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Singh in Bhubaneswar. (PTI)
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Jan. 3: India must increase its research spending to two per cent of its GDP within the next five years from the current level of about one per cent, the Prime Minister said today, cautioning that countries like China had “overtaken” India in science.
Manmohan Singh told the 99th Indian Science Congress at KIIT University in Bhubaneswar that the fraction of GDP spent on research and development had been “too low and stagnant” despite evidence of India’s progress in science in recent years.
“We cannot be satisfied by what has been achieved; we need to do much more to change the face of Indian science,” he said, echoing Indian scientists’ concerns about the country lagging China in science.
Independent surveys suggest that five years ago, China had a research workforce of 850,000 in contrast to India’s 115,000. Each year, China produces four times as many doctorates in science and engineering as India does.
Singh said any plan to increase research and development spending would require a significant rise in contribution from industry, which now accounts for only a third of India’s research spending.
“It is in some ways ironic that General Electric and Motorola have created world-class technology hubs in India while our own industry has not done so, except perhaps in the pharmaceutical sector,” Singh said.
“We need to look at ways of incentivising private research investment under Indian conditions,” he added, calling for more interaction between public scientific institutions and industry.
Singh also called on India’s scientific community to consider “gender audits”, referring to a study published last year that had shown that 60 per cent of the nearly 2,000 Indian women PhDs in science who were surveyed were unemployed.
“The main reason cited was lack of job opportunities. Only a very small number cited family reasons,” Singh said. “This underlines the need for transparency in selection procedures and also the great importance of gender audits.”
Singh said the science and technology department was formulating a scheme called DISHA that would help women scientists relocate to other cities through 1,000 contractual positions tenable in publicly funded institutions.
A fellowship matching the total emoluments of an in-service science and technology professional will be provided when she moves from one place to another.
Women scientists are, Singh said, making a mark on traditionally male bastions. He cited as example the project director of the Agni missile, Tessy Thomas.
Tribal feat
Singh congratulated the tribals of Koraput, one of Odisha’s most backward districts, for their efforts in “conserving the local bio-diversity and developing climate-resilient farming systems”.
He said it was important to explore and revive traditional knowledge systems in the areas of agriculture, architecture, handicrafts and textiles.
“One needs to go no further than the tribal communities who live in the deep forest areas of Mayurbhanj and have a reservoir of knowledge on medicinal usage of locally-available plants,” the Prime Minister said.
Koraput today found a place among the world’s 20 “Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems” (GIAHS) sites. Two tribals from the district received the GIAHS citation of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) from Singh.
Chandra Pradhan, 42, and Raila Muduli, 28, have been using traditional farming methods to promote food security and bio-diversity in their villages. The region is home to one of the oldest gene pools of rice.
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