New SATHI centres after approval from competent authority, says govt

The government on Monday said it will announce new centres to house major analytical instruments for sharing them with research institutions after approval from the competent authority.

The recommendations of the empowered committee, chaired by former ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan, to examine 12 proposals to identify Sophisticated Analytical and Technical Help Institutes (SATHI), are under the consideration of Ministry of Science and Technology, officials in the ministry said.

“The recommendations of the expert committee meeting held in Noida for the proposals received for the SATHI scheme are being processed. They will be announced after approval of competent authority,” the Department of Science and Technology (DST) posted on X.

The DST said it was also reviewing the Sophisticated Analytical Instrument Facilities (SAIF) programme, a separate scheme with a history of five decades.

It said a high-level committee has been formed to improve the programme, intending to include more SATHIs.

Earlier this year, the call for applications under the SATHI scheme was withdrawn pending a review by the expert committee.

The fresh call will be announced by the DST with additional features after the department receives the recommendations of the committee, officials said, adding that the government was planning to expand a few more SATHI facilities across the country in the next three to four years.

The SATHI centres are equipped with major analytical instruments and advanced manufacturing facilities which are usually not available at institutes and organisations.

The aim of the scheme is to provide professionally managed services with efficiency, accessibility and transparency under one roof to meet the demands of industry, start-ups and academia.

This effort is expected to reach out to less endowed organisations like MSMEs, start-ups, state universities and colleges and foster a strong culture of research collaboration between institutions and across disciplines to take advantage of developments, innovations and expertise in diverse areas, a DST official said.