SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: INDIA LAGGING BEHIND

As we all know Science will continue to surprise us with what it discovers and creates. At the core of science's self-modification is technology. New tools enable new structures of knowledge and new ways of discovery. The achievement of science is to know new things; the evolution of science is to know them in new ways. Science is the process of changing how we know things. It is the foundation of our culture and society. While civilizations come and go, science grows steadily onward. Scientific and technological innovation can survive only when there is an effective delivery mechanism that can keep the wheels turning. Science is the key of creation of knowledge. The creation of knowledge is the process of inventive activity. It is usually the result of explicit research and developmental effort normally carried out by scientists and engineers. The key institutions involved in the creation of knowledge are public Research and Development (R&D) laboratories, universities, and private R&D centers. However, not all creation of knowledge is the result of formal R&D effort. Sometimes inventions come from the experience of production, or through informal trial and error; sometimes they come from serendipitous insight. Notably, the multiple origination of knowledge raises a measurement problem because not all R&D activity results in an invention, and not all inventions come from formal R&D activity. Nonetheless, various proxies are available to track knowledge, R&D effort, and their interconnections.

The progress of science and technology in India has been quite significant. Many new methods, products and better quality goods have been developed in the country. India has made rapid progress in the frontier areas of science and technology like space research and atomic energy. At present the country has a strong base in modern technology. It also has the third largest scientific and technical manpower in the world. At the same time there have been some serious shortcomings in this progress. For instance, in basic products like textiles and steel, India has been importing foreign technologies. Continuous import of foreign technology shows lack of ability to create new technology to suit our needs and this creates dependence on other countries. Excessive reliance on foreign technology is also visible in the important areas of defence, where the latest weapons are often imported from other countries. Apart from this weakness in creating new technology, India has also lagged behind in developing technology to meet the needs of the poor. In the area of housing for instance, India is yet to develop low-cost technology to meet the needs of the poor who do not have houses. Advances in the fields of nuclear and space research are praiseworthy but these have not helped the poor people so far. We may say that the progress of modern science and technology have not, as yet, benefited the people of India equally.

India is ‘lagging behind’ developed and newly industrialized economies in the field of science and technology due to ‘comparatively low’ investment in research and development and inadequate research and development of manpower. In India, R&D investments as percentage of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and R&D manpower per million populations is comparatively low. However, according to Indian science and technology report, India is lagging in science and technology compared to other developed countries. India has only 140 researchers per million populations, compared to 4,651 in the United States. India invested US$ 3.7 billion in science and technology in 2002-2003. For comparison, China invested about four times more than India, while the United States invested approximately 75 times more than India in Science and Technology. India accounts for about 10% of all expenditure on research and development in Asia and the number of scientific publications grew by 45% over the past five years. Between 2004 and 2014, Indian gross domestic expenditure on research and development (GERD) to GDP either stagnated at 0.9 percent or even relatively declined adjusted to inflation. China, another highly populated Asian nation that has achieved considerable economic growth recently, is racing ahead. In 2002-2003, its researchers published 50,000 papers in journals listed by the index, compared to 19,500 by Indian scientists. Of course India’s science and technology has, last year, brought out a “Science, Technology and Innovation” policy aimed at accelerating the pace of discovery and delivery of science-led solutions for faster, more inclusive and sustainable growth. India's scientific competitiveness, as measured by the number of publications in research journals listed by the Science Citation Index, is not proportional to its inherent strength in science. Indian science and technology is not only suffering from lack of funds but also from unethical practices, the urge to make illegal money, misuse of power, frivolous promotion policies, victimization for speaking against wrong or corrupt practices in the management.

Having said thus far, to promote Indian science and technology further, there should be increase in investment in the education of this area or other different research areas, including higher education in general. In all such efforts, it is important that the private sector contributes significantly. Increasing in private sector investment in R&D and its partnership with public sector in translational research is crucial. Establishment of world-class infrastructure for R&D in some selected areas would be a big boost. And also making careers in science, research and innovation attractive enough for talented and bright minds would cost dear. Lastly, creating an environment for enhanced private sector participation in R&D, technology and innovation is vital. Then we can draw back India’s best and brightest experts who are living in US and other European countries to India with the promise of world-class research infrastructure and adequate funding. The day is not far when India will no more be lagging behind.