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Big discoveries have small origins
Context:
The Economic Survey 2017-2018 has called for doubling research and development expenditure from its current level of about ₹1 lakh crore, amounting to 0.8% of the gross domestic product (GDP).
Economic Survey: Transforming Science and Technology in India.
Key Highlights
- As per the Survey, investments in science in India – measured in terms of Gross Expenditure on R&D (GERD) – have shown a consistently increasing trend over the years.
- However, as a fraction of GDP, public expenditures on research have been stagnant over the past two decades. It is also well below that of major nations like US and China
- The Survey also states that private investments in research have severely lagged public investments in India.
The Problem:
- The issue of diminishing funds for exploratory small-scale science research has escaped amidst the debate based on comparative GDP figures.
- Seminal innovations often result from the efforts of scientists working alone or in small groups with a tight budget rather than in well-funded mega projects.
- In India, as elsewhere, a significant fraction of the science budget goes to mission-oriented projects in the areas of defence, space, nuclear and environmental sciences.
- The mission-oriented work in these areas need not be diluted to favour small research grants.
- The operational missions are important but so is the research ecosystem that provides human resources and feeds the innovation pipelines connected to these missions.
Way Forward:
- Enhanced competitive research grants for the Indian Institutes of Technology, the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, and universities will help address the needs of a larger pool of scientific talent and will also bring in returns by way of publications, patents and innovations
- The Economic Survey has highlighted the issue. It has stated that India “gradually move to have a greater share of an investigator-driven model for funding science research”.
- The Report has also called for expansion through more resources and creative government structures.
