Universities encouraged to take up research

Speaking to DT Next, State Finance Secretary K Shanmugam mentioned that though the government is ready to fund the research projects, as much as possible, on the contrary, only a few institutions approach the authorities with good projects. He further added that there are no restrictions in allocating funds, emphasizing that worthy research activities would be encouraged.

The State Finance Secretary additionally pointed out that Anna University had approached the government seeking funds to replace all outdated research equipment in the lab. “Accordingly, the government had provided Rs 100 crore to the university to upgrade the infrastructure which includes equipment to ensure international standards of teaching in the university and the engineering colleges,” he added.

He also mentioned that proposals received from research students belonging to various colleges are evaluated and selected students are provided with financial support to conduct their research studies.

As per the sources from Higher Education Department, during the period between the years, 2011-12 to 2018-19, action to support more than 50 candidates were taken, with a total cost of about Rs 1 crore. Continuing this support, the programme is planned to be implemented with an outlay of about Rs 20 lakh during 2019-20.

In addition, young scientists and researchers below 40 years from Tamil Nadu are facilitated to acquaint themselves with latest techniques in science, research and development. They are provided with a fellowship of Rs 10,000 per month for a period of 2 to 6 months in addition to their regular salary by their parent institutions. Additionally, the fellowship students take up training or learn sophisticated instrumentation techniques and modern research methodologies or do collaborative research work with senior scientists in the host research centres.