New Delhi, Feb. 16: An effort by human resource development minister Prakash Javadekar to convince around 25 central ministers to rev up an innovative initiative by the IITs for developing technological solutions to societal needs has got a lukewarm response.

Only three ministers attended a meeting Javadekar had called last week.

Javadekar had called the meeting for better coordination to remove the bottlenecks in the release of funds for the "IMPRINT (Impacting Research Innovation and Technology) India" initiative of the Indian Institutes of Technology.

The initiative had been launched in November 2015 by President Pranab Mukherjee at an event that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had attended.

In September 2016, domain expert committees (DEC) headed by scientists from the IITs, the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and other top institutions had identified 259 research projects in 10 sectors, including energy, manufacturing, environment and climate change, healthcare, defence, water resources, information and technology and nano-technology. Some of these sectors, like energy, are handled by multiple ministries.

The ministries concerned had then made a commitment that they would support the projects. But none has yet taken off for lack of approval for funds.

Last week, Javadekar had wanted to take up the matter with all the 25 ministries. Official sources said only three ministers - Manohar Parrikar (defence), M. Venkaiah Naidu (urban development) and Anil Madhav Dave (environment) - attended the meeting.

After the research areas had been identified last September, the HRD ministry had allotted projects to various ministries like power, industry, information and technology, road, science and technology, health, rural development and drinking water and sanitation for part funding.

Some of the projects identified by the DECs were affordable and cost-effective cancer diagnosisreatment using gold-based biodegradable nanoparticles, decentralised power generation using micro gas turbines,' prediction of Indian summer monsoon rainfall through evolution of global sea surface temperature, and indigenous sensor technologies to monitor animal responses to climate change.

Under the scheme, the HRD ministry would fund 50 per cent of the expenses of each project. The remaining amount would come from the ministry that has been allotted the project.

But most ministries complained that the projects did not fall in their domain, while a few said they did not have separate funds for research. As of now, 107 projects have got approval for funding but no research has started on any.

Among the defaulters are the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), which was to support 43 projects. Till a week ago, there was no word from the defence ministry arm on whether it would support any of the projects.

IIT Kanpur director Indranil Mannasaid confirmation for funding projects was likely to reach 150 soon.<>

HRD ministry sources said higher education secretary V.S. Oberoi had written to the secretaries of all the ministries last week.

The Niti Aayog has set up a committee under former finance secretary R.P. Wattal to coordinate with ministries on pending projects. That committee is also working on the IMPRINT initiative.