PM, President launch project 'Imprint India'
PM Modi along with the President, launched Imprint India. It is aimed at kickstarting original research in areas where India is dependent on foreign technology. Modi said that it was important to look towards affordable technology. The idea of the project is to encourage a research environment and also drive institutes to take up research that is socially and technically relevant to India's needs.
PM Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee would launch Imprint India on November 5 to get Indian technical institutions to conduct original research. The HRD ministry had issued a memo in April 2015 asking top engineering institutions to create an initiative that would address the engineering challenges in India. IIT Kanpur was appointed to lead the national programme IMPRINT India.
IMPRINT stands for IMPacting Research INnovation and Technology. It is is a first-of-its-kind Pan-IIT and IISc joint initiative.
'Imprint India' is an Inter Ministerial Group that is set up as a single-window mechanism to screen research proposals from India's research and technology institutes. 10 areas where India was heavily dependent on foreign technology were identified by the group. The group also identified areas where little or no research and manufacturing was initiated. IITs and IISc had helped in identifying these areas.
The 10 areas are healthcare, computers & information technology, energy, sustainable habitat, nano technology hardware, water resources and river systems, advanced materials, manufacturing, defence and environment and climate change.
Many scientists and researchers had accused the bureaucracy of delaying projects and demoralizing institutes from starting them. Therefore, this program has been set up as a one-stop funding stop in a bid to fasten research projects. The research areas would also link with the 'Make in India' campaign to boost local manufacture. This would also help is decreasing the imports of the country.
The Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD), the Ministry of Defence, the Department of Science & Technology, the Department of Biotechnology, and the Ministry of Rural Development are all part of 'Imprint India.'
Speaking at the launch of Imprint India, President Pranab Mukherjee said that education should deepen students' linkage with society and develop a scientific temper. He said that a multidisciplinary approach must be allowed so that students can learn and seek knowledge universally. He complimented IISc-Bengaluru (147th) and IIT-Delhi (179th) for entering the list of world's top-200 educational institutions in the US World University Rankings.
