Marcos Pontes says cuts in science are ‘disregard’

A few days ago, the government implemented a significant reallocation of resources from science to other fields, which led to the subtraction of more than R$600 million that would have been allocated to the scientific field in our country. After agreeing to the cut, former Brazilian astronaut and Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Marcos Pontes, stated that the decision was a “disregard” for science in Brazil.

In tweets, Pontes also said the cuts are misleading and illogical and that the situation urgently needs to be corrected. The former astronaut said he considered stepping down after discovering the reallocation of resources, but said he believed in President Jair Bolsonaro (not a party member).

Not looking. Resource cuts in Brazil’s small science budget are misleading and illogical. Even more so when this is done without listening to the community. The scientific and productive sector. This needs to be fixed urgently.

– Marcos Pontes (@Astro_Pontes) October 10, 2021

“Yesterday (7) was not a very good day in terms of budget, when I talked about the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, but that is how people live, there is a good day, and a bad day,” Marcos Pontes said the next day. approval.

The value represents 90% of the resources devoted to science

Last Thursday (7), Congress approved a cut of more than 600 million Brazilian reals that the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation will allocate for projects, referring to the 2021 budget.

The transfer was made at the request of the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, leaving only R$89.8 million in the original wallet – it is important to note that of this amount, only R$7.2 million will already be allocated to scientific research and development projects and technology, the rest will be sent to the Energy Institute and Research Nuclear (IPEN).

The other amount of the budget will be distributed in different areas of the government, and the Ministry of Science will continue to be only 8% of the amount it was originally going to receive. According to the Brazilian Association for the Advancement of Science, the current situation makes it practically impossible to conduct research, studies and other needs of the national sciences.

Most of the resources will be distributed to regional development files (252 million R$), the Ministry of Education (112 million R$) and the Ministry of Communications (100 million R$). The remaining amount will be sent to the International Network for the Elimination of Persistent Organic Pollutants (82.5 million R$), the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (58 million R$), the Ministry of Health (50 million R$) and the Ministry of Citizenship (28 million R$).