With India overtaken by countries like China in R&D, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, today outlined an ambitious plan to “change the face” of science which includes doubling investments and urged women to take up careers in this area where they are under-represented.
Inaugurating the 99th Indian Science Congress, he voiced concern over a large number of women scientists remaining unemployed due to lack of job opportunities.
R&D spend
Dr Singh also asked the industry to increase expenditure on research and development (R&D) and help achieve the target of spending two per cent of the GDP on research by the end of the 12th Plan.
“This can only be achieved if industry, which contributes about one third of the total R&D expenditure today, increases its contribution. I believe public sector undertakings especially in the engineering sector should play a major role in this expansion,” he said inaugurating the five-day event at the KIIT University campus here.
Listing the objectives for the 12th Plan, Dr Singh said a major increase in R&D investments has to be achieved and a new innovation ecosystem has to be created for scientific progress.
He stressed on the need to expand the basic science infrastructure and to achieve greater alignment of the S&T sector with the inclusive development needs of the nation.
“We must encourage greater research collaboration among universities and national laboratories. We hope to use the National Knowledge Network to this end,” Dr Singh said.
In a bid to push research in niche areas, the Prime Minister said the Government was examining a proposal to build national capacity and capability in supercomputing which will be implemented by the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, at an estimated cost of Rs 5,000 crore.
He said there was another proposal for setting up a Neutrino Observatory at Theni in Tamil Nadu at a cost of Rs 1,350 crore to study the fundamental particles that form the universe. “Over the past few decades, India's position in the world of science had been declining and we have been overtaken by countries like China.
“Things are changing but we cannot be satisfied with what has been achieved. We need to do much more to change the face of Indian science,” he said.
Noting that publicly funded R&D was skewed in favour of fundamental research rather than applied research, Dr Singh said.
“It is easier to attract industrial funds into applied research areas and a set of principles should be formulated to push such funding and to drive public-private partnerships in R&D.
“While research generates new knowledge, we need innovation to use this knowledge productively for social benefit. We need to give practical meaning to innovation so that it does not end up being just a buzz word,” he said.
Dr Singh made a strong pitch for incentivising private R&D investments under Indian conditions.