Milind Deora urges Fadnavis to set up National Research Foundation HQ in city

After losing Vedanta-Foxconn and the International Finance Centre to Gujarat, the state government should make a strong case with the Centre for setting up the NRF either on Worli Dairy plot or Mumbai Port Trust land, Deora appealed to Fadnavis

Mumbai: Congress leader Milind Deora has written to deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis seeking setting up of the proposed National Research Foundation (NRF) headquarters in the city.

Mumbai, India - April 10, 2019: Mumbai congress president Milind Deora at HT office in Mumbai, India, on Wednesday, April 10, 2019. (Photo by Pratik Chorge/Hindustan Times) (Pratik Chorge/HT Photo)

After losing Vedanta-Foxconn and the International Finance Centre to Gujarat, the state government should make a strong case with the Centre for setting up the NRF either on Worli Dairy plot or Mumbai Port Trust land, Deora appealed to Fadnavis.

“At the 106th Indian Science Congress on January 3, 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasised the need for establishing an expanded research ecosystem. Later that year, in the first parliamentary session after the 2019 general elections, both the then president of India Ram Nath Kovind in his address to the joint sitting of both the houses of the Parliament and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her first budget speech, announced the government’s intention to set up a National Research Foundation (NRF). The New Education Policy of 2020 also highlights the need for establishing NRF to seed, grow and facilitate research across India,” the letter read.

The NRF will work as a bridge between different departments of the central government, science laboratories, higher educational and industrial institutions. It aims to strengthen and coordinate the overall research ecosystem in the country in order to avoid duplication of effort and expenditure, with an emphasis on identified thrust areas that are relevant to the country’s priorities.

“Mumbai is easily accessible to both Indian and international visitors and is where India’s private sector is headquartered. The presence of NRF in Mumbai, along with other research institutions like Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT), could convert Mumbai into an International Innovation Hub,” Deora stated.

The city and the state will get significant benefits from innovation undertaken by the NRF, while also attracting investment, tourism and generating employment opportunities for the youth.

The NRF’s detailed project report prepared by the PM’s Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC) in consultation with the Ministry of Education, states that the campus would require a minimum 5 acres of land to host the facility. Considering that the state government is actively exploring ideas of how to develop the 14.55-acre Worli Dairy plot, it might be prudent to consider establishing the NRF campus on the entire plot or on a section of the plot. Alternatively, a section of Mumbai Port Trust, Deora suggested.

“The people of Mumbai and Maharashtra were very disappointed to lose the Vedanta-Foxconn Semiconductor Plant and the International Finance Center to Gujarat, among other big-ticket investments. In that context, an institution of excellence like NRF would bring peoples’ hopes back up again. NRF will have a cascading and a multiplier effect that will bring back more investments, jobs and innovation to Mumbai and Maharashtra, Deora said.