India to have 20 world class Centres of Eminence in next 3 years : Javadekar

BENGALURU, July 1: Union Minister for Human Resources Development Prakash Javadekar today said over the next three years India would have 20 Centres of Eminence with world class facilities to encourage freedom of research among Scientists.
The aim is to make them rank among the top 200 research institutions over the next decade and prevent Indians to migrate to foreign institutions for top end research, Mr Javadekar said while interacting with the students of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) here.
Stating that there was no dearth of funds for such activities, he said that nearly Rs 20,000 crore has been set aside for the purpose of triggering innovation and ideas across the country.
Mr Javadekar, who visited the Centre for Nano Science and Engineering at the IISc, was highly impressed by the work that was being carried out at the Centre and said ”here is New India that is translating ideas and innovations into action with a stress on Make in India”.
Highlighting the diverse fields in which research activities were on in the nano science and engineering, he said that the need of the hour was a lab to land proof of concept and production and wanted the industry to invest more into such research activities.
IISc is ranked eight in the world among small universities and number one university in India by the National Institute Ranking framework of the Ministry of Human Resources Development.
He said scientists should enable India leap frog in nanotechnology having missed the bus in industrial and hardware revolution earlier. He was impressed when he was told that there were already six startups at the IISc.
He said that development investment in the country at present was mere Rs 600,000 crore and the government aimed to double it over the next three years. Introduction of GST from today would enable the Government mobilise greater resources for the purpose. (UNI)