National Research Foundation Bill 2023: Cabinet approves introduction of bill to strengthen research ecosystem in India

On June 28, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved introducing the National Research Foundation (NRF) Bill, 2023, in Parliament. The NRF Bill would pave the way to establish the NRF that will seed, grow and promote Research and Development (R&D) and foster a culture of research and innovation throughout India’s universities, colleges, research institutions, and R&D laboratories.

Union Minister Anurag Thakur said that the new funding agency will bolster the country’s research competence. He noted that the NRF will be governed by a governing board consisting of 15 to 25 eminent researchers and professionals, and will be headed by the Prime Minister.

The NRF would be the apex body for providing high-level strategic direction of scientific research in the country as per recommendations of the National Education Policy (NEP). The NRF would be established at a total estimated cost of Rs 50,000 crores over five years (2023-28).

The Department of Science and Technology (DST) will be the administrative Department of NRF which will be governed by a Governing Board consisting of eminent researchers and professionals across disciplines. Since the scope of the NRF is wide-ranging – impacting all ministries – the Prime Minister will be the ex-officio President of the Board, and the Union Minister of Science & Technology & Union Minister of Education will be the ex-officio Vice-Presidents. NRF will be governed by an Executive Council chaired by the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India.

NRF will forge collaborations among the industry, academia, government departments and research institutions and create an interface mechanism for the participation and contribution of industries and State governments in addition to the scientific and line ministries. It will focus on creating a policy framework and putting in place regulatory processes that can encourage collaboration and increased spending by the industry on R&D.

The bill will also repeal the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) established by an act of Parliament in 2008 and subsume it into NRF, which has an expanded mandate and covers activities over and above the activities of SERB.