New Delhi: Union minister Jitendra Singh has announced the launch of an exclusive portal for research grants and funds for women scientists by CSIR council under CSIR-ASPIRE. The portal will be functional effective 1 April.
Addressing the International Women’s Day celebration programme organized by the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), the minister said a call inviting proposals from scientists will open the same day.
Singh added that this initiative was aligned to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiative to empower women and promote ‘Nari Shakti’. “As we move towards Amrit Kal, this is another visionary step towards the Prime Minister’s efforts to put Nari Shakti at the forefront of India’s development journey.”
He said that in the last nine years, the government has launched numerous welfare schemes that aim to empower women and make them lead India’s development journey. “His efforts are enabling women to overcome social barriers and fulfil their aspirations.”
The minister said that 68% of 2 crore PM Awas-Gramin beneficiaries are women and over 23 crore MUDRA loans have been granted to women beneficiaries. “For the first time, sex ratio in India has improved to 1,020 women per 1,000 men, according to the NFHS-5 survey.”
Singh said that PM Modi has made unshackling women and freeing them from the drudgery of everyday life a key objective of policy making.
“The proposal for inviting research grant proposals from women scientists under Extramural Research Scheme, was approved during the 200th meeting of the Governing Body of CSIR on 17 December 2022, under the chairmanship of Union Minister Jitendra Singh,” the ministry of science and technology said.
Only women scientists across the country will be eligible to apply for research grants to carry out R&D in major disciplines of science and engineering viz Life Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Physical Sciences, Engineering Sciences and inter/trans disciplinary sciences.
“The funds will be provided for staff (JRF/SRF/RA), contingency and minor equipment. The total budget of a research proposal including research fellow’s stipend should generally not exceed the limit of 25-30 lacs,” the ministry added.
CSIR has been taking several initiatives for women empowerment, including a 15% discount on CSIR technologies for women entrepreneurs offered by CSIR- Central Leather Research Institute and a slew of training programmes across the whole spectrum of CSIR domain.
