The Banaras Hindu University (BHU) has formed a 21-member committee to implement the new National Innovation and Startup Policy-2019 introduced by the Union Ministry of Education, at the university level.

The committee will be headed by Vice-Chancellor Prof. Rakesh Bhatnagar. The committee's convenor Dr Manish Arora of the Department of Applied Arts said the committee comprises academicians as well as students and alumni, entrepreneurs and experts from different fields.

The committee's Vice-Chairman Prof. S. Sri Krishna explained that the ministry has come up with the national innovation and start-up policy in higher education institutions to promote entrepreneurial approach at this level across the country for better ranking in the global innovation index.

Arora highlighted that the Design Innovation Centre and Atal Incubation Centre were established in 2015 and 2018, respectively, to promote innovation at the university. The government had initially come out with a policy related to innovation and start-up in 2016 while the new policy is an upgraded form of the same.

The BHU, which was ranked 11th, jumped to the fifth position under the public-funded institution's category of the country in the recently released Atal Innovation Rankings. The university is making all efforts to make it to the top position.