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New Delhi, July 10 (PTI) State Governments should provide adequate financial resources to Science and Technology (S&T) councils, and should slightly reorganize their governing bodies to run innovation and technology -leading development, as a result, the result Ayog said on Thursday.
In a report called ‘A. Roadmap for Status State S&T Council’, Ayog said that these councils should find out the widespread funding opportunities available with various departments of the Central Government for activities related to the overall mandate.
“State governments should provide adequate financial resources to the councils to enable them to effectively perform regular activities and start new activities in advanced and emerging areas of S&T,” said this.
The government think tank stressed that it would be desirable that each state allocates at least 0.5 percent GDP (GSDP) on S&T.
It was also recommended that the governing body of the councils should be slightly restructured and extended to be more capable of taking informed policy decisions and strategic plans.
“The Governing Council may be chaired by the Chief Minister or the S&T Minister of the state, as the case may be; however, it must be expanded to include more expertise,” it said.
The think tank suggested that the councils should also find out to establish relations with industry bodies, PSUs and other possible support agencies in the state to support various activities and attract financial resources.
“Such relations will help promote university-industry interactions in various activities of the councils indirectly,” said this.
Given that the councils should have a main manpower strength to run major activities of the councils in an effective and accountable manner, Aayog said that all such posts should be fully supported by the state government, which should ensure financial stability and commitment.
It stated that while some states have taken advantage of S&T institutions to run innovation and technology -led development, others face several challenges related to fragmented mandate, irregular funding flow and weak institutional abilities.
Many councils are forced to disrupt non-regulated manpower, absence of performance-linked incentives and limited autonomy, long-term plan and execution in decision making.
The State S&T Council has contributed significantly in supporting patent facility, remote sensing application and GI mapping, innovation at the ground level, science popularity and capacity-making programs with its limited resources.
In recent years, India’s R&D ecosystem has seen a complete expansion, growing from gross expenditure (GERD) on research and development. 60,196.75 crore in 2010-11 1,27,380.96 crore in 2020-21.
It is noteworthy that India’s R&D funding structure is still inspired by the government to a large extent.
State S&T councils operate within a shared national structure, but their capacity and priorities take shape by the state’s regional needs, the resources available for them and the institutional support available for them.
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