In spite of increasing demands for more outlay for health research in the public sector and through private participation, the budgetary allocation for the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the main arm of the department of Health Research, has been cut for the next financial year.

This happened even after many including the Parliamentary panel called for further increase in health research by the Government as the private sector could not afford to spend more on research and development as a whole. Against the allocation of Rs 606 crore last fiscal and the revised allocation of Rs 600 crore, the total allocation for the department increased to Rs 660 crore for the year 2010-11.

However, the budget allocation for the ICMR, which is mainly into research activities, has come down from Rs 552 crore of 2009-10 to Rs 519.85 crore for the next fiscal. The revised estimate of Rs 559.40 for the current year was still higher than the original allocation, showing that the agency could fully utilise the amount.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare released an amount of Rs 144.15 crore (Plan), Rs 90.00 crore (Non-Plan), and Rs 32.50 crore (NER) for the year 2007-08 which has been completely utilized by ICMR during the year 2007-08. Besides, an additional (RE) amount of Rs 90.00 crore (Plan) was also released to ICMR for the year 2007-08 which was also utilized by the ICMR during the year 2007-08.

“The Committee is not convinced with the clarification given by the representatives of the Department. The Committee is unable to understand that in which manner the Department will manage the expenditure on various activities out of meagre allocation of Rs 420 crore against the projected demand of Rs 1613 crore. The committee has all reasons to apprehend that the proposed major infrastructure upgradations as well as the new activities proposed to be started by the Department are going to be affected badly. The Committee desires that constraints of funds should not come in the way of the infrastructure upgradation as well as the proposed new activities,’’ the Parliamentary panel had observed about the grants for the year of 2008-09 in its latest report.

The department was carved with the special purpose of giving a boost to the research. But the budget allocation in the past years also fell short of expectations. Next year also, the agency cannot meet its targeted goals in research due to the budgetary constraint. Plan allocation remained almost the same at Rs 360 crore this time against Rs 368 crore in the previous year.