Bangalore/ New Delhi: The National Science and Engineering Research Board (NSERB), which is a new scientific funding agency, will now become functional later this month i.e. April 2010. The set-up of such a Board had been passed by Parliament in 2008, but got delayed due to some reasons.
NSERB is being created at par with the US-based organization, National Science Foundation, which is completely free from the administration of the US government. In India, the Government has promoted NSERB, but its implementation is completely independent from the bureaucratic control. It is expected to accumulate more money for science projects.
The Government established NSERB when it realized that the Science and Engineering Council (SERC) of the Department of Science & Technology was inefficient in receiving more funds for scientific research. In comparison to the Council, the Board would provide much required financial assistance to the researchers, academic institutions, research laboratories and other industrial projects.
Furthermore, the Indian Government has allocated the budget of almost Rs.3225 crore for 2010-11 (which was Rs.1,499 crore in 2005-06), to the Department of Science and the Department of Biotechnology. Now, the NSERB has received Rs.1000 crore in the budget, which will be distributed as funds for different basic scientific researches.
The National Science and Engineering Research Board (NSERB) will be comprises of top scientists and bureaucrats and the members chosen for the board (their names would be noticed in the upcoming 10-15 days).
