New Delhi, July 5: With the stage all set for the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to present her maiden Union Budget 2019, the Human Resource Resource Development (HRD) ministry is working to on a plan to create a National Research Foundation (NRF). The Ministry is mulling for creation of a commission created by an act of Parliament, which would be headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Political pundits are of the opinion that the announcement of the NRF's funding and creation would be made during the Budget speech of Sitharaman. As per the initial details, the HRD Ministry is looking to form a commission like the US' National Science Foundation, though the implementation would be made exclusively through universities and premier educational institutions. HRD Ministry Releases Five-Year Vision Plan to Transform Higher Education

Aimed at achieving excellence in knowledge creation and research and innovation infrastructure, the report has been prepared by a panel of nearly 80 experts and has been submitted to the Ministry already under Education Quality Upgradation and Inclusion Programme (EQUIP).

Through the NRF, research projects would be given grants and high-intensity thematic research labs would be set up. The areas covered under NRF include oceanography, nanotechnology, and Information & Communication Technology. Along with this, the submitted report seeks an innovation fund for supporting innovative projects at pre-incubation, incubation and start-up levels.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 05, 2019 08:39 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).