NRF: What research should be funded?

An effective National Research Foundation would prioritise excellence over relevance, support a wide range of projects, and stress funding millions of individual researchers

Part I of this article (Business Standard, July 20, 2023) said the National Research Foundation was a landmark initiative. It emphasised that we must adhere fully to the two announced principles: Firstly, exclusively funding research within the higher education system, with researchers at autonomous government laboratories eligible only in partnership with an academic researcher. And, secondly, funding researchers in both private and public academic institutions.

I argued also that public funding must provide the entire Rs 50,000 crore budget without any reliance on private funding, and that effective governance demands a professional (non-government) board that would be accountable to the