New Delhi: A committee headed by the principal scientific advisor Prof K Vijay Raghavan has been formed to set up National research foundation, as announced in the NEP 2020. While certainly Prof Vijay Raghavan is an acclaimed scholar, talks around academic circles concern that the focus of the National Research Foundation should not be bounded to just sciences but its ambit should be widened to science, humanities, art & culture.
We feel that all aspects of Bharat, be it indigenous defence research, space research, agriculture research, medical research or textile research should be included for funding, mentoring, and building ‘quality of research’ in India. There is a great deal of scope in the socio-cultural field of research like rural ecology and environment research, social concerns, traditional history etc.
It is being felt that the current vision is missing out the holistic approach and so learned scholars and academicians, like Prof Raghavan, coming from different backgrounds and fields should be included in the process so that better outcomes can be achieved with a holistic approach. Ministry of Education should invite stakeholders and scholars across discipline to fulfil the inclusive mandate of the National Research Foundation as envisioned by the National Education Policy 2020.
ABVP’s National General Secretary Nidhi Tripathi said, “the National Research Foundation aims to fund researchers working across all streams in the country. With allocation of 50 thousand crores for the NRF in the budget this year, it becomes extremely important that all fields of research are focussed upon ultimately improving the quality of research in the country. We want that a comprehensive approach is adopted in forming the tribunal which helps to achieve its very objective.”
