1-Jul-2020: ‘Accelerate Vigyan’ to strengthen scientific research mechanism
To provide a single platform for research internships, capacity building programs, and workshops across the country, the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) has launched a new scheme called ‘Accelerate Vigyan’ (AV). You can get more information on this scheme from its web portal www.acceleratevigyan.gov.in. Straight off the block, AV has already called for applications under its ‘ABHYAAS’ component for the Winter Season.
The primary objective of this inter-ministerial scheme is to give more thrust on encouraging high-end scientific research and preparing scientific manpower, which can lead to research careers and knowledge-based economy. Recognizing that all research has its base as development of quality and well-trained researchers, AV will initiate and strengthen mechanisms of identifying research potential, mentoring, training and hands-on workshop on a national scale.
“The vision is to expand the research base, with three broad goals, namely, consolidation / aggregation of all scientific programs, initiating high-end orientation workshops, and creating opportunities for research internships for those who do not have access to such resources / facilities,” said Dr Rajeev Mehajan, Advisor, SERB. The institution is also planning to launch an app for this in the coming two months.
As for the ‘ABHYAAS’ programme, it is an attempt to boost research and development in the country by enabling and grooming potential PG/PhD students by means of developing their research skills in selected areas across different disciplines or fields. It has two components: High-End Workshops (‘KARYASHALA’) and Research Internships (‘VRITIKA’). This is especially important for those researchers who have limited opportunities to access such learning capacities / facilities / infrastructure. The current call for applications invites researchers for the winter season (Dec 2020-Jan 2021) ‘KARYASHALA’ and ‘VRITIKA’
“As part of this acceleration drive, there is a plan to organize about 1000 high-end workshops (dedicated to certain themes) to provide opportunities to about 25,000 postgraduate and doctoral students in the next five years, in collaboration with premier scientific institutions and laboratories,” said Dr Mehajan. Also, central coordination of internships in these institutions will provide opportunity to another 1000 potential postgraduate students every year.
The AV will work on mission mode, particularly with respect to its component dealing with consolidation / aggregation of all major scientific events in the country. Thus, an Inter-Ministerial Overseeing Committee (IMOC) involving all the scientific ministries/departments and a few others has been constituted for the purpose of supporting SERB in implementing the AV scheme in a successful manner.
The database of skilled manpower developed across different disciplines so generated and the final outcomes captured in the process through all the sub-components of the AV will serve the cause of all stakeholders in respect of capacity building in the country. The scheme also seeks to garner the social responsibility of the scientific community in the country. In a nutshell, the AV platform is expected to be a game changer for developing career paths and providing support to catalogue the development of skilled man-power.
Another new component under AV is ‘SAMMOHAN’ that has been sub-divided into ‘SAYONJIKA’ and ‘SANGOSHTI’. SAYONJIKA is an open-ended program to catalogue the capacity building activities in science and technology supported by all government funding agencies in the country. SANGOSHTI is a pre-existing program of SERB.
4-Jun-2020: TULIP - Urban Learning Internship Program for providing opportunities to fresh Graduates in all ULBs & Smart Cities launched
Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal `Nishank’, Minister, Human Resource Development, Shri Hardeep S. Puri, MoS (I/C), Housing & Urban Affairs, and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) have jointly launched an online portal for `The Urban Learning Internship Program (TULIP)’ - A program for providing internship opportunities to fresh graduates in all Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and Smart Cities across the country, here today. The portal for TULIP has been launched in the presence of Shri Amit Khare, Secretary, HRD, Shri Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, MoHUA, Chairman, AICTE and officers of both Ministries and AICTE.
TULIP is a program for providing fresh graduates experiential learning opportunities in the urban sector. It is the result of the visionary leadership of our Prime Minister who firmly believes in the power of the youth and their ability to not only bring positive change in our country but in the world. The Prime Minister has emphasized the important role the youth of India has to play in the future of our country.
Smart Cities Mission - Snapshot of progress
The Smart Cities Mission has made significant progress over the last three years in laying the foundation for future of urban India. Till date, projects worth over Rs. 1,65,000 crores have been tendered of which projects amounting to around Rs. 1,24,000 crores are in the implementation stage. Projects worth Rs. 26,700 crores are already completed and delivering benefits to the citizens. Our Smart Cities have been at the forefront in leveraging technology to manage COVID crisis, with 47 of them using their smart command and control centres as crisis management war rooms and 34 cities working to complete them at the earliest. In order to boost walkability, non-motorized transport and public transport, our cities have completed 151 smart road projects worth Rs. 2,300 crores and 373 projects worth Rs.18,300 crores are near completion. 91 PPP projects worth Rs.3,700 crores have been completed and 203 projects worth Rs. 21,400 crores will be completed soon. 51 projects worth Rs. 800 crores in the domain of vibrant urban spaces have been completed. 67 projects worth Rs.2,300 crores related to smart water and 41 projects worth Rs. 200 crores under smart solar have been completed.
