What is Glue Grant Scheme?
Esteemed thought leaders, scientists and industry leaders participated in a webinar session on ‘Using Glue Grant to develop Education hubs’. They not only underlined the importance of education hub but also offered insights on the topic. The webinar session was a parallel breakaway session II of a day-long programme -- Harnessing Education, Research and Skill Development for an Atmanirbhar Bharat and was organized by the Ministry of Education and inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
While chairing the session, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology (DST) Prof. Ashutosh Sharma stated, "It would allow sharing of informational resources, human resources, and infrastructural resources and would also prevent duplication of different projects."
Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Budget 2021-22 in Parliament on 1 February 2021, proposed to set up a Higher Education Commission of India as an umbrella body having 4 separate vehicles for standard-setting, accreditation, regulation, and funding.
Speaking on the occasion, FM Sithraman stated, “Many of our cities have various research institutions, universities, and colleges supported by the Government of India. Hyderabad for example has about 40 such major institutions. In 9 such cities, we will create formal umbrella structures so that these institutes can have better synergy, while also retaining their autonomy. A glue grant will be set aside for this purpose."
Research and Development institutions
Hyderabad is the hub for leading research and development organisations including CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, National Geophysical Research Institute, National Institute for Rural Development, National Institute of Nutrition, and a number of defence-related establishments including Defence Research and Development Organisation.
Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman in while presenting Budget 2019-2020 announced the National Research Foundation. In February 2021, she stated that the National Research Foundation outlay will be Rs. 50,000 crores over 5 years. It will focus on strengthening the overall research ecosystem of the country and on identified national-priority thrust areas.
Six pilot cluster frameworks have already been initiated with support from the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) in cities that have a critical mass of S&T focused organizations and institutions, apart from well-developed diverse industries. These include Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad, Jodhpur, and Bhubaneshwar.
