NEP 2020: National Research Foundation proposed by Education Minister, see details here

Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday proposed to set up a National Research Foundation. It will be set up under National Education Policy 2020. The idea of setting up NRF is to strengthen the research ecosystem in India. NRF is being expected to act as an umbrella structure. The aim of proposing NRF is that it will improve linkages between Research & Development, academia, and industry. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that the total proposed outlay of the National Research Foundation is Rs 50,000 crore over a period of five years.

Education Minister on NRF

Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that the Government proposes to set up a National Research Foundation NRF to strengthen the research ecosystem in India.  He said, one of the main objectives of NRF is to seed, grow and facilitate research at academic institutions, particularly at universities and colleges. The Education Minister tweeted, "Under the NEP, GOI has proposed to set up National Research Foundation with a total outlay of ₹50,000 crore over a period of 5 years to strengthen the research ecosystem in the country and build an #AatmanirbharBharat."

Objectives of NRF

The idea behind proposing NRF is the objectives which it will carry. One of the major objectives of NRF is to seed, grow and facilitate research facilities at academic institutions. In academic institutions, special focus will be given to universities and colleges, where research capacity is currently in the development stage. NRF's another objective is to fund and support high-impact, large-scale, multi-investigator, multi-institution, and interdisciplinary or multi-nation projects. All these things mentioned above will be done in collaboration with relevant Ministries, Departments, and other Governmental and non-Governmental entities, especially the industry.

Other Policies by Education Ministry

In a major development in 2020, Government announced a New Education Policy. The National Education Policy, 2020 was announced almost a year ago on 29th July 2020. The NEP 2020 envisages transformational changes in the education sector. Another major recommendation by Education Ministry was to promote use of regional languages in education sector. Considering this, the government took many steps including-

• NEET exam for medical entrance which was being conducted in 11 languages will now be conducted in 13 languages.
• JEE (Main) which was being conducted in 3 languages is now being conducted in 13 languages.
• Technical education in 8 Regional languages in certain AICTE approved institutions from the academic session 2021-2022 on pilot basis.
• “AICTE Translation Automation Artificial Intelligence Tool” to translate English language online courses into eleven different languages like Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi, Assamese & Odia for access to a more significant number of students in the rural area.
• MOU has been concluded between the Govt of Haryana and AICTE towards publishing 1,000 books in Hindi.