Lok Sabha Question No. 1014 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-17
Subject: Social Science Research
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: KIRRON KHER

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1014 TO BE ANSWERED ON 17.12.2018

## Social Science Research

## 1014. SHRIMATI KIRRON KHER:

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

(a)  Whether  the  Government  has  worked  out  the  framework  of  the  Revitalising  Infrastructure and Systems in Education (RISE) initiative;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the Government has plans to give special encouragement to Social Science Research as a part of the 'research promotion' component of the initiative;

(d)  if  so,  whether  the  Government  finds  it  feasible  as  a  part  of  this  initiative,  to  promote undergraduate research through setting up of undergraduate research monitoring committees for all Centrally Funded Institutions offering professional and general courses; and

(e) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

## (DR. SATYA PAL SINGH)

(a) &  (b):  The  Government  has  approved  'Revitalising  Infrastructure  and  Systems  in Education  by  2022',  as  per  which  the  scope  of  institutions  to  be  funded  through  Higher Education  Financing  Agency  (HEFA)  has  been  enlarged  to  encompass  School  Education  and Medical Education institutions, apart from Higher Education. The total authorized equity capital of HEFA has been raised to Rs.10,000 crore, with the facility to leverage additional resources from the market, based on requirement. A total Government equity of Rs. 6,000 Crore, has been approved.  All  funds  for  educational  infrastructure  in  centrally  funded  educational  institutions will  henceforth  be  in  the  form  of  ten  year  loans  through  HEFA  to  the  institution,  the  interest liability  of  which  would  be  borne  by  the  Government.  The  principal  repayment  would  be undertaken  by  the  institutions  in  part  or  full  depending  on  their  age  profile  and  financial capability. For new institutions and those which have limited internal fund generating capacity, the entire principal and interest repayment would be undertaken by the Government. There is an additional  window  of  financing  for  school  and  medical  education  institutions  where  the sponsoring  Department  would  undertake  to  repay  the  principal  and  interest  to  HEFA.  So  far, HEFA has approved projects of Rs. 24430 Crore with total loan amount of Rs. 12307 Crore.

(c) to (e): The reply is at Annexure.

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## Annexure as referred to in Part (c) to (e)  of  LSUS  Q.  No.  1014  to  be answered  on  17.12.2018  by  Shrimati  Kirron  Kher  regarding  Social  Science Research.

- (c) to  (e):  The  Government  of  India,  in  August  2018,  had  sanctioned  the  scheme  'Impactful Policy  Research  in  Social  Sciences  (IMPRESS)'  at  a  total  cost  of  Rs.  414  Cr  for implementation up to 31.03.2021. Under the Scheme, 1500 research projects will be awarded for 2 years to support the social science research in the higher educational institutions and to enable research to guide policy making.
-  The  Indian  Council  of  Social  Science  and  Research  (ICSSR)  will  be  the  project implementing agency.
-  The broad objectives of the scheme are:
- (i) To identify and fund research proposals in social sciences with maximum impact on the governance and society.
- (ii) To focus research on (11) broad thematic areas such as : State and Democracy, Urban transformation, Media, Culture and Society, Employment, Skills and Rural transformation , Governance, Innovation and Public Policy, Growth, Macro-trade and Economic Policy, Agriculture and Rural Development, Health and Environment,  Science  and  Education,  Social  Media  and  Technology,  Politics, Law and Economics. The sub- theme areas will be decided on the basis of Expert Groups' advice before notifying the scheme and calling for applications.
- (iii) To  ensure  selection  of  projects  through  a  transparent,  competitive  process  on online mode.
- (iv) To  provide  opportunity  for  social  science  researchers  in  any  institution  in  the country,  including  all  Universities  (Central  and  State),  private  institutions  with 12(B) status conferred by UGC.
- (v) ICSSR  funded/  recognized  research  institutes  will  also  be  eligible  to  submit research proposals on the given themes and sub-themes.
-  The following will be the modalities for implementations:-
- (a) There will be (4) calls for proposals- October, 2018, February 2019, September 2019 and February 2020. The process of evaluation of the proposals and selection will be completed within 90 days from the date of call for proposals.
- (b) The  experts  for  evaluation  of  proposals  will  be  persons  of  eminence  and  selected using objective criteria.
- (c) There will be a regular monitoring of the progress of projects using the online portal, in which the progress can be directly updated by the Project Coordinator.
- (d) There will be a third party evaluation of the projects in March 2021.

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