MUMBAI: Flow of funds for research appears to be slowing down at government-run scientific institutions. A new set of central rules has been put in place to prevent money from lying unspent in research kitties, but they come with layers of regulation and compliance which have delayed disbursements this year, according to several members of the academic community.
Earlier, allocations approved for a financial year would be transferred in advance into an institute’s account and spent as needed. Now every project needs a separate “zero-balance” account from which money is transferred to a vendor when an invoice is raised. Project heads and institute directors at IITs, IISERs, IISc, etc have complained that the system delays funding—some have received no funds since April 2022—and leaves them no elbow room to tackle unbudgeted overheads like support staff or maintenance expenses using interest earned on parked deposits.
