India reshuffles social science funding to boost excellence

India is planning to merge multiple government agencies that deal with social science into a single body to improve the quality of social sciences research in the country.

The body, temporarily called the Council for the Promotion of Research in Humanities, will incorporate the Indian Council for Historical Research, the Indian Council for Social Science Research and the Indian Council for Philosophical Research.

In a statement, the Indian government said that it hoped the creation of the single agency would prevent the “slippery slide” in the quality of local social sciences. The three existing agencies had failed in their task of funding excellent social sciences research, according to the government, which cited a negative evaluation as a trigger to rethink the social-science funding system.