Chandigarh, April 2 -- Through an unstarred question in the Lok Sabha, Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari asked whether the Centre had undertaken any initiatives to promote scientific research, innovation hubs and technology incubation centres in the city. Replying, Union minister of state for science and technology Jitendra Singh said the Government of India has promoted scientific research, innovation and startup incubation across the country, including Chandigarh, through various programmes and schemes of department of science and technology (DST), department of biotechnology (DBT), council of scientific and industrial research (CSIR), Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), and Startup India initiative. MP Tewari further asked whether institutions in Chandigarh have received funding under various schemes. To which, Singh replied, the DBT during the last five years, has supported 35 R&D projects in Chandigarh. Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a PSU of DBT, has established a BioNEST bio-incubator and an E-YUVA Centre at Panjab University. BIRAC has also supported seven start-ups under the Biotechnology Ignition Grant (BIG) scheme and 2 start-ups under the Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development (SEED) fund in Chandigarh. The ANRF, meanwhile, has supported eight projects with funding of around Rs.19.70 crore. Key initiatives include the establishment of a Centre of Excellence in Waste Management Technologies at Chitkara University and Technology Enabling Centres at Panjab University and Chitkara University. A Biomedical Instruments and Devices Hub has also been set up at PGIMER to boost translational research. Reacting to the figures, MP Tewari said the overall spending in Chandigarh remained "very meagre." He noted that the department of biotechnology had spent roughly Rs.32 crore and the DST about Rs.52 crore over the past five years. "Cumulatively, this translates to around Rs.17-18 crore annually, which is a very modest amount. Globally, government support for research hubs runs into billions of dollars," Tewari said....