Lok Sabha Question No. 223 (STARRED), answered on 2015-08-05
Subject: Rashtriya Aavishkar Abhiyan
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: NAGENDRA KUMAR PRADHAN, VIJAY KUMAR HANSDAK

**GOVERNMENT OF INDIA**

**MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT**

**DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY**

**LOK SABHA**

**STARRED QUESTION NO.223**

**TO BE ANSWERED ON 5** **th** **August, 2015**

**Rashtriya Aavishkar Abhiyan**

***223.   SHRI NAGENDRA KUMAR PRADHAN:**

**SHRI VIJAY KUMAR HANSDAK:**

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

(a)	whether the Government has launched 'Think in India' campaign through the Rashtriya Aavishkar Abhiyan;

(b)	if so, the details thereof along with the salient features of the abhiyan;

(c)	the funds allocated for abhiyan and the criteria fixed for allocation of funds to the implementing agencies; and

(d)	the steps taken by the Government to create awareness among school children about Science, Mathematics and Technology?

**ANSWER**

**MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT**

**(SMT. SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)**

(a) to (d):  A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

**STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 223 TO BE ANSWERED ON 05.08.2015 ASKED 
BY SHRI NAGENDRA KUMAR PRADHAN AND SHRI VIJAY KUMAR HANSDAK HON’BLE MPs REGARDING “RASHTRIYA AAVISHKAR ABHIYAN”.**

(a)&(b):  The Rashtriya Aavishkar Abhiyan (RAA) is a convergent framework across the Centrally Sponsored Programmes of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Siksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and higher education institutions.  The Abhiyan was launched by Late A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Former President of India on 9 th July 2015 and it envisages motivating and engage school children of the age group from 6-18 years in learning Science, Mathematics and Technology through observation, experimentation, inference drawing, model building, etc. both through inside and outside classroom activities and processes. It seeks to create curiosity, excitement and spirit of innovation and exploration amongst school children, by encouraging higher education institutions to act as mentoring Institutions and assisting secondary and elementary schools in the study of Science and Mathematics.  Under the Abhiyan, schools will be mentored by reputed higher educational institutes like Indian Institutes of Technology(IIT), Indian Institutes of Management(IIM), Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER) and other Central Universities and institutions through innovative programmes, student exchanges, demonstrations, student visits, etc. to develop a sense of passion towards learning of science and mathematics.

(c)&(d): The activities/components of RAA would be funded under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan.  In 2015-16, an amount of 
Rs. 150 Crore and Rs. 108.26 Crore have been earmarked under SSA and RMSA respectively. In case of collaborative initiatives with Ministry of Science and Technology and Department of Higher Education, funds would be pooled with their schemes and norms.

National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005 states that "Science education in India must undergo a paradigm shift. Inquiry skills should be supported and strengthened.   Schools should place much greater emphasis on co-curricular and extra-curricular activities aimed at stimulating investigative ability, inventiveness and creativity, even if these are not part of the external examination system. There should be a massive expansion of such activities along the lines of the Children's Science Congress, being held successfully at present. A large-scale science and technology fair at the national level (with feeder fairs at cluster/district/state levels) may be organised to encourage schools and teachers to participate in this movement. Such a movement should gradually spread to every corner of India and even across South Asia, unleashing a wave of creativity and scientific temper among young students and their teachers".

The steps taken by the Central Government to create awareness among school children about Science & Mathematics & Technology include inter alia, launching of the Rashtriya Aavishkar Abhiyan on 09 th July, 2015 in the presence of all stakeholders including school children, creation of a web page for general public to access information related to RAA, creation of an RAA Citizen interaction page on the Central Government’s Citizen Interaction platform “mygov.in” and collaboration with reputed  technology firms like ‘Intel’ and ‘Google’ for building technological capacities of girl children and participation of children in the ‘Code to Learn’ contest.

All State Governments/UTs have also been given a funding of Rs. 5 lakh per District under innovation fund of SSA to undertake innovative activities and build awareness around learning of Science and Mathematics.

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