Lok Sabha Question No. 1943 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-07-30
Subject: Higher Education
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: A.T. (NANA) PATIL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

## DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No.1943 TO BE ANSWERED ON 30.07.2018

## Higher Education

†1943. SHRI A.T. NANA PATIL:

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

- (a) whether the Government is constantly working towards promoting higher education and research work in the country;
- (b) if so, the details of courses being run by the Government aimed at encouraging the youths of the country at present;
- (c) whether the decision has been taken to conduct National Eligibility Test (NET) exam twice a year in the country; and
- (d) if so, the reasons therefor and the extent to which it is likely to benefit the students and increase the number of Junior Research Fellow (JRF) in the country?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (Dr. SATYA PAL SINGH)

(a)  &  (b):  Yes,  Madam.  The  Central  Government  has  launched  several  initiatives  viz. National  Institutional  Ranking  Framework  (NIRF),  Impacting  Research,  Innovation  & Technology (IMPRINT), Uchchtar Avishkar Yojna (UAY), Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) in the field of education for promoting higher education and research work in the country.

Under  the  NIRF,  Educational  Institutions  are  ranked  by  an  independent  ranking Agency  on  the  basis  of  objective  criteria.  The  IMPRINT  initiative  seeks  to  address engineering  challenges  in  ten  technology  domains  through  the  collaborative  efforts  of the  Indian  Institutes  of  Technology  (IITs)  and  Indian  Institute  of  Science  (IISc).  The objectives  of  UAY  scheme  are  to  promote  innovation  in  IITs  addressing  issues  of manufacturing  industries;  to  spur  innovative  mindset;  to  co-ordinate  action  between academia  &  industry  and  to  strengthen  labs  &  research  facilities.  Distinguished academicians, from premier institutions across the world, are invited under the scheme of GIAN to conduct one week or two week course at Indian institutions.

Further,  the  University  Grants  Commission  (UGC)  is  implementing  following schemes  for  encouragement  of  research  and  doctoral  work  in  all  subjects  including inter-disciplinary topics. (i) Special Assistance Programme (SAP) (ii) Basic Scientific Research (BSR) Also,  UGC  is  running  a  scheme  namely  JRF  in  Science,  Humanities  &  Social Sciences with the aim to provide opportunities to National Eligibility Test (NET)/Junior Research  Fellowship  (JRF)-  qualified  candidates  to  undertake  advanced  studies  and research leading to M.Phil/ Ph.D Degree in Humanities and Social Sciences including Languages and Sciences. (c) & (d): National Eligibility Test (NET) is conducted twice a year.  The conducting of NET was outsourced to CBSE from December, 2014 onwards.  In 2017 the examination was conducted in the months of January and November and the latest in July, 2018.

Presently, more than 3200 JRFs are awarded in each UGC-NET and 1500 JRFs are awarded by UGC through the Joint CSIR- UGC Test.

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