NEWS There has been mixed results as far as the metrics on scientific research are concerned. Though India has made progress in science and technology research since, but now there is a need to ponder about the problems that we face in research.

INDIA’S PERFORMANCE

Publications

• From the report published by the National Science Foundation of the U.S. in December 2019, India was the third largest publisher of peer-reviewed science and engineering journal articles and conference papers, with 135,788 articles in 2018.
• This milestone was achieved through an average yearly growth rate of 10.73% from 2008, which was greater than China’s 7.81%.
• However, China and the United States had about thrice and twice the number, respectively, of India’s publications.

CONCERNS

• From the report, in the top 1% of the most cited publications from 2016 (called HCA, or Highly Cited Articles), India’s index score of 0.7 is lower than that of the U.S., China and the European Union.
• This Indicates that the publications from India are not that impactful. (An index score of 1 or more is considered good).
• Hence there is a need to improve the citation of the publications from India.

International patent applications:

• The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) through their Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) is the primary channel of filing international patent applications.
• In its report for 2019, WIPO says India filed a modest number of 2,053 patent applications. Compared to the 58,990 applications filed by China and 57,840 by the U.S.
• It is to be noticed that China which filed just 276 patent applications in 1999 has risen to become an innovation titan in 2019.

GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES

• The Indian Government has put in place the National Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy in 2016 to “stimulate a dynamic, vibrant and balanced intellectual property rights system” with human capital development, as one of its objectives.
• Consequent to the policy, the mission to foster innovation, replicate it at scale and commercialize it is a work in progress.

HISTORY OF SCIENCE POLICIES IN INDIA

There have been four science policies till now, after 1947, with the draft of the fifth science policy 2020 having been released recently.

First science policy:  was adopted in 1958. 

• It aimed to develop scientific enterprise and lay the foundation for scientific temper.
• Also it led to the establishment of many research institutes and national laboratories, as a result by 1980, India had developed advanced scientific infrastructure with sufficient scientific personnel.

Second science policy: was adopted in 1983. 

• It aimed at technological self-reliance and to use technology to benefit all sections of the society, while strengthening research in fields such as electronics and biotechnology. 

Third science policy: was adopted in 2003. 

• It was the first science policy after the economic liberalization of 1991 and aimed to increase investment in research and development and brought it to 0.7%.
• The Scientific and Engineering Research Board (SERB) was established to promote research.

Fourth science policy: was adopted in 2013.  

• It included Innovation in its scope and was called Science, Technology and Innovation Policy. The focus was to be one of the top five global scientific leaders.
• India achieved it through-

1. building partnerships with States
2. establishing more research and development centers
3. collaborating in international projects such as the Large Hadron Collider in the European Union.

Fifth Science Policy: was adopted in 2020.

• The draft of the Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2020 (STIP 2020), the fifth science policy that was released in January 2021 offers hope to research in India.It has an ambitious vision to:

1.“double the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) researchers, Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D (GERD) and private sector contribution to the GERD every 5 years”

2.“position India among the top three scientific superpowers in the next decade”.

• It defines an Open Science Framework which will create a “one nation, one subscription” solution that will give all individuals and institutions in India access to all top journals through a central subscription.
• This scheme will provide fillip to improving access to knowledge. It also defines strategies to improve funding for and participation in research.

CHALLENGES TO STIP2020

India’s Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D (GERD) is currently around 0.6% of GDP. This is quite low compared to the investments by the U.S. and China which are greater than 2%. Israel’s GERD is more than 4%.

REASONS FOR INDIA’S LOW FUNDING IN R&D

India’s low funding in R&D is due to the low private sector contribution and law people participation in research and innovation.

SOLUTIONS

STIP 2020 defines solutions to improve funding. These are:

• All States to fund research
• Multinational corporations to participate in research fiscal incentives and support for innovation in medium and small scale enterprises.
• The new measures should not become a pretext to absolve the Union and State governments of their primacy in funding research
• The government should invest more into research.

OTHER KEY AREAS TO FOCUS

• The inclusion of under-represented groups of people in research, support for indigenous knowledge systems, using artificial intelligence.
• Reaching out to the Indian scientific diaspora for collaboration
• Science diplomacy with partner countries, and setting up a strategic technology development fund to give impetus to research.

Science diplomacy is at the fore now with India offering COVID-19 vaccines to many countries; formulating a policy around it will yield dividends. The Support for indigenous knowledge systems should enable them to improve upon their limitations in subscribing to transparency and verifiability.

Reference:

1. https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/imparting-direction-to-science-in-india/article33944995.ece