TULIP has been conceived pursuant to the Budget 2020-21 announcement by the Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman under the theme ‘Aspirational India’. The announcement read as follows: “The Government proposes to start a program whereby the urban local bodies across the country would provide internship opportunities to fresh engineers for a period up to one year.” Such a program will help reap the benefits of India’s demographic dividend as it is poised to have the largest working-age population in the world in the coming years. India has a substantial pool of technical graduates for whom exposure to real world project implementation and planning is essential for professional development. General education may not reflect the depth of productive knowledge present in society. Instead of approaching education as ‘doing by learning,’ our societies need to reimagine education as ‘learning by doing.’
TULIP would help enhance the value-to-market of India’s graduates and help create a potential talent pool in diverse fields like urban planning, transport engineering, environment, municipal finance etc. thus not only catalyzing creation of prospective city managers but also talented private/ non-government sector professionals. TULIP would benefit ULBs and smart cities immensely. It will lead to infusion of fresh ideas and energy with engagement of youth in co-creation of solutions for solving India’s urban challenges. More importantly, it will further Government’s endeavors to boost community partnership and government- academia-industry-civil society linkages. Thus TULIP- “The Urban Learning Internship Program” would help fulfill twin goals of providing interns with hands-on learning experience as well as infusing fresh energy and ideas in the functioning of India’s ULBs and Smart Cities.
This launch is also an important stepping stone for fulfillment of MHRD and AICTE’s goal of 1 crore successful internships by the year 2025. The digital platform powering TULIP enables discovery, engagement, aggregation, amplification and transparency. The platform is customizable and provides immense flexibility to both ULBs/ Smart Cities and interns to enable convenient access. Security features have been thoroughly tested and the platform has been made scalable, federated and transparent by design.
An MoU has also been signed between MoHUA and AICTE. The MoU, inter alia, lays down roles and responsibilities of AICTE and MoHUA over a period of 5 years. Technical support for the platform shall be anchored by AICTE and the programmatic non-technical support shall be anchored by MoHUA. A Steering Committee under the Chairmanship of Secretary, HUA including Chairman AICTE and other officials from MoHUA and AICTE has also been constituted to review the progress of the program on a periodical basis.
For ease of implementation, Guidelines have also been formulated which spell out the objective, eligibility conditions, duration of internship, terms of engagement, logistics and other operational features of the programs etc. These Guidelines also provide illustrative roles for interns which can be further refined at the level of ULBs and smart cities at their discretion. A Handbook for ULBs/ Smart Cities and interns has also been prepared for ease of implementation. MoHUA has also agreed to allow use of administrative expenses under its Missions/ programs for the payment of stipends/ perks under the program.
MoHUA would reach out to State Governments to help boost internships in their cities. It will undertake capacity building initiatives in partnerships with State Governments to enable participation of ULBs and smart cities under TULIP. As States & UTs have a deeper understanding of the regional challenges and opportunities at the urban level, they can effectively implement TULIP by matching their needs with skills developed through such internships.
State Governments/Union Territories are also urged to explore scaling up TULIP to parastatal agencies/ State Financial intermediaries and other organizations/ agencies related to urban development in their respective jurisdictions. Since the technology platform for TULIP is open, scalable and federated, such additions would be very easily possible.
7-May-2020: Union HRD Minister announces modifications in PMRF Scheme to boost research in the country
Union Human Resource Development Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' today announced that, to boost research in the country various amendments have been carried out in Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship Scheme. He said that after the amendments, now for the students from any recognised institute/ university (other than IISc/ IITs/NITs/IISERs/IIEST/CF IIITs), the requirement of GATE Score is reduced to 650 from 750 apart from minimum CGPA of 8 or equivalent.
The Minister also informed that now there will be two channels of entries, one direct entry and lateral entry. In lateral entry, the students, who are pursuing PhD in PMRF granting institutions (completed 12 months or 24 months as per certain requirements) can also apply to become fellow under the scheme as per new guidelines. Shri Pokhriyal further highlighted that NITs, which appear in top 25 institutions as per NIRF Ranking (overall) can also become PMRF Granting institution. The Minister hoped that the modifications will enable more students to avail of the benefit under the Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship Scheme.
Minister has also informed that, to boost research a dedicated Division is being created in the ministry with the name of "Research and Innovation Division". This division will be headed by a director who will be coordinating research work of various institutions coming under MHRD.
