 "Give details of tech, R&D proposals to expert group: Cab sec to ministries")
The Cabinet Secretariat has ticked off Union ministries and departments for not referring their cabinet proposals with "technology implications" to the Empowered Technology Group (ETG). After repeated reminders, it has now asked them to furnish proposals to the ETG in a new proforma, sent to ministries and departments on May 2.
The proforma seeks such details as the proposal's impact on import substitution, indigenous manufacturing and export promotion. It asks ministries whether the technology or its subsystems are available in India, indigenous content in the technology in terms of cost and components, whether any "critical" technologies were being imported, technology transfer involved and the involvement of industry and start-ups.
Ministries must also share details on whether the technology being procured is the latest in its field. If not, ministries should furnish "justifications for the current technology procurement". The proforma seeks an estimated technology obsolescence period and plans for the replacement and upgradation of obsolete technologies with the latest ones. The ministries are expected to find out if other organisations are running similar research projects in the country, how the present proposal differs, and how they would attain collaborations and synergies between similar programmes.
The Centre ordered setting up an ETG in February 2020. It instructed all its departments to place before the ETG their proposals for research and development and procuring technology entailing expenditure of over Rs 500 crore before submitting these to the Expenditure Finance Committee.
The Cabinet Secretariat also directed ministries and departments to furnish a paragraph on "technology implications" with their proposals in the main body of the cabinet committee note, preferably immediately below the section on financial implications. The instructions covered all centrally funded autonomous bodies and laboratories.
The Centre conceived the ETG as "an institutionalised structure to proactively lay down, coordinate and oversee national level policies" related to procurement, induction, research and development in technologies requiring significant financial and human outlays. The ETG was mandated to "render sound and timely advice for determining direction and trajectory" of the government's R&D and technology development programmes.
An August 2020 office memorandum reminded ministries and departments to refer their technology procurement proposals to the ETG and asked them to comply with the instructions issued in February. The Cabinet Secretariat issued another reminder in December 2022.
Last week, a Cabinet Secretariat note observed that despite "clear instructions on the subject", some ministries and departments were yet to comply with the results. It has now sent a proforma in which ministries could furnish details of the technology implications of their proposals.