Cabinet approves ‘Vigyan Dhara’scheme with outlay of Rs 10,579 crore for five years

New Delhi [India], August 24 (ANI): The Union Cabinet on Saturday approved the continuation of the three umbrella schemes, which have been merged into a unified central sector scheme – ‘Vigyan Dhara’.

The proposed outlay for the implementation of the unified scheme ‘Vigyan Dhara’ is Rs 10,579.84 crore during the 15th finance Commission period from 2021-22 to 2025-26.

All the programmes proposed under the ‘Vigyan Dhara’ scheme would be aligned with the five-year goals of Depart of Science and Technology towards realising the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047.

The meeting of Union Cabinet was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Briefing the media after a meeting of Union Cabinet, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the scheme has three broad components – Science and Technology (S&T) Institutional and Human Capacity Building; Research and Development and Innovation, Technology Development and Deployment.

An official release said that the merger of the schemes into a single scheme would enhance efficiency in fund utilization and establish synchronization among the sub-schemes and rogrammes.

The primary objective of the ‘Vigyan Dhara’ scheme is to promote Science and Technology capacity building as well as research, innovation and technology development towards strengthening the Science, Technology and Innovation ecosystem in the country.

Implementation of the scheme will strengthen the Science and Technology infrastructure of the country by fostering well-equipped research and development labs in the academic institutions.

The scheme endeavours to promote research in areas such as basic research with access to the international mega facilities, translational research in areas such as sustainable energy and water and collaborative research through international bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

It will also contribute to building critical human resource pool to strengthen the science and technology landscape and expand the R&D base of the country towards improving the Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) researcher count.

Focused interventions will be taken up to enhance the participation of women in the field of Science and Technology (S&T) with the ultimate goal of bringing gender parity in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI), the release said.

“The scheme would reinforce the efforts of the government towards promoting innovations at all levels, starting from school level to higher education, and for the industries and startups through targeted interventions. Significant support will be extended to increase collaboration between academia, Government, and also with industries,” the release said

The research and development component of the scheme will be aligned in line with the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF).

Implementation of the scheme would follow the globally prevailing yardsticks while in alignment with the national priorities, the release said.

The Department of Science & Technology (DST) acts as the nodal department for organising, coordinating and promoting S&T activities in the country.

Three central sector umbrella schemes were being implemented by DST towards promoting Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) in the country – Science and Technology (S&T) Institutional and Human Capacity Building; Research and Development and Innovation, Technology Development and Deployment. These three schemes have been merged into the unified scheme ‘Vigyan Dhara’.