Department of Science and Technology and Waste Management, Government of Goa

Choosing the right scheme

• Researchers, innovators and student groups with a research project: the researchers' scheme.
• High school and higher secondary students who want to attend a science event: the school students' scheme.
• Colleges, research institutions, NGOs and schools running science events in Goa: the seminars and workshops scheme.
• Students with a technology innovation idea: the innovative projects scheme.
• Goan innovators and scientists with a product innovation: the Goa Rajya Vidnyanik Puraskar.
• Young Indian scientists under 35: the Manohar Parrikar Yuva Scientist Award.

How applications work

• The innovation schemes and the Goa Rajya Vidnyanik Puraskar go through the Virtual Innovation Register run by the GSInC. Applicants must register their idea there as a new idea.
• The Yuva Scientist Award is advertised every July. Applications go in the prescribed format through the department's official e-mail, dirste.goa@nic.in, and by hard copy, before the due date notified each year.
• The most recent call on the site, for 2023, gave a different address for applications. Confirm the current route with the department before applying.

How selection works

• School students' grants: a Project Review Committee reviews proposals, and grants are released on its recommendation.
• Innovative projects: a Selection Committee approves projects. Support is paid in one instalment to the institute, and bills for the materials bought must be kept and submitted to the GSInC.
• Yuva Scientist Award: an Expert Committee shortlists candidates, and shortlisted candidates are invited to present before it.

The Department of Science and Technology and Waste Management is a department of the Government of Goa. It promotes science and technology across the state through grant schemes, awards and public science facilities, and it oversees the state's public waste management work through agencies it administers. The department is based at Porvorim, Bardez, in Goa.

Who runs it

The department is headed by a Director, who is also the ex-officio Joint Secretary to the Government. Its mandate is carried out through statutory and non-statutory agencies, among them the Goa State Council for Science and Technology (GSCST), the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) and the Goa State Innovation Council (GSInC).

What the department does

Its stated mission is to promote and popularize science and technology and innovations among the student community, and to treat and dispose of all types of waste in a scientific manner. On the waste side, it covers municipal and village waste, e-waste, bio-medical waste, hazardous waste and construction and demolition waste. The GWMC is a special purpose vehicle set up for the management, treatment and safe disposal of waste generated in Goa. The department is also involved in setting up a solid waste management facility at Saligao.

Grants for researchers, students and institutions

The department runs four grant schemes. One supports researchers, innovators and student groups with research projects in science and technology. Another gives grant-in-aid so that high school and higher secondary students can attend science seminars and workshops in India. A third funds science seminars, workshops, awareness programmes and exhibitions run by colleges, research institutions, NGOs and schools based in Goa. A fourth, run through the GSInC, supports students in Goa who are developing technology innovations. Some schemes limit how many groups or projects they fund in a year, and some are open only to people with a long residence in Goa.

Awards

The Goa Rajya Vidnyanik Puraskar gives three awards each financial year to Goan innovators and scientists, one each in the categories of innovation, environment and societal impact. The Manohar Parrikar Yuva Scientist Award gives one award each financial year to a young Indian scientist, under 35, for excellence in science, technology and innovation.

Facilities and outreach

The Goa Science Centre at Miramar, Panaji has interactive galleries on scientific principles, an outdoor science park for children, renewable energy systems and a mobile science exhibition. The centre also runs workshops, science quiz contests, science fairs and teacher training. Amateurs' astronomical observatories are listed at Panaji, Ponda and Margao, and two science education vehicles take science to high school students in North and South Goa. The Patent Information Centre, set up under the GSCST, scrutinises and forwards matters related to intellectual property rights.

Track record

The department's page on its 2018 Nobel Prize series exhibition says that around thirty thousand participants were benefitted. The site does not state a count of grantees or award winners across the schemes.

Locations

The department is at Porvorim. The GSCST office is at Saligao, and the Goa Science Centre is at Miramar in Panaji.