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The Hindu Editorial Analysis, Allocations For Science And Tech In Union Budget 2023-24

The Hindu Editorial Analysis, Schemes For Science And Tech In Union Budget 2023-24

What Is In Today’s The Hindu Editorial Analysis? In Today’s The Hindu Editorial Analysis, we will learn about Allocations For Science And Tech In Union Budget 2023-24.

Significance Of Union Budget 2023-24?
For Prelims: Union Budget is one of the most essential part of UPSC CSE preparation and it covers a huge portion of UPSC Prelims examination.
For Mains: Under UPSC Mains Syllabus, it shall cover GS Paper3: Growth & Development, Planning, Government Budgeting, Inclusive Growth, Government Policies & Interventions.

Union Budget 2023-24, Key Provisions

Context Of Today’s The Hindu Editorial Analysis

In News

  • In this year’s Union Budget 2023-24, the Ministry of Science & Technology has received an allocation of ₹16,361.42 crore which is an impressive 15% increase from the last year.
  • This Year’s Budget Allocation for the Ministry of Science & Technology is 0.36 per cent of the overall Union Budget 2022-23.

Background

Between 2021-22 and 2022-23, the Ministry of Science & Technology had seen a 3.9% decrease.

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Centre’s Immediate focus For Science & Tech

  • Bulk of the hike in Union Budget 2023-24 has gone to the Department of Science and Technology (DST) — ₹7,931.05 crore, up 32.1% from last year.
  • It is ₹2,683.86 crore for the Department of Biotechnology, or DBT (a nominal hike of 3.9%), and ₹5,746.51 crore (1.9%) for the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR).
  • The Deep Ocean mission — which includes among other components developing a deep-submersible vehicle — and the National Research Foundation have got substantially higher hikes than in previous years, a sign that they are the Centre’s immediate focus.
  • ‘Artificial intelligence’: There were multiple references in the Budget speech for investing in dedicated centres for excellence in ‘Artificial intelligence’ research, initiatives to scale up technology to produce laboratory-made diamonds and a centre for research in sickle cell anaemia.

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What Is Allotted To National Research Foundation (NRF)?

Budget Allocation

  • The Union Budget 2023-2034 has set aside Rs 2,000 crore for National Research Foundation (NRF).
  • The finance minister announced an outlay of Rs 50,000 crore over five years in Union Budget 2021-22 for it.

About NRF

  • NRF is an autonomous body under DST created to fund, coordinate, and promote research in the country.
  • The NRF was set up to make science finding less bureaucratic.
  • The overarching goal of the NRF, according to the budget document, is to seed, grow and promote research and development and foster a culture of innovation throughout Indian universities, colleges, and research institutions.
  • In 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the NRF Science, Technology, and Innovation Advisory Council to formulate an action plan to build a strong research ecosystem in state colleges and universities.

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Did Budget 2023-24 Fulfill The Need Of Science And Tech Sector?

  • While all of these efforts could be spread out across multiple arms of government, none of the budgetary allocations suggests a significant scale up of basic research.
  • As with previous governments, this government too has not succeeded in increasing the percentage of spend on research and development to beyond 1% of GDP.
  • While different countries define R&D spends variously, a rule of thumb suggests that developed and technologically advanced countries spend over 2% of their GDP on R&D, and India, according to a 2022 estimate by the Global Innovation Index, continues to hover around 0.7% despite being among the world’s largest producers of scientific literature.

What More Should Be Done?

  • The latest allocations for NRF is an improvement. But the question of how the body will be governed and how a committee will be constituted remains. The mechanism has to be carved out.
  • There is also another problem. The government talks about big schemes, but the follow-up is poor
  • He worries that funding through NRF could be primarily channelled into certain preferred areas, such as lab-grown diamonds mentioned in the speech.
  • In the next few years, the government must not only increase the size of the funding pie but also ease the procedures to make the most efficient use of it.

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FAQs

Q. Allocations For Science & Technology In Budget 2023-24?

A. In this year's Union Budget 2023-24, the Ministry of Science & Technology has received an allocation of ₹16,361.42 crore which is an impressive 15% increase from the last year.

Q. What Is NRF?

A. NRF is an autonomous body under DST created to fund, coordinate, and promote research in the country. The NRF was set up to make science finding less bureaucratic.

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