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Absence of heads hits R&D at NGRI, IICT
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Harsh Vardhan have been pitching hard for the quality research in the Science and Technology field for the country’s development. However, it seems like the Central government is not concerned about the research institutes spread across the country.
Hyderabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Harsh Vardhan have been pitching hard for the quality research in the Science and Technology field for the country’s development. However, it seems like the Central government is not concerned about the research institutes spread across the country.
About 17 of the 37 research laboratories under Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) in the country are functioning without heads for quite a sometime now. In the city, of the three research institutes located in Telangana State, two of them, NGRI and IICT, do not have a leader to guide in the research process.
The National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), Hyderabad, a research laboratory under CSIR, has remained headless over one year after its director Prof Mrinal Kanti Sen resigned from the post in January 2014. While CSIR had appointed YG Bhaskar as the acting director of the institute, even he retired from the services recently. As the post at NGRI fell vacant, Ch Mohan Rao, Director of Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology has been given director additional in-charge.
Further, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Hyderabad, which provides inputs to industries by conducting research in the chemistry, chemical engineering, bio informatics etc, is also headless. The Institute’s head post fell vacant after M Lakshmi Kantham retired from her services recently.
Interestingly, CSIR which has about 37 research laboratories employing 17,000 scientists too did not have full time director general till recently. After one year of retirement of Samir Brahmachari as DG of CSIR, the central government appointed MO Garg as the fulltime DG of CSIR.A senior scientist said directors of the research institutes would be appointed before the tenure of the current director ends. “This time there is ample delay over the appointment of the directors which will have its implications,” a scientist of NGRI said.
With the director post remaining vacant, these institutes with temporary directors cannot take many decisions. Scientists in these institutes said research activity would take a beating in the absence of full-fledged director. “Absence of fulltime directors will affect the research activity in the institutes. They are the leaders of the team who constantly motivate the researchers and one cannot make a case without directors,” felt Mohan Rao, Director of Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology.
He said besides research activity, there would less communication between government and research institutes to make a case. Rao, who took over charge as the director additional in-charge of the NGRI, said that NGRI would soon get a director. “The CSIR has already started the process for recruiting the director. The recruitment process will be completed in a month,” he informed.
By:Yuvraj Akula
