Lok Sabha Question No. 2452 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-21
Subject: Promotion of Women in the field of Research
Ministry: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Manoj Rajoria, Sumedhanand Saraswati, Ranjeeta Koli

†

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 2452 TO BE ANSWERED ON 21.12.2022

## PROMOTION OF WOMEN IN THE FIELD OF RESEARCH

2452.    DR. MANOJ RAJORIA: SHRI SUMEDHANAND SARASWATI: SHRIMATI RANJEETA KOLI:

Will  the  Minister  of  SCIENCE  AND  TECHNOLOGY ͪव£ान और Ĥौɮयोͬगकȧ

मंğी be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has constituted any task force for promotion of women in the field of research and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Government has adopted the reports submitted by the task force;
- (c) if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  action  taken  by  the  Government thereon;
- (d) whether the Government is working or proposes to work on any plan to increase the participation of women in scientific researches; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND EARTH SCIENCES (DR. JITENDRA SINGH)

ͪव£ान और Ĥौɮयोͬगकȧ तथा पृ Øवी ͪव£ान मंğालय क े राÏय मंğी ( èवतंğ Ĥभार) (डॉ . िजतɅġ ͧसंह)

- (a) Yes  Sir.  The  Department  of  Science  and  Technology  (DST)  has constituted 'National Task Force for Women in Science' in the year 2005 to recommend appropriate measures to promote and encourage women to take up  scientific  and  technological  professions.  The  Task  Force  had  members representing different disciplines of science, institutions and regions of the country. The first meeting of the Task Force was held in 2006 wherein it was decided to interact and get inputs from a wide spectrum of women scientists

and students from various locations in the country. Ten meetings of the Task Force were conducted to get inputs on the difficulties faced by the women while entering and pursuing a science career.

(b)  & (c): Yes, the Task Force has submitted its report in the year 2011. The major recommendations of the Task Force were i) Fostering and supporting women resources in Science and Technology (S&T), ii) Measures to attract girls into science career and, iii) New policies, rules and initiatives. The Task Force  also  recommended  constitution  of  a  Standing  Committee  under  the Ministry of Science & Technology to take proactive measures to correct any imbalances that still persisted and hindered women in science. In 2016, the DST has constituted 'Standing Committee for Promoting Women in Science' to recommend special measures to ensure growth of women in science and to design programmes specifically for fostering, utilizing and supporting women in science and thus reduce the gender gap.

In  the  line  of  recommendations  made  by  the  Task  Force  and  the  Standing Committee,  the  Department  of  Science  and  Technology  has  initiated  an umbrella scheme KIRAN (Knowledge Involvement in Research Advancement through  Nurturing)  which  is  now  renamed  as  'Women  in  Science  and Engineering-KIRAN (WISE-KIRAN)' to support women scientists and technologists  in  S&T  through  various  programmes.  The  programmes  under WISE-KIRAN especially, Women Scientists Scheme and Indo-US Fellowship for Women are meant to address challenges like break in career, unemployment, relocation, etc. faced by women in the realm of scientific career. In the line of second recommendation of Task Force to attract girls into science career, a new programme 'Vigyan Jyoti' has started in the year 2019-20 to motivate and encourage  girls  to  take  up  Science,  Technology,  Engineering,  Mathematics (STEM) subjects in the higher education and career especially in the areas where women are underrepresented. Furthermore, DST has also started a new initiative 'Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI)' in 201920 to make institutional reforms for gender advancement - in response to the third recommendation  of  the  Task  Force.  GATI will  assess  and  rank institutions' performance in the area of gender advancement and quantify their commitments towards gender parity.

In an attempt to enhance the participation of Women  Scientists in

Biotechnology  Research,  the  Department  of  Biotechnology  has  launched 'Biotechnology Career Advancement and Re-orientation Programme (BioCARe)' for women scientists in 2010. The programme is mainly for career development of employed/ unemployed women scientists for whom it is the first extramural research grant.

(d) & (e) Yes. There are numerous schemes which aim to attract and support women  in  S&T  domain  in  the  country  and  enhance  their  participation  in research.  The  Department  of  Science  and  Technology  (DST),  through  its 'Women Scientist Scheme (WOS)' provides career opportunities to unemployed women  scientists  and  technologists,  especially  those  who  had  a  break  in career,  for  pursuing  research  in  frontier  areas  of  Science  and  Engineering. There  are  three  major  components  of  WOS,  namely,  i)  Women  Scientists Scheme-A (WOS-A) for conducting research in Basic & Applied Sciences, ii) Women Scientists Scheme-B (WOS-B) for research projects that entail  S&T interventions for Societal Benefit and iii) Women Scientists Scheme-C (WOS-C) that enables them to become Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) professional after one year of training with fellowship. Additionally, the DST is also providing R&D  infrastructure  support  to  women  universities  and  women  PG  colleges through 'Consolidation of University Research through Innovation and Excellence (CURIE)' Programme, which has enhanced women's participation in R&D activities in these institutions.

In 2017, DST started 'Indo-US Fellowship for Women in STEMM (WISTEMM)' to provide international exposure  to women  scientists. Further, DST  is implementing 'Vigyan Jyoti' Programme in 200 districts of the country for girl students of Class IX-XII since 2019-20. The scheme is implemented through Navodaya  Vidyalaya  Samiti  with  active  support  of  institutions  of  national importance like IITs, IISERs, National Labs, Universities, etc. as the Knowledge Partners (KPs). The DST has also started 'Gender Advancement for Transforming  Institutions  (GATI)'  in  2019-20  to  introduce  a  gender  equality framework that will assess, rate and motivate S&T institutions to undertake actions to improve gender parity.

Further,  'SERB-POWER  (Promoting  Opportunities  for  Women  in  Exploratory Research)' scheme of Science and Engineering Research Board of DST aims to address lower participation of women scientists in research activities and to

mitigate  gender  disparity  in  science  and  engineering.  The  Department  of Biotechnology (DBT) is also implementing 'Biotechnology Career Advancement and  Re-orientation  Programme  (BioCARe)'  to  enhance  the  participation  of Women  Scientists  in  Biotechnology  research.  The  DBT  has  also  instituted 'Janaki Ammal  National Women  Bioscientist Award' to recognize the contributions of senior and young women scientists in the country who are working in the areas of Biology and Biotechnology.  The Department of Health Research  is  also  implementing  Women  Scientists  Scheme  in  the  area  of medicine & health.

*****