Students' Corner

Dear Students,

 

LAST WEEK WE ASKED:  Do you think the announcement of a research fund in the interim budget is enough to boost research work in the country?

 

 

BEST RESPONSE 

 

The funding will facilitate research work and will encourage researchers as contributors will get tax benefits. India can also see some great research work coming up as the projects will be selected through a competitive process. The funding will be helpful as it has always been difficult to get the funding for projects in R&D engineering sectors due to high risk involved. But funding in itself will not be sufficient to boost research; some of the other issues like simplification of procedures dealing with start-ups will be required. Thus funding is necessary but not sufficient to boost the research.

 

- Kanchan Agrawal, IMNU, Ahmedabad.

 

OTHER RESPONSES

 

There is a difference between provisions for spending and material spending. In a developing country like India, many prospective projects have failed to produce fruitful results in the past, due to restricted number of back up avenues to support those projects in the long run. The introduction of research funding organisation has actually coined a rationale thought that before any spending, all pros and cons of the given project will be analysed on a competitive basis which will curb the increasing effect of financial leverage and reduce the vain of Current Account Deficit (CAD) in the budgets in years to come.

- Mohit Shaw, ICSI.

 

The proposal to set up a research funding organization is indeed welcome. It very early to say whether it is enough or not but one thing is sure that it will definitely help to stirring the research quality in India. For technology-driven sector like engineering and R&D, funding is always difficult as technology is yet to be recognized as collateral to offset risks. R&D is the backbone of any developed country. So in order to get the status of it India should invest hugely in research. Above and all the decision will improve the sentiment towards research.

- Arindam Garai, Regional College of Management Autonomous, Bhubaneswar.

 

Although setting up research fund is definitely a supportive measure for initiating the same but not at all sufficient due to the fact of deteriorating aspiration. Besides this, more importantly motivation and dedicated hard work is quintessential for successful completion of research work. In such a scenario, appreciation in the form of fringe benefits is something to be looked forward in enthusing zeal among the research scholars. Apart from superficial benefits, scholars must work out of their own free will keeping sole intention of opening up new dimensions and scaling new heights which is crucial in enhancing research.

- Shivam Chhabra, Integral University, Lucknow.

 

We in India hugely rely on foreign based research. Our own scientist often get settle in a foreign land to pursue their dream. The young scientist leave apart their passion for research don't get paid adequately. Moreover, research grant is highly inadequate and get struck in bureaucratic rigmarole. The research fund in Interim budget is a welcome step, but massive investment and passion needs to be invested in research field to make it attractive to scientists. 

- Nilaya Mitash Shanker, IIT Roorkee.

 

Looking at how global pharma and auto companies are lining up to start R&D centres in India, not for cheap labor but the brains, it is safe to say that India has the requisite inputs (talent pool) to produce world-class R&D. The cause of concern, however, is the 'means of production'. So far, the government hadn't shown much interest to channelise this human capital towards innovative ends. This proposal is a welcome step but then, the government proposes many things, but implements a few. The regular budget must execute effective legislative changes so as to bring this proposal into action. 

- Raghav Kapoor, Delhi University.

 

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION: Do you think psychometric tests should be made mandatory in the recruitment process?

Your responses should reach us at edu@business-standard.com by Monday evening every week. Please ensure that your responses do not exceed 100 words. Avoid attachments and email your full name, institute's name, batch and complete mailing address. The student who gives the 'Best Response' will be awarded Rs 500.