The Department of Science and Technology (DST) of the Government of India has taken up a series of projects to reverse the brain drain from the country, said its Secretary Ashutosh Sharma.
Mr. Sharma was the chief guest at the 16th convocation of National Institute of Technology (NIT), Warangal on Saturday.
The project Vajra was aimed at retaining the scientists who were planning to go abroad for better salaries and facilities. Some 50 top scientists were selected under the scheme. Another project TARE (Teacher Associate for Research Excellence) was aimed at encouraging research among the teachers by giving them fellowship.
Fellowship programme
The National Post Doctoral fellowship programme was aimed at stopping the people who completed from PhD from going abroad for jobs. As part of the project, they would be given ₹ 10 lakh per annum for continuing their research until they get a job here. As part of it, 2,500 were selected this year and the DST set aside ₹ 250 crore for the purpose.
New schemes
“The budget of Department of Science and Technology has gone up by 100 % in four years now. We have come up with plethora of schemes to promote quality research and encourage innovation,” the Secretary said. The Cyber Physical Systems, a project comprising many small projects and particularly focusing on quality water and air was allocated ₹ 3,600 crore. Similarly, Million Minds Augmenting National Aspiration and Knowledge (MANAK) is a project that envisages reaching out to five lakh students in schools across the country. “Each student is encouraged to come out with two novel ideas which later will be selected. The top 10 ideas will be converted into prototypes,” he explained.
Mr. Sharma said the DST will launch its own television channel in a year. The Centre has been creating 20 new incubators every year and the idea is to create new technologies and new opportunities to the youth.
NIT Director N V Ramana Rao and others were present.