Union Minister said that the Prime Minister’s Research Fellows (PMRF) Scheme has been designed for improving the quality of research in various higher educational institutions in the country. With attractive fellowships, the scheme seeks to attract the best talent into research thereby realizing the vision of development through innovation. He added that the scheme was announced in the Budget 2018-19. The institutes which can offer PMRF include all the IITs, all the IISERs, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru and some of the top Central Universities/NITs that offer science and/or technology degrees.
Shri Pokhriyal further said that the candidates will be selected through a rigorous selection process and their performance will be reviewed suitably through a national convention. Starting Academic Year 2020-21, candidates can apply for PMRF through either direct entry channel or lateral entry channel.
DIRECT ENTRY CHANNEL
To apply for PMRF through this channel, the candidate must satisfy all of the following criteria:
- In the preceding three years, the candidate should have either: (i) completed or be pursuing the final year of Bachelors or Masters degree in Science and Technology streams from any of the Institute/University recognized in India with CGPA of 8.0 or above and GATE score of 650 or above in the relevant subject (the GATE criteria is waived if the qualifying degree is from one of the centrally funded technical institutes), or, (ii) qualified GATE and completed or be pursuing M. Tech./MS by research at one of the PMRF Granting Institutes having a minimum CGPA of 8.0 or above at the end of the first semester with a minimum of four courses.
- They apply and get selected in the Ph.D. programme in one of the PMRF granting institutes.
- The PMRF granting institute, which has admitted the student in the Ph.D. programme through the regular selection process (interview), makes a strong recommendation for award of PMRF in view of his/her merit. The metrics on which the candidates will be judged will include (but not restricted to): research exposure, publications, performance in international academic competitions, grades and recommendation letters.
LATERAL ENTRY CHANNEL
To apply for PMRF through this channel, the candidate must satisfy all of the following criteria:
- The candidate should be pursuing Ph.D. in one of the PMRF granting institutions. Further, he/she should have completed at most 12 months in the PhD programme if he/she joined the programme with a Master’s degree; and should have completed at most 24 months in the PhD programme if he/she joined the PhD programme with a Bachelor’s degree. He/she should have completed at least four courses in the PhD programme with CGPA / CPI of 8.5 or above.
- The PMRF Granting Institute, in which the student is enrolled, makes a strong recommendation for the candidate and uploads the relevant information on the PMRF web-portal, in view of his/her merit clearly demonstrated during the first 12-24 months (as relevant) of the program;
- The metrics on which the candidates will be judged include (but not restricted to) a strong research proposal, publications record and grades. Due weightage should be given to publication in reputed journals/conferences.
28-Jul-2018: Government extends Prime Minister’s Research Fellows Scheme to all potential researchers
Prime Minister’s Research Fellows (PMRF) Scheme will now be open to all potential researchers from 2019 and not limited to candidates from IISc, IITs, NITs, IIEST and IISERs.
The Prime Minister's Research Fellowship (PMRF) scheme is aimed at attracting the talent pool of the country to doctoral (Ph.D.) programmes of Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Indian Institutes of Science Education & Research (IISERs), Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Central Universities (which are among the top 100 National Institutional Ranking Framework, NIRF ranked universities) for carrying out research in cutting edge science and technology domains, with focus on national priorities.
8-Feb-2018: Prime Minister’s Research Fellows Scheme will convert brain drain to brain gain
The Union Minister for Human Resource Development Shri Prakash Javadekar lauded the cabinet decision to implement ‘Prime Minister’s Research Fellows (PMRF)’ scheme in improving the quality of research by attracting the best talents across the country. While addressing the media in the national capital today, the Minister said that the scheme will go a long way in tapping the talent pool of the country for carrying out research indigenously in cutting edge science and technology domains. He further added that the research under the Scheme will address our national priorities at the one hand and shortage of quality faculty in the premier educational institutions of the country, on the other. This initiative of the government will convert brain drain to brain gain.
The Minister informed that around 1,000 best students who have completed (or are in the final year of) B. Tech or Integrated M.Tech or M.Sc. in Science and Technology streams from IISc/IITs/NITs/IISERs/IIITs under this scheme will be offered direct admission in PhD programme in the IITs/IISc. Those students will be offered a fellowship of Rs.70, 000/- per month for the first two years, Rs.75, 000/- per month for the 3rd year, and Rs.80, 000/- per month in the 4th and 5th years. Apart from this, a research grant of Rs.2.00 lakh will be provided to each of the Fellows for a period of 5 years to enable them to participate in international research conferences and present research papers. A maximum of 3,000 Fellows would be selected in a three year period beginning 2018-19.
The Minister also informed about ‘Pareeksha pe Charcha,’ the Prime Minister’s interaction with students, which is scheduled to be held at Talkatora Stadium, New Delhi on 16th February, 2018. About 2000 school and college students including teachers and principals will be participating in the programme. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will advise students on beating exam stress and appearing for exams with a positive attitude.