Prime Minister Narendra Modi launches ‘Imprint India’ research project

modiPrime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched ‘Imprint India’ project to facilitate research in those areas where the country is dependent on foreign technology.

Under the ‘Imprint India’ mission, the Indian technical institutions will be encouraged to conduct research works and for which the government will have a single window funding clearance with a reserve fund of Rs 1,000-crore.

Speaking at the Visitors’ Conference at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Modi said, “Society is becoming technology driven. Important to understand the importance of this and look towards affordable technology. We have to think about how our institutions can set up their own incubation centres”.

“It is an Initiative to develop roadmap to solve technological challenges. The biggest strength of make-in-India is human capital. Skill development is extremely vital as I believe that Science is universal but technology has to be local”.

While praising President Pranab Mukherjee, who was also present during the launch ceremony, PM said, “Our President is a walking talking university. He is an ocean of knowledge”.

Already, an Inter Ministerial Group (IMG) is being set up as the single window mechanism. It would shortlisted research projects by leading research and technology institutes and will approve funds for the same.

Multiple ministries will be a part of IMG board comprising of Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD), Ministry of Defence, Department of Science & Technology, Department of Biotechnology, and Ministry of Rural Development, among others.

Some of the important areas where Modi wanted these technical institutes to conduct research are: defence, energy, nano technology hardware, water resources and river systems, advanced materials, manufacturing, environment & climate change etc.

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