Siliguri, April. 6: The University Grants Commission has awarded a five-year project to the department of economics at North Bengal University to carry out research on topics related to regional economy and women studies in the seven districts of north Bengal.

According to Anil Bhuimali, the project co-ordinator from NBU, the project has been awarded under the special assistance programme and has started from April 1.

The UGC project will be carried out by nine faculty members of the department for the next five years.

Bhuimali said the UGC had allotted Rs 80 lakh for the project.

"A sum of Rs 80 lakh has been allotted for the five-year project. The aim of the project is to find out the economic condition of the seven districts and the state of women living there. The researchers will try to find out the bottlenecks that prevent the improvement of regional economy and status of women living in north Bengal and suggest reasonable solutions," said Bhuimali.

"The UGC allots research projects under its special assistance programme to departments of different universities. We had applied for it and the UGC selected us for this project after we made a presentation before the UGC officials in August last year. It is a five-year project and the nine faculty members will be allotted different research topics on regional economy and women studies relevant to north Bengal. They will be allotted research topics of one-year duration each for the next five years. After completion of research every year, the findings will be submitted to the state government and the Central government," said Bhuimali, a professor of the department.

"The faculty members of the department will appoint research fellows and support staff to assist them in their research topics," Bhuimali said.