Bihar to emerge as eastern India's research hub: Minister

Patna: Higher education minister Sunil Kumar on Thursday said the govt was committed to developing Bihar as the most advanced centre of research in the eastern zone by promoting quality research in academic institutions.Addressing a daylong ‘Users’ awareness and training programme’ on the ‘One nation one subscription (ONOS)’ scheme, organised by the higher education department in collaboration with the University Grants Commission’s information and library networking centre (INFLIBNET), the minister said ONOS is an ambitious initiative with far-reaching impact. He said if implemented effectively, the scheme would enable youths in remote and rural areas to access quality international research publications.

This, he added, would reduce the digital divide between urban and rural students and connect Bihar’s youth with the global academic community. All universities and research institutions in the state would gain momentum for meaningful research activities, he said.State higher education director N K Agrawal said higher education institutions would achieve academic excellence through quality research promoted under ONOS, leading to improved rankings and grading by NIRF and NAAC.

INFLIBNET director Devika Pandurang Madalli said Bihar is the first state where all state universities have signed an MoU with INFLIBNET. “More than 30,000 international research journals from 30 renowned publishers such as Elsevier, Springer, Taylor and Francis have been made freely available to scholars through ONOS,” she said, adding that universities are also organising webinars and receiving technical support through INFLIBNET.Higher education secretary Rajiv Roshan said ONOS is a concrete step towards fulfilling the Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Jai vigyan, jai anushandhan’ and a knowledge-based, self-reliant India by 2047. He said all 15 universities would soon be linked with the INFLIBNET scheme. College principals, heads of departments and librarians attended the programme. Chandragupt Institute of Management Patna director Rana Singh proposed a vote of thanks.