The Centre has relaxed compliance guidelines for scientists, making it easier for them to access grants and rope in associates for research and development projects. “We have released new guidelines for 'Ease of doing science'. We are also developing a single common portal to apply for all grants, scholarships and fellowships across all science ministries and departments as well as science agencies in the country,’’said Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh. “Issued on February 26, the new guidelines aim at reducing the compliance burden and switching from research administration to research facilitation,” Singh said. The reforms include single-step approval for administrative issues such as Budget re-appropriation within the recurring head and change of principal investigator…"Salaries for the first two years will be released during the first year as 'grant-in-aid' in the project," say the new guidelines. The new rules also state that the frequency of in-person project reviews have been reduced to one mid-term and one completion review for a project of three years.
