Political leadership of NRF & private sector role in funding will hurt research, says researchers’ body
Pallavi Smart | 4 July 2023 | The Indian Express
Photo: The Indian Express/Jasbir Malhi. Representative image.
Several researchers have raised concerns about the newly approved National Research Foundation (NRF), complaining that centralisation of funding will restrict research work in India. Researchers said that with the involvement of the private sector, support will be lost for “curiosity-driven research” – where success cannot be predicted in advance – in favour of “short-term-industrial-spin-off”. Thus research in social sciences will be hit the most.
The Breakthrough Science Society, a nationwide voluntary organisation committed to the cause of science, culture and scientific outlook, has issued a public statement reacting to the Union government’s approval for the NRF. The statement titled ‘National Research Foundation – will it really benefit research in India?’ read: “So far, a researcher had several options in submitting a research proposal. If a proposal gets rejected by one funding agency, it still stands a chance of getting supported by another.”