R&D fund allocation for 6 major scientific agencies doubled in last 7 years: Govt

New Delhi: The allocation of funds for research and development (R&D) for the six major scientific agencies has increased from Rs. 17406.10 crore in 2014-15 to Rs. 37823.69 crore in 2021-22, i.e. more than double in last 7 years,” says Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh.

In a written reply to a question in the upper house of the Indian parliament, the Minister said, the Government has consistently increased the allocation of funds for investment in R&D in the country.

The progressive allocation (Budget Estimate) of funds for six Major Scientific Agencies for the last three years is as under:

(in Rs. crore)

Source: Demands for Grants of Central Government, Expenditure Budget, GoI (various years)

DrJitendra Singh also informed that the number of patent for new innovations granted to Indian scientists has more than doubled in 3 years as it increased from 2511 in 2018-19 to 5629 in 2020-21

The number of patent for new innovations granted to Indian scientists at Indian Patent Office (IPO) during each of the last three years is as under:

Source: O/o Controller General of Patents, Design and Trade Marks

On the question that the number of scientists per million people in India is lower ascompared to other Asian countries, the Minister informed that as per the latest available UNESCO S&T Statistics, the number of research scientists per million people in India is 255, which is lower than countries such as Korea (7498), Japan (5304), Singapore (2795), Malaysia (2396) and China (1225) but higher than Indonesia (216), Philippines (106), Sri Lanka (106) etc. in Asia.

As per the minister, government has taken various steps to encourage scientific research activities in the country such as successive increase in allocations for Research & Development, setting up of new institutions for science, education and research, creation of Centres of Excellence and facilities in emerging and frontline areas of S&T in academic and national institutions, operation of schemes.

The schemes include Fund for Improvement of Science and Technology Infrastructure (FIST); Sophisticated Analytical Instrument Facilities (SAIF), launch of National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS),Visiting Advanced Joint Research (VAJRA) Faculty Scheme for distinguished overseas scientists and academicians including Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs), Overseas Visiting Doctoral Fellowship (OVDF), Prime Minister’s research fellowships, Teacher Associate-ship for Research Excellence (TARE) and Distinguished Investigator Award (DIA), Department of Bio-Technology-The World Academy of Sciences (DBT-TWAS) International fellowships and providing substantial grant to potential scientists through extramural research funding etc.