New Delhi, Feb 28 (IANS) Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Saturday announced the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), an innovation promotion platform in the NITI Aayog, with an initial fund of Rs.150 crore for research and development.
Named after former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, AIM will be an innovation promotion platform involving academics, entrepreneurs and researchers.
"The AIM platform will also promote a network of world-class innovation hubs... Initially, a sum of Rs.150 crore will be earmarked for this purpose," Jaitley said while presenting the union budget for the next fiscal.
According to science policy expert Pranav Desai, the budget scores in areas like health and education, in terms of setting up new IITs, AAIIMs and IIMs.
However, Desai said that for innovation, the stress should be on networking instead of entrepreneurship-based innovation.
"Innovation is certainly very important, but entrepreneurship-based innovations are not important any more.
"The government should encourage interactions between industry, university, researchers and different players. That is more important than simply a boost to entrepreneurs," Desai, professor and chairperson, Centre for Studies in Science Policy (CSSP), School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, told IANS.
The finance minister said AIM would draw upon national and international experiences to foster a culture of innovation, research and development and scientific research in India.
"You will not have effective innovation unless interactions are encouraged," Desai said.
Concurring, Chitra Mandal, acting director, Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), Kolkata, said the government should lay down concrete plans on translating research into applications.
"There is so much of research that is going on in our labs. We need to bridge the gap between research and their commercial applications.
"How to approach industries, network with them and enable the work done in labs to get out for benefit of society this aspect should be considered," Mandal told IANS.
CSIR-IICB recently bagged the first position among all the CSIR laboratories with regards to research output in life sciences discipline in the Nature Index report.
In the budget, Jaitley said six more AIIMS like institutions will be set up in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Assam. Bihar would get a second institute modelled on the lines of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
He also announced the setting up of an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Karnataka along with Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) in Jammu and Kashmir and Andhra Pradesh.
"Setting up IIT, AIIMS-like institutions, IIMs are positives in the budget. I don't feel it would dilute the importance of the original institutes.
"The areas in which these institutes would be established require educational and technological institutes. It's a boost. Multiplying the AIIMS model of health and research would be a good step," Desai said.
Delhi MCD Merger: Now there will be a municipal corporation for the whole of Delhi, President Ram Nath Kovind also approved
Delhi will now have only one Municipal Corporation. After the passage of the bill in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, now the bill uniting the three corporations has become law as soon as it gets the assent
Delhi: Schools opened after summer vacation, and students were seen following Covid protocol
Schools opened in Delhi on Friday after a one-and-a-half month summer vacation. During this, all the students were seen following the Kovid protocol. Some private schools will open from July 4.
Corona Positive, the wife of Delhi Chief Minister, isolated herself at home; Arvind Kejriwal also quarantined
Sunita Kejriwal Corona, the wife of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, has become infected. They have placed themselves in home isolation. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has also become quarantine.
SC pulls up home ministry for not acting promptly on rape videos
New Delhi, March 13 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Friday took to task the union home ministry for doing just nothing for 20 days on a complaint about the posting of two rape videos on social
Cyclone Mandaus warning in 3 states of South: heavy rains in Tamil Nadu, cold increased in North India
The weather has changed in many states of the country. On one hand, winter has started increasing in North India, while on the other hand, the rainy season has started in the southern states. The
GPAI Summit 2023: PM Modi invited people to GPAI Summit, and said- AI technology is now in the hands of the new generation
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made a post regarding AI. In which PM Modi talked about the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence Summit 2023.
Two suspected cases of polio in Bihar
Patna, Feb 22 (IANS) Two suspected cases of polio have been reported in Bihar's Darbhanga district and the samples taken from two children were sent for tests at a laboratory in Lucknow in Uttar
How 1 crore corona patients became in India: Started in Kerala, 1.98 lakh patients were found in lockdown, speed increased by 725%
The number of corona patients in the country has crossed 10 million. The first infected was found in Kerala on 30 January. Since then, this figure reached one to one crore within 324 days. So far,
One country one election: JPC Chairman PP Chaudhary said- States will be visited from May 17, and suggestions will be sought directly from the public
After the Waqf law, the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) formed for 'One Country, One Election' is going to start touring states across the country from May 17. The committee will first visit
Russia-Ukraine war: Russia advances in eastern Ukraine ahead of EU summit, Ukraine attacks Crimea's oil drilling platform for the first time
The Russian army on Monday claimed to have captured the area of the Seversky Donets River and the city of Toshkivka near the city of Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine. Russian attacks on
