Madras varsity gets Rs 15 crore grant

May 2nd, 2007

The University of Madras has received Rs 15 crore worth grants for its research and extension activities undertaken by various departments. Announcing this at a press conference here on Monday, Madras University Vice Chancellor S Ramachandran said ‘the Department of Science and Technology has given us Rs 5 crore, the Department of Biotechnology Rs 4 crore and the rest from the University Grants Commission (UGC).’

A national testing facility for neurotoxins will be set up in the Department of Pharmacology and Environmental Toxicology with the DST grant. The Department of Crystallography and Biophysics, Guindy campus, has been elevated as a Centre of Advanced Study by the UGC, along with a Rs one crore grant, the Vice Chancellor said. The Department of Zoology and the Department of Geology will get UGC grants of Rs 70 lakh and Rs 75 lakh respectively while the Department of Biochemistry and the Department of Applied Geology will get Rs 40 lakh and Rs 45 lakh respectively. The Department will also get a DBT fund of Rs 2.53 crore, apart from a one-time UGC grant of Rs 20 lakh for infrastructure development, he said.

The UGC has given Rs 22.5 lakh worth research scholarships to five students and has also sanctioned Rs 1.18 crore for various research projects, Ramachandran said. The Union Ministry of Tourism and Culture has approved a grant of Rs 22. 31 lakh for the Department of Sanskrit and Tamil Literature for the National Manuscripts Mission.

Also, The Department of Ocean Development of the Ministry of Earth Sciences has approved a Rs 7.2 crore project by the Department of Microbiology for studying the anti-HIV properties of extracts derived from marine organisms. As a first instalment, Rs 50 lakh has been received, the Vice Chancellor said. He further said that the university had lost the A+ status due to lack of infrastructure facilities. ‘Two more hostels will be built at Chepauk campus and once Anna University returns its hostel we will accommodate the students’, he said. He also assured that the 149 vacancies in teaching posts will be filled by the end of July.