New Delhi, November 18
In a significant development, the Department of Science and Technology PCPM (NSTMIS) Division, Government of India has reconstituted the Programme Advisory Committee (PAC) for National Science and Technology Management Information System (NSTMIS) Scheme for the period 2025-28. As per the notification issued in this regard today, Director of Indian Institute of Management Prof. Rishikesha T Krishnan has been appointed as the Chairman of the PAC. Scientist D, PCPM, DST Pramod Kumar Arya and Scientist B, PCPM, DST have been inducted as the Member Secretary and Convener of the Committee. Apart from them there are 15 members in the Committee. The PAC comprises eminent members from multidisciplinary areas in various fields of S&T including Social Sciences.
One of the prominent members inducted into the Committee is renowned economist Dr. Lakhwinder Singh. Dr. Lakhwinder is currently Professor of Economics at Thapar School of Liberal Arts and Sciences (TSLAS), Patiala and Visiting Professor, Institute for Human Development (IHD), New Delhi. He has been the President of the 65th Indian Society of Labour Economics Conference. Prior to this, Dr. Singh has been Professor and Head, Department of Economics, Punjabi University, Patiala, where he has founded Centre for Development Economics and Innovation Studies (CDEIS). He has also served as a senior economist at the National Institute for Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi.
Dr. Singh has been awarded prestigious scholarships such as Ford Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Economics and Asia Fellow of International Institute for Education (IIE), New York. He has held several visiting positions including Yale University, USA and Seoul National University, South Korea. Dr. Singh has teaching experience of more than 32 years and has successfully supervised 21 Ph.Ds. Professor Singh is Coordinator of Indialics-a Chapter of Globelics in India. He is founding editor of Millennial Asia-An International Journal of Asian Studies since 2009 which is published by SAGE and indexed in SCOPUS and Clarivate Analytics (ESCI).
Dr. Singh has contributed ten books and more than a hundred articles in various reputed journals and leading national newspapers. He has authored Agrarian Distress and Farmer Suicides in North India published by Routledge 2020 (second edition). His recently edited book is Reimagining Innovation Systems in the Covid and Post-Covid World. His specialization is Development Economics, Innovation Systems, Regional Economics, Area Studies, and Punjab Economy.
Meanwhile, it may be mentioned that the NSTMIS is the nodal agency responsible for assessment and benchmarking of S&T potential of the country leading evidence-based policy planning for the S&T sector. To fulfil its mandate NSTMIS programme involve various stakeholders in the country to complement and supplement the information on S&T resources through sponsors resource studies/projects in various areas such as S&T manpower, S&T investment, S&T infrastructure, S&T output, S&T databases, R&D Policy, bibliometrics/scientometrics, etc. The sponsor research activities of the programme has been implemented through overall supervision of a duly constituted PAC comprising of eminent members from multidisciplinary areas in various fields of S&T including Social Sciences. Now, the Department has reconstituted the PAC to monitor the progress of the projects, extend advisory inputs and consider new research proposals for recommendation of financial support.
