New Delhi: Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh on Thursday made a strong pitch for a greater role for the private sector in funding research initiatives, contending that the government has its limitations and should be a facilitator. Singh was speaking at a function to release a NITI Aayog report on ‘Roadmap for Strengthening State S&T Councils’. The report said that about 67 per cent of India’s research publications are contributed by 450 centrally-funded institutions.
“We need to have a change in mindset. The question is not 67 per cent centrally funded or why not equally state funded. I would be unorthodox. Why at all 100 per cent Centre or State,” Singh said, making a case for private sector participation.
“If you are thinking of a global role for yourself, most of the successful scientific ventures across the world do not depend on the government,” Singh said. The minister said that there was a need to integrate the private sector as much as possible, and cited the recently established Anusandhan National Research Foundation to provide high-level strategic directions for research, innovation and entrepreneurship in the fields of science.
“The government has its limitations, it can be funding everything for your research. It has to look after other things as well,” Singh said. The report stated that the State S&T Councils, though functioning within a shared national model framework, demonstrate significant heterogeneity in their governance models, funding structures, manpower capacities and programmatic focus.
“While some states have leveraged S&T institutions to drive innovation and technology-led growth, others face several challenges related to fragmented mandates, irregular funding flows, and weak institutional capacities,” the report said.
It said that many councils are constrained by non-regularised manpower, absence of performance-linked incentives and limited autonomy in decision-making, impeding long-term planning and execution.
The report called for a comprehensive blend of structural reforms, capacity-building efforts and strategic partnerships to enhance the effectiveness and responsiveness of these councils. Key issues addressed include inadequate financial resources and diversification, lack of state-specific S&T need mapping, weak institutional substructures, limited collaboration with industry and academia, fragmented R&D support, underutilisation of STI data, insufficient recognition of scientific talent and weak interlinkages with central agencies and other institutions.
