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Govt asks higher institutes to allocate 1% for startups

Updated: Sep 13, 2019 11:24:19am
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Govt asks higher institutes to allocate 1% for startups

New Delhi, Sep 13 (KNN) The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has asked the Higher Education Institutions (HRIs) for funding and supporting innovation and startups through creation of an ‘innovation fund’.

According to the new guidelines, which were announced on September 11 by the Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry, the institutions will have to set aside at least 1% of their annual budget for the same.

Apart from these, HRIs have also been asked to raise funds from “diverse” sources, both governmental and non-governmental, to reduce dependency on public funding. The institutions have been allowed to approach private and corporate players for fundings under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

The government plans to rank all major educational institutions and universities on indicators related to promotion of innovation and entrepreneurship development.

The startup policy framework was launched by HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal. Pokhriyal said as India aspires to be 5 trillion dollar economy by 2024, the country needs to emerge as global hub for innovation and entrepreneurship.

According to the policy, student entrepreneurs will be allowed to sit for exams even if they are below the permissible minimum attendance. Students and faculty will also be allowed semester and year breaks to work in the startups and then re-join the programme. The institutes can also take 2% to 9.5% equity/stake in the company based on the support provided.

Speaking on the occasion, MoS for HRD Sanjay Dhotre said that in-line with vision of our Prime Minister , AICTE and MIC are promoting start-ups and innovation culture which will eventually result in society of job creators instead of job seekers. He expressed his happiness that AICTE and MHRD innovation Cell have taken up several path braking initiatives to bring the desired tectonic shift in quality of education and many new initiatives are being launched by AICTE and MIC in a single day.

He also informed that MHRD has also come up with National Start-up policy framework for students and faculty members who are keen to become entrepreneurs. He appealed to MIC and AICTE to work actively with education departments of all state governments to ensure that this Start-up policy is implemented in all major educational institutions and a regular feedback mechanism should be established to understand emerging challenges and steps should be taken to ensure that a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem is developed in educational institutions.

Dhotre interacted with the participating student-innovators and keenly enquired about their respective innovations, which were related to agriculture, environment, animal husbandry, healthcare etc. He said that each of these innovations has potential to make remarkable and wide- ranging impact on the society.

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