Lok Sabha passes National Research Foundation (NRF) Bill 2023; IITs won’t overshadow others, says minister

NEW DELHI: While the opposition staged a walkout on the Manipur violence issue, the Lok Sabha, on Monday, passed the Anusandhan National Research Foundation Bill, 2023.

Addressing the lower house, minister of state for science and technology, Jitendra Singh said the Bill will enable “democratic pooling and democratic funding of research” across the states of the country.

“The Bill spells out the democratisation of research and research funding in India and its states. So far, the state universities have received only 11 percent funding for research. The Bill will allow competitiveness of research within state universities which were shadowed by larger institutions like IITs [Indian Institutes of Technology],” the minister said. The Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), which will be dissolved once the new Bill becomes an Act, provides grants based on competition where large institutions like IITs received major chunk of the funding.

According to the Bill, the NRF will act as a regulatory and apex research body that will support research particularly at universities and colleges where research capacity is at a nascent stage. The NRF will give impetus to research, innovation, and entrepreneurship in the fields of natural sciences including mathematics, engineering and technology, environmental and earth sciences, health and agriculture, and scientific and technological interfaces of humanities and social sciences.

“In the coming years, we are going to need research on the synergy between artificial intelligence and human intelligence. The Bill will enable this,” said Singh. The NRF was proposed in the new National Education Policy but the final Bill provides for a slightly different composition than what the NEP 2020 had recommended.

NRF Bill 2023: Private funding

Responding to the allegations on the Bill’s intention to diminish the federal structure in research and development, Singh said the bill will allow “equitable funding” by grants not just from government but also private entities like industry partners and philanthropists.

“We have young brains that are talented and the industry is also willing to invest in their ideas. The Bill will break down artificial barriers created to achieve the goal,” said Singh.

The union government has estimated a budget of Rs 50,000 crore to run the NRF for five years (2023-28). Of this budget, the NRF will receive Rs 10,000 crore from the central government over the next five years, apart from the Rs 4,000 crore already allocated to the SERB, Singh said. The remaining Rs 36,000 crore will be from private entities like industries, philanthropists and private donations from within and outside the country. The investors will also be able to gain profits from this investment, Singh added.

On the question of raising funds from the private sector, Singh said: “The Rs 36,000 crore budget is meant for five years which means Rs 7,000 crore every year. It is not a difficult task to raise this amount because we plan to execute a public-private-partnership model to raise funds. The CSR [Corporate Social Responsibility rules also include research and development which allows keen industry partners to invest in research opportunities.”