NITI Aayog: Provisions for More Autonomy to Research Institutions on Agenda

The NITI Aayog is working towards developing a cabinet note which will include provisions for granting autonomy to science and technology institutions.

This will be a helpful step as it will enable these institutes to carry out research activities with the help of experts who can be inducted at market salaries.

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How will greater autonomy help?

• A senior government official reported to the Press Trust of India (PTI) that the initiative will make the science departments and research institutes more flexible to carry out their functions.
• Moreover, top institutes of the country including Indian Institutes of Technology or IITs and Indian Institute of Science or IISc Bangalore will have more say in the administrative, academic and financial matters.
• Thirdly, the institutes will be able to take a call on their own with respect to hiring of faculty members (which will also include international faculty), salaries of the members etc.
• The proposal will also help these institutes to opt for high-level research which may or may not produce immediate results.

It is interesting to note that India spends almost one percent of its total GDP i.e. Gross Domestic Product on research and development.

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Finance Minister of India, Mr. Arun Jaitley, during his budget announcement for the financial year of 2017-18 allocated Rs. 37,435 crore for the scientific ministries. He had also added that a Higher Education Financing Agency will be set up with an approximate initial capital base of Rs. 1,000 crore.