New Delhi: Chairing the first governing board meeting of the newly formed Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that the scientific community of the country should have faith that there will be no dearth of resources for their endeavours. Calling the ANRF meeting a new beginning, Mr Modi stressed the need to identify and remove obstacles in the research ecosystem of the country.
The meeting, held at the official residence of the Prime Minister, focused on a discussion about the country's science and technology landscape and redesigning of research and development programmes.
Mr Modi talked about setting big targets, focusing on attaining them and doing path-breaking research. He highlighted that research should focus on finding new solutions to existing problems. He said even for problems that are global, solutions must be localised in accordance with Indian needs.
The Prime Minister discussed the need for the upgradation and standardisation of institutions and suggested preparing a list of domain experts on the basis of their expertise. He also talked about developing a dashboard where information related to research and development happening in the country can be easily tracked.
The Prime Minister stressed the need for scientific monitoring of the utilisation of resources for research and innovation. Calling the ANRF's first meeting an ambitious beginning, he said the scientific community of the country should have faith that there will be no dearth of resources for their endeavours.
Discussing the positive impacts of Atal Tinkering Labs, the Prime Minister suggested that grading of these labs can be done. He also discussed research in various areas like looking for new solutions to environmental change, battery ingredients for EVs and lab-grown diamonds, among others.
During the meeting, the governing body decided to launch a programme in hub and spoke model by pairing universities where research is at nascent stage with top-tier established institutions in mentorship mode.
The governing body also discussed several areas of strategic interventions of ANRF, which include global positioning of India in key sectors, aligning R&D with national priorities, promoting inclusive growth, capacity building, driving scientific advances and innovation ecosystems, as well as bridging the gap between academic research and industrial applications through industry-aligned translational research.
The ANRF will launch programmes on solution-focused research in a mission mode in select priority areas like EV mobility, advanced materials, solar cells, smart infrastructure, health and medical technology, sustainable agriculture and photonics. The governing body observed that these efforts will impactfully supplement our march towards “Aatmanirbhar Bharat”.
While underscoring the translational research with active participation from the industry, the governing body also emphasised promoting fundamental research for the advancement of knowledge.
“It was decided to set up centres of excellence to support interdisciplinary research in the humanities and social sciences. It was also agreed that there was a need to empower our researchers with flexible and transparent funding mechanisms towards achieving ease of doing research,” the Prime Minister’s Office said, adding that the governing body also directed that the ANRF strategies should align with the goals of Viksit Bharat 2047 and implementation should follow global best practices adopted by research and development agencies across the world.
The ANRF has been established to promote research and development and foster a culture of research and innovation throughout India’s universities, colleges, research institutions, and R&D laboratories. It acts as an apex body to provide high-level strategic direction of scientific research in the country as per recommendations of the national education policy.
