Events & Issues

New Delhi, 23 August 2017

Scientific Research

LOT MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE

By Dhurjati Mukherjee

It is indeed disturbing to note that scientists staged “March for Science” recently in various cities demanding more funds for science and opposing what they termed as propagation of “unscientific, obscurantist ideas and religious intolerance”.

The campaign involved academic institutions in major cities including Bangalore, Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Ranchi and Thiruvanthapuram, and highlighted the need to focus on scientific research in a judicious manner. The demand is for an increase in funding for science, which unfortunately has been coming down, and to ensure that education systems impart ideas supported by scientific evidence and enact policies based on scientific evidence. Moreover, the marchers want the government to increase the overall spending on science from less than one per cent of India’s GDP to around 3 per cent. 

Clearly, these are testimony to the growing resentment by scientists across the country over the lack of funding for research. However, though the country has made some progress in scientific research, which is obviously not comparable with China or a few other rapidly developing countries, there are areas that have been neglected. One is aware of the unique achievements of India in the area of space research which are comparable to the developed world. There are a few other sectors where scientific research has been quite significant.   

A significant development recently reveals that basic research is being sidelined in favour of applied research. The amount earmarked in the budget for the IITs in the current fiscal is Rs 7171 crores -- over 40 per cent increase from the previous year -- the allocation for IISERs is down to Rs 600 crores this year from Rs 720 crores in 2016-17. One cannot deny the fact that basic and applied sciences are equally important and specially at such a juncture when the government is talking about innovation in every field.   

It needs to be pointed out that basic research in sciences provides the basis for application in various sectors that has happened in India over the years. Whatever we have achieved in space science or medical science or even in the IT sector has its origins in the knowledge generated through years of hard research by scientists in basic sciences. For example, pure mathematics has applications in a variety of subjects including physics, biology and natural sciences and even economic theory. 

The applications are easily achieved and come in for praise but the work behind these is quite strenuous. Say for example the creation of space colonies that can only be possible via thorough knowledge of ecological and geological sciences, areas where not much importance is being given. As a well-known scientist recently pointed out, the conditions under which a plant or animal thrives, how they reproduce, how they interact with new geological settings -- all these need further research before developing space colonies and can be done only be basic sciences.

In this connection, it needs to be mentioned that the Prime Minister had last year talked about giving priority to areas such as water, energy and health care. Thus, the focus areas in science, apart from the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), have been the above mentioned. But unfortunately, science departments of Universities suffer from lack of funds though new IITs and IISERs have been opened in the past one year or so where research is encouraged.  

Some two years ago, the then minister for science and technology pointed out that basic science research would be a thrust area of this government in tune with the founding vision of the country for attaining self-sufficiency and chart a proper course of development. This has not been translated into reality.

The current agitation pertains to the fact that Indian science has not witnessed any significant rise in funding in recent times and is, in fact, crippled by an unprecedented fund crunch. There are indications that scientific research is not getting any meaningful encouragement in the country as a majority of research institutes are facing severe problems. The fact that Indian science has not performed well as expected of it can also be put down to funding or lack thereof.

The problem mainly stems from shortage of funds apart from the fact these are also not received in time. There are inordinate delays sometimes, more than six and even up to nine months. This delay has, no doubt, hampered research work to a considerable extent. Some research institutions have been seriously affected and many of their projects have been curtailed. This situation mainly prevails in universities and basic science research institutions.

The worst affected are students or research scholars and technicians who work on projects as they do not get salaries for months and even years due to such funding discrepancy, leading them to sometimes drop out of research programmes. The scenario is completely different in the technologically successfully nations where scientists do not face such humiliating situation. 

The scenario is starkly different in the Indian pharma and biotech companies who have strategically built their own ‘translational islands’ to do such jobs with remarkable success. On the other and, a vast majority of Indian scientists working in national laboratories plead helplessness at their discoveries being stuck in bureaucratic red-tapism.

Whether the financial crisis coupled with expansion of technical and engineering education has hit the core areas of science is unknown but there is no denying that R&D has suffered. China, on the other hand, managed to double its investments in R&D in just five years from 2008. According to a recent report from Organization of Economic Cooperation (OECD), China would soon be the top nation in the world for R&D spending, overtaking Israel.

It goes without saying that core research has to be encouraged and more funds need to be directed towards basic sciences. To start with, around 30-35 universities have to identified, apart from the central universities, where a major thrust has to be given for research in sciences. The Department of Science & Technology (DST) could garner more funds for these and other universities for projects related to basic sciences.

Apart from the government, there is also need for the private sector to invest in R&D. Unfortunately in our country, the private sector has invested the least in scientific and technological research compared with other rapidly developing countries, including those in BRICS. If there is some sort of pressure by the government on the private sector and that rebates are given for such funding, there are expectations that the situation may change in the coming years.      

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