | 2   | Nainital, Pauri Garhwal              |
| 26.     | West Bengal      | 1   | Bardhaman                            |
|         | TOTAL            | 50  |                                      |

- (f)      In addition to several gender neutral programmes, the Ministry of Science and Technology is implementing different fellowship programmes  which  are  exclusively  for  women  to  encourage  and empower women in STEM. Women Scientists Scheme (WOS-A, WOS-B and WOS-C) and Indo-US Fellowship for Women in STEMM (WISTEMM) under the  DST  and  BioCARE  under  the  Department  of  Biotechnology (DBT)  are  major  fellowship  programmes  to  encourage  women  for pursue research in STEM domain.

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