Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday took a fresh swipe at the BJP saying that the Centre is “hell bent to kill scientific research in the country, thus hampering a nation’s progress”.
In a tweet, Kharge said: “Modi government is hell-bent to kill scientific research in the country, thus hampering a nation’s progress. Scientists at top research institutions are yet to receive funds for this financial year and are forced to use their hard-earned savings to continue research.”
Slamming the Centre, the Congress leader said that at a time when the government has promised more funding by setting up a National Research Foundation (NRF), their purchases are on hold and project staff have not been paid for three months.
“Private funding is welcome, but government funding should not stop. Budget 2023 slashed the funds for scientific research by 6.87 per cent. In 2017, the scientific community was forced to stage nationwide protests in 27 cities to register their concerns about paltry funding, fund cuts and pseudo-science propagated by the Modi government.
“In 2015, the Modi government had asked organisations involved in scientific research to start ‘self-financing’ projects, which meant they would have to raise their own funding for research,” he said while highlighting the issues being faced by the researchers.
“Modi government has time and again displayed its utter disdain and contempt against encouraging scientific temper. PM Modi might speak about ‘jai vigyan, jai ansundhaan’, but sadly, his government’s wishes to ‘parajay vigyaan, parajay ansundhaan’,” Kharge said in the tweet.
The Congress president also attached a news report which claimed that scientists were yet to receive this year’s research funds.
Earlier in the day, veteran party leader P, Chidambaram also took a swipe at the BJP government saying: “According to a report, top research institutions of the country have not received any funds since April this year. As a result, purchases are on hold and project staff have not been paid for three months.
“A senior scientist, S.C. Lakhotia, said that he is paying his project staff from his own pocket. Why are the Department of Science and Technology and Department of Biotechnology silent on the matter? Maybe the government will coin a new slogan this week: minimum funds, maximum research.”