Lok Sabha Question No. 295 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-07-24
Subject: Promotion of Women Scientists
Ministry: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Shri Rajesh Naranbhai Chudasama, Shri Pradeep Purohit, Shri Ajay Kumar Mandal, Smt. Malvika Devi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

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

UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 295

## ANSWERED ON 24/07/2024

Promotion of Women Scientists

295.  SHRI CHUDASAMA RAJESHBHAI NARANBHAI:

SHRI PRADEEP PUROHIT:

SHRI AJAY KUMAR MANDAL:

SMT. MALVIKA DEVI:

Will  the  Minister  of  Science  and  Technology विज्ञान और प्रौद्योगिकी मंत्री be pleased to state :

- (a) the assistance being provided by the Government to unemployed women scientists of Bihar specially in Bhagalpur to make a career in the  field  of  science  and  technology  under  the  Women  Scientists Scheme;
- (b)
- the steps taken by the Government to promote women scientists;
- (c) the number of beneficiaries of this scheme so far, State/UT-wise particularly in Bihar; and
- (d) the  budgetary  provision  made  in  the  present  budget  for  this scheme?

## ANSWER

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

विज्ञान और प्रौद्योगिकी तथा पृ थ्िी विज्ञान मंत्रालय क े राज्य मंत्री ( स्ितंत्र प्रभार)

(डॉ. जितेंद्र स ंह)

- (a) The  support  has  been  provided  to  ten  (10)  unemployed  women scientists of Bihar with the assistance of Rs.1.66 crore in the last five years under the 'Women Scientist Scheme' to pursue research careers in the field of Science & Technology (S&T).

- (b)  The  Department  of  Science  and  Technology  started  a  dedicated scheme 'Women in Science and Engineering-KIRAN (WISE-KIRAN)' to promote women scientists. WISE-KIRAN scheme has several programmes that provide various opportunities to women scientists to pursue  research  in  S&T  domain.  Under  WISE-KIRAN,  the  'Women Scientists Scheme' provides opportunities to the women scientists who had break in their careers. The 'WISE Fellowship for Ph.D. (WISE-PhD)' provides opportunity to pursue Ph.D. in Basic and Applied Sciences and 'WISE Post-Doctoral Fellowship (WISE-PDF)' allows them to carry out Post-Doctoral research in Basic and Applied Sciences. Further, 'WISESCOPE' programme encourages women to address societal challenges through S&T interventions. Another new programme 'WIDUSHI' supports senior women scientists to conduct S&T research. In addition, 'WISE Internship in IPR (WISE-IPR)' programme provides one-year training to women scientists in the field of Intellectual Property Rights.

## (c)  Since  the  year  2019,  approximately  1690  women  scientists  have benefitted under the WISE-KIRAN Scheme. The State/UT-wise details of beneficiaries, including Bihar, are mentioned below:

|   Sl. No. | States/UTs        |   Women benefitted under WISE-KIRAN |
|-----------|-------------------|-------------------------------------|
|         1 | Andaman & Nicobar |                                   1 |
|         2 | Andhra Pradesh    |                                  33 |
|         3 | Arunachal Pradesh |                                   3 |
|         4 | Assam             |                                  34 |
|         5 | Bihar             |                                  10 |
|         6 | Chandigarh        |                                  33 |
|         7 | Chhattisgarh      |                                  12 |
|         8 | Delhi             |                                 190 |
|         9 | Goa               |                                   8 |
|        10 | Gujarat           |                                  39 |
|        11 | Haryana           |                                  46 |
|        12 | Himachal Pradesh  |                                  16 |
|        13 | Jammu & Kashmir   |                                  40 |
|        14 | Jharkhand         |                                  12 |
|        15 | Karnataka         |                                 109 |
|        16 | Kerala            |                                 110 |
|        17 | Ladakh            |                                   1 |

| 18.   | Madhya Pradesh 42   |
|-------|---------------------|
| 19.   | Maharashtra 180     |
| 20.   | Manipur 14          |
| 21.   | Meghalaya 1         |
| 22.   | Mizoram 6           |
| 23.   | Nagaland 5          |
| 24.   | Odisha 26           |
| 25.   | Puducherry 7        |
| 26.   | Punjab 51           |
| 27.   | Rajasthan 42        |
| 28.   | Sikkim 1            |
| 29.   | Tamil Nadu 162      |
| 30.   | Telangana 93        |
| 31.   | Tripura 4           |
| 32.   | Uttar Pradesh 177   |
| 33.   | Uttarakhand 43      |
| 34.   | West Bengal 139     |
|       | TOTAL 1690          |

(d) The budgetary allocation for the Women in Science and EngineeringKIRAN  (WISE-KIRAN)  Scheme  for  the  Financial Year 2024-25 is Rs.135.50 crore.

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