Lok Sabha Question No. 1559 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2015-07-29
Subject: Encouragement for Research
Ministry: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: SUPRIYA SADANAND SULE, HEENA VIJAYKUMAR GAVIT, RAJEEV SHANKARRAO SATAV, SURESH KODIKUNNIL, VIJAYSINH MOHITE PATIL, RAVNEET SINGH

**GOVERNMENT OF INDIA**

**MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY**

**DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY**

**LOK SABHA**

**UNSTARRED QUESTTION No.1559**

**TO BE ANSWERED ON 29/07/2015**

**ENCOURAGEMENT FOR RESEARCH**

**1559.	SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE:**

**DR. HEENA VIJAYKUMAR GAVIT:**

**SHRI SATAV RAJEEV:**

**SHRI KODIKUNNIL SURESH:**

**SHRI MOHITE PATIL VIJAYSINH SHANKARRAO:**

**SHRI RAVNEET SINGH:**

**Will the Minister of SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY òãðìððÐð ¡ðøÜ ÑßðøÌðð÷ò±ð¨îó Ùðüëðó**

**be pleased to state:**

**(a)		whether the country is lagging behind in research;**

**(b)		if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;**

**(c)		the corrective steps taken/being taken by the Government in this regard; and**

**(d)		the other steps taken/being taken by the Government to attract more and more talented students towards research activities?**

**ANSWER**

**MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES**

**(SHRI.Y. S. CHOWDARY)**

**òãðìððÐð ¡ðøÜ ÑßðøÌðð÷ò±ð¨îó ÙðüëððâðÚð Ùð÷ü Üð¸Úð Ùðüëðó +ÉÉè® ÑðöÆãðó òãðìððÐð ÙðüëððâðÚð Ùð÷ü Üð¸Úð Ùðüëðó**

**(gÉÉÒ ´ÉÉ<Ç. AºÉ. SÉÉèvÉ®ÉÒ)**

**(a) & (b):  No, Madam. India's performance in research is promising and impressive in recent years which is evident from the fact that India’s position globally in scientific publications, as per Scopus database, has improved from 12** **th** **position in 2005 to 6** **th** **position in 2013 with a growth rate of 13.4% as against the world average of 4.4% during 2005-2013. However, the country needs to improve the quality of research publications, enhance the R&D investment and density of scientific workforce for achieving higher impact in research.**

**(c)		Government has taken several measures to strengthen the research in the country. This includes successive increase in plan allocations for Scientific Departments, setting up of  Science and Engineering Research Board for basic research, offering attractive research fellowships, strengthening infrastructure for Research and Development (R&D) and programs like Nano Mission, Solar Energy Research Initiative etc.**

**(d)		Other steps taken by the Ministry to attract more and more talented students towards research activities include: The Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), a planned program to attract talented youth to study science and pursue careers with research. The Children Science Congress held annually provides a unique opportunity to school children to stimulate scientific temperament and learning the scientific methodology for observation, collection of data, analysis and arriving at conclusions and presenting the findings in various fields of science and engineering. In addition, there are a number of schemes / programs of the Government to attract students towards science and encourage scientific research like Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana (KVPY), Young Scientists Fellowship, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Fellowships (SPMF), Junior/Senior Research Fellowships (JRF/SRF), Research Associateship etc.**

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