• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman earmarked Rs. 50,000 crore over five years for the creation of a National Research Foundation (NRF) — an umbrella body that is expected to fund research across a range of disciplines, from science and technology to humanities.
• Sitharaman had first announced such a foundation in her 2019 Budget speech after it was proposed in a draft of India’s New Education Policy (NEP).
• NRF will ensure that the overall research ecosystem in the country is strengthened with a focus on identified national priority thrust areas.
• Mentoring mechanism
• The NRF will also seed and build research capacity at universities and colleges through a formal mechanism of mentoring.
• It will also catalyse research at universities and colleges that have until now not been big players in research.
• The NRF will also help build the capacity to do research through an institutionalised mentoring mechanism, involving expert researchers from premier institutions of the country, the NEP document notes.
• The NRF would be an autonomous body and represented by all major research and education bodies.

Cuts in allocation

• The budget allocations for key science departments saw cuts, though most are expected to spend — until March — below what was apportioned last financial year.
• For instance, the Ministry of Earth Sciences was given a budget Rs. 2,074 crore for 2020-21, but is expected to spend only Rs. 1,304 crore. This year it has been allotted Rs. 1,901 crore.
• The Department of Science and Technology was given a budget of Rs. 6,313 crore last year, but will likely spend Rs. 5,012 crore. It has been allotted Rs. 6,071 crore this year.
• The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research was given Rs. 5,385 crore but its expenses are likely to be Rs. 4,251 crore. It has been given Rs. 5,241 crore.
• The Department of Biotechnology has seen a hike in allotment and been given Rs. 3,502 crore. Last year, it spent Rs. 2,300 crore and was budgeted Rs. 2,786 crore.

https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-miscellaneous/tp-others/rs-50000-cr-for-national-research-foundation/article33722692.ece

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