Around 500 all weather roads, listed in the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana’s (PMGSY) monitoring data as being ‘complete’, and has been paid for, have never been built in reality, finds a new study. This study, by researchers from the Princeton University, New Jersey, USA, and the Paris School of Economics, Paris, France, has suggested that political corruption, and not a lack of resources as thought, is the main reason for the lack of roads connecting remote areas in India.

Pursuing research is one of the aspirations of many young minds stepping out of their college. Unfortunately, for many, this aspiration remains largely a dream as costs of higher education are increasing day by day. But what makes higher education so expensive? In such scenarios, should students bear the cost of research? If not, then who should bear them and why? How can different beneficiaries of university research work to help students come out of the burden of education costs and serve society at large? In a conversation with the Research Matters team, the winner of 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics, and the current Vice Chancellor of the Australian National University, Prof. Brian Schmidt, shares his views on the topic of research funding.