With research activities hit by fund crunch in State universities, including the University of Mysore, Vice-Chancellor G. Hemanth Kumar on Wednesday met the UGC Chairman in New Delhi and urged him to consider allocating grants like it was doing in the past for encouraging research which has come to a halt for the past five years.
Speaking to The Hindu over phone, Prof. Kumar said the UGC has stopped releasing grants for research projects proposed by the faculty members in State universities. This has affected research activities, particularly in science streams, in the absence of funds, he added.
Prof. Kumar said the last time university got a major Central funding was when V.G. Talawar was the Vice-Chancellor a few years ago. A sum of ₹150 crore was sanctioned to the university, which spent 55% of grants on research and 45% on building infrastructure.
“With the help of central funding, the university could publish 600 research papers and applied for eight patents,” the V-C said, adding that he has appealed to the UGC chairman to release grants for carrying out research under the schemes.
