Tamil Nadu: Last date for submission of research proposals under CMRG extended to May 31

CHENNAI: The Higher Education Department has expressed concern over the inadequate number of project proposals received this year from the Government Arts, Science, Engineering, Polytechnic and Education colleges under the Chief Minister's Research Grant (CMRG).

In a bid to conduct global-level research in the State and to motivate faculty, research scholars and undergraduate and postgraduate students to do research on current challenges, ‘Chief Minister's Research Grant Scheme’ has been launched from the academic year 2023-24.

A senior official from the Higher Education Department, seeking anonymity, said that the research grant has encouraged innovation, which has supported researchers, innovators and start-ups to bring innovative technologies, products and business models from labs to the community.

He said accordingly, the expenditure for research fellowship for a three-year duration for one student from Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences would be Rs 25,000 per month for the first two years and Rs 28,000 per month for the third year.

The official said that the amount will vary for engineering students.

Pointing out that last year 2024-2025, the Directorate of Technical Education (DoTE), which is handling the CMRG scheme, have received more than 2,500 proposals from the government Arts, Science, Engineering, Polytechnic and Education colleges across the State, the official said, “however, this year the expected research proposals was less compared to previous year”. He also said that a sum of Rs 50 crore has been sanctioned as CMRG last year.

Quoting a DoTE's official communication, he said CMRG has invited translational research proposals from the state-run universities under the aegis of the Higher Education Department and government Arts, Science, Engineering Polytechnic and Education colleges during the period between April 1 and May 10.

Stating that a good number of proposals have been submitted by the universities this year, he said, however, the number of proposals submitted by the government colleges is not as expected.

"Therefore, CMRG has made an exclusive special drive of inviting further proposals from the colleges," he said, adding, "the last date for submitting the proposal will be May 31".

He said the faculty and students attached to government colleges alone are encouraged to submit research proposals via Google Form available on the DoTE portal.