Hardly any worthwhile return on govt. funding of research at ITI

The government spent Rs. 95.4 million as research allowances to officers at the Industrial Technology Institute (ITI) from 2015 to 2019, but it has only earned Rs. 1.61 million for technology transfer by research during the same period, the Auditor General has said in a recent report.

Between 2017 and 2019, Parliament allocated Rs. 28.4 billion to promote science and technology but the relevant institutions only spent 65% of that allocation, the report says.

Only Rs. 18.4 billion has been spent.

The Ministry of Science, Technology and Research, a department and 18 Statutory Institutions have been established to promote science and technology in the country.

The AG has said: “The final reports on 25 out of 56 research projects to be completed during the period from 2015 to 2019 by the Industrial Technology Institute have not been issued. As such, the expected objectives have not been achieved by research projects executed during the said period.”

Projects to construct the National Science Centre and to start Petroleum Production Testing by the Industrial Technology Institute, were launched, but not implemented.

A large number of officers attached to the Industrial Technology Institute have gone on foreign scholarships in violation of the agreements they have signed with the state, the Auditor General’s report says.

“Twenty officers have breached the conditions in agreements entered into in proceeding abroad on foreign scholarships and a sum of Rs.16.90 million have to be recovered.”