PM calls for boosting R&D
New scheme to attract women scientists back to field
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday asked the Indian industry to increase its budget on research so that the national research and development (R&D) spending could double in the next five years.
“Over the past few decades, India’s relative position in the world of science had been declining and we have been overtaken by countries like China,” the prime minister said while inaugurating the 99th session of the Indian Science Congress here. He underlined the need for strengthening the supply chain of the science sector. Though science and engineering continue to attract the best students, many of them later opt for other careers because of poor prospects of science, he said.
Singh admitted that the fraction of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) spent on R&D in India has become “too low and stagnant.” Singh reached out to the industry, asking them to loosen their purse strings and increase budgetary allocation for research so that the national R&D spend could be 2 per cent of GDP by the end of 12th Five Year Plan.
“This can only be achieved if the industry, which contributes about one-third of the total R&D expenditure today, increases its contribution,” Singh said. At the moment India spends only 0.9 per cent of its GDP on research.
On the cusp of a new five-year plan that will come into effect from April 1, the prime minister promised creation of new infrastructure but wanted more expenditure on the science and technology (S&T) sector, both from the private and public sectors. “Public sector undertakings, especially in the engineering sector, should play a major role in the expansion,” he said. “It is ironic that General Electric and Motorola have created world class technology hubs in India, while our industry has not done so.”
In the Plan period, the government will also explore avenues to incentivise private R&D funding in Indian conditions and establish new large-scale experimental facilities and national scientific missions like the Monsoon Mission. One of the facilities on the table is a Rs 5,000-crore national super-computing capacity being implemented by the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore.
The Rs 1,350-crore Indian Neutrino Observatory (INO) in Theni district in Tamil Nadu may also materialise within the next five years. The INO received all clearances and the land has been transferred to the Department of Atomic Energy from the Tamil Nadu government.
At a time when India lags behind China in science output, Singh asked hundreds of women scientists who left their career mid-way to return to the academic field where he promised to provide more amenities for them. The government has made arrangements for close to 2,000 women scientists to resume their careers after breaks arising from family commitments. Now, a new scheme to help women scientists relocate to other cities—often a compulsion in India after marriage—is on the cards.
“The Department of Science and Technology (DST) is formulating a scheme called DISHA, in which the DST will create 1,000 contractual positions tenable in publicly funded institutions for relocation of women scientists,” Singh said.
Gender imbalance
* Less than 15 per cent women in national laboratories and universities
* Women underrepresented in all science academies
* Expensive training for cracking entrance examination more accessible to boys
* 80 women’s colleges affiliated to Karnataka State Women’s University, but only 14 offer limited science courses
* Women participation is restricted and limited due to widespread discrimination at the basic education and lack of opportunities in higher studies
