NEW DELHI: Science ministries are slated to receive their lowest hike in three years after two years of substantial raises, multiple sources told The Hindu.
These ministries, which consist of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), the Department of Science and Technology (DST), the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the earth sciences ministry (MoES), are together slated to receive Rs. 12,771 crore for the next financial year (2017-18), which is only 6.2% more than Rs 12,024 crore.
This is a climbdown from the 10.25% and 22.2% raises that the science ministries got over their actual spends in 2016 and 2015, according to figures from previous Union Budget documents. The DST is expected to get a 7%, the DSIR a 5%, the DBT 10% and the MoES a 3% raise over their allocations last year, according to two officials in different science ministries. The actual spends for 2015 and 2016 could be revised when the Budget for next year is tabled in February.
The downgrade is starker when one considers the raises these departments have got in previous years. The science and technology department got a 32% raise in 2015-16 over 2014-15 and the earth sciences ministry had an 18% raise in the same period.
“After the 7th Pay Commission recommendations, a good chunk will go in salaries. There’s little that will be left for research,” said an official. Another official said that the reduced hikes also indicated that departments probably had significant unspent funds from previous years. The projected fund raises are the lowest raises for scientific research since the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) came to power on May 2014. Were these numbers to be cleared, they would be the lowest hikes in Budget estimates for science ministries since 2011-2012. In 2013-14 the science ministries together spent Rs 7,913 crore which was less than the Rs 8,104 crore from the previous year.
Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, DST, told The Hindu that the last two years science ministries had received a substantial hike (about 40% in their budgeted estimates) and there wasn’t a dearth of money for start-ups, which had received a 5-fold hike. “Some years there might be a dip but I don’t see it affecting projects. I don’t see money as a roadblock to implementing schemes.”
