NEW DELHI: Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar on Thursday announced the expansion of two projects to promote research and innovation in the higher education sector with an allocation of over Rs 800 crore.
The government has decided to pump in Rs 414 crore in the Impactful Policy Research in Social Sciences (IMPRESS) scheme and Rs 418 crore in the Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC) over next two years, he said.
Two web portals were also launched to facilitate research projects in the areas of Social Sciences by academics in India and research collaboration among Indian and foreign academics.
Javadekar said, “Projects would be selected for funding in an impartial manner and challenge mode would be applied...”
Projects funded through IMPRESS will focus on all areas such as state and democracy, urban transformation, media culture and society, employment skills and rural transformation, governance innovation and public policy, innovation and , agriculture and rural development, social media and society, politics law and economics.
Through SPARC, the government is hoping to encourage research collaborations between Indian and foreign universities.
“A total of Rs 418 crore have been allotted for this scheme under which, funding will be given under three categories ...” said Partha Pratim Chakrabarty, director, IIT Kharagpur which will be nodal agency for the project.
Only Indian institutes which rank in the top 100 on the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) list or in the top 100 on the NIRF subject ranking can apply for these projects.
Two schemes
The government has decided to pump in I414 crore in the Impactful Policy Research in Social Sciences (IMPRESS) scheme and I418 crore in the Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC) over the next two years