Science ministry wary of ‘duplicating’ proposed NRF’s funding plans

The Department of Science and Technology (DST) has expressed concern to a Standing Committee of the Rajya Sabha regarding the structure of the proposed National Research Foundation (NRF), a body envisaged under the National Education Policy to improve the quality of research and education across colleges and universities in the country. The NRF is planned as a major scientific funding body that will finance research projects spanning science to humanities. The DST said that while it supported the creation of an NRF, the DST and the Department of Biotechnology were already funding scientific research and so then the NRF ought to avoid “needless duplications” and focus on gap areas. This included creating research and development infrastructure and funding projects in “less endowed state universities and colleges.”