2010 · 2019. 11. 5. · At the school-leaving level there is great enthusiasm for science. A...

2010

SCIENCE ADVISORY COUNCIL TO THE PRIME MINISTER

Department of Science & Technology,New Mehrauli Road, New Delhi - 110016.

A Vision for India

In the next two decades, India is likely to become aneconomically prosperous nation and move significantlytowards being a far more inclusive society, with the bulk ofits population gaining access to facilities for education andhealth care and living a life with hope and security. To realizesuch a vision, it is essential that science is at the heart of thestrategy that the next stage of national developmentdemands. In what follows, we present a vision for the growthof Indian science that can help the strategy succeed, and aroad map for India to emerge simultaneously as a globalleader in science.

F O R E W O R D

I am delighted that the Science Advisory Council to Prime Minister underthe chairmanship of Prof. C.N.R. Rao has prepared this valuable document,“India as a Global Leader in Science” which makes a realistic assessmentof the opportunities that lie ahead and the challenges that we face indeveloping strong capabilities and acquiring global leadership in the areaof science.

The document brings out clearly that for India to become a knowledge-based society and to be a world leader in science, we would need to re-double our national efforts to promote scientific temper, strengthen S & Tinfrastructure, expand our educational base, establish centers of excellence,foster a culture of innovation and channelize greater investments in researchand development. We need to create a robust enabling environment forharnessing the creative energies of our youth, which can make a visibleimpact in improving the quality of life of our people.

I do hope that the ideas contained in this vision document will inspire ourscientific community , entrepreneurs, administrators, policy makers andcivil society to search for solutions that would help build an inclusive,economically and socially vibrant, creative and an enterprising India, andto pursue excellence in science and technology for global good.

New Delhi26 August, 2010

C O N T E N T S

A vision for India i

Foreword by the Prime Minister iii

India’s Place in the World of Science Today 1 The gathering storm? 2

Our vast but unrealized potential 5India’s strengths 5

Indian basic science has spawned new technologies- but not in India 8

Millimetre waves and J C Bose 8

Raman Scanners 9

Mathematics and technology 9

The new wave 11

Science at the core of national development 12What science should we do? 12

Pressing problems of India 13

Water, energy, food 13

Science outside the science departments 15

India as a global leader: The way forward 17Making India a global leader in Science 17

How to run the best schools in the world 19

How many scientists do we need? 20

A framework for higher education 22

The innovation eco-system 23

Investment in science 25

High-tech exports 26

Can NSERB be an engine of change? 28

The individual and the institution 29

A way to get good advice 31

Liberating Science from Bureaucracy 32

Epilogue 33

References 34

Science Advisory Council to the Prime Minister 35

As we near the end of the first decadeof this new century, there is a growingperception around the world about theemergence of India as one of the potentialglobal leaders in Science. (In this report, theword science is used as a generic term thatincludes mathematics, engineering,technology, medicine, agriculture and otherrelated subjects.) The US National Academyof Sciences (NAS) published an influentialreport in 2005 titled Rising above thegathering storm. The storm referred to inthis report is concerned with the emergenceof other global leaders such as China andIndia in science, and the challenges thatsuch a development would pose to theposition of the US in the world of science(Box 1). Interestingly, the US President has

spoken about young people in China andIndia working round the clock hungry forknowledge, and how jobs in Buffalo may belost to Bangalore and Beijing.

We should resist the temptation to getcarried away by the NAS report, since Indiais yet to become a major force in globalscience. The creation of new scientific andtechnological knowledge is largelyconcentrated in three areas of the world: theUS, Western Europe and the North-eastAsian hub (Japan, South Korea, China andTaiwan), with a few peaks in Russia andAustralia (Graphic 1). India unfortunatelypresents no comparable peaks.

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INDIA’S PLACE IN THE WORLD OF

SCIENCE TODAY

2 India as a global leader in science

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Box 1

The gathering storm?

From a recent survey (Nature 2004)1 ofimpact-making scientific publications, weare 22 in global ranking – below China,South Korea and Poland. Indeed India’srelative position in the world of science hasdeclined in the last twenty years. Weproduce more science than before, but

Excerpts from the US National Academy ofSciences report Rising Above the GatheringStorm:

Economic studies conducted even beforethe information-technology revolution haveshown that as much as 85% of measuredgrowth in US income per capita was due totechnological change.

Thanks to globalization, driven by moderncommunications and other advances, workersin virtually every sector must now facecompetitors who live just a mouse-click awayin Ireland, Finland, China, India, or dozens

of other nations whose economies aregrowing.

[We] are worried about the futureprosperity of the United States…. Great mindsand ideas exist throughout the world. We fearthe abruptness with which a lead in scienceand technology can be lost – and the difficultyof recovering a lead once lost . . .

The recommendations of the NAS Committeefocused on four issues: K-12 education,research, higher education and economicpolicy.

several more ambitious countries likeChina and S. Korea have outpaced us. Thefraction of GDP that is spent on R&D hasremained stagnant in India for two decadesnow (Graphic 2), whereas the more dynamicAsian countries have surpassed us in thisperiod.

India as a global leader in science 3

Global distribution of number of papers produced

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relative to GNP (0.38% of GNP in 85-86,0.2% currently). Except in sectors likepharmaceuticals and drugs, our industrydoes not appear to be making majorinvestments in or demands on Indianscience.

Yet, there are good reasons why India’spresence in the world of science cannot beignored.

Two-thirds of the national R&Dexpenditure in India comes from the centralgovernment, and a quarter from industry.In contrast, it is almost the other way in S.Korea: about 30% of its R & D budget (about3 ½ % of GNP), comes from the Koreangovernment – which spends about the sameon R & D as the Indian government does –but all the rest of it comes from industry.Indian industry is spending more on R & Dnow than before in absolute terms, but less

Graphic 1: The Geography of World Science2


Graphic 2: Gross domestic expenditure on R & D by area, 1996 - 2006as a percentage of GDP3

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Our Vast but Unrealized

Potential

The untapped scientific and technical knowledge available to India for the taking isthe economic equivalent of the untapped continent that was available to the US 150years ago.

Milton Friedman, 1955 Report to the Union Finance Minister

India’s Strengths

India’s resources and strengths in scienceare considerable, but the potential is still farfrom realization. The rapid economicgrowth of the last fifteen years makes itfeasible for the country to invest a great dealmore in science than it could earlier.Contribution to Research & Development (R& D) from private sources is on the increaseeven though it still remains relatively small(Graphic 3). We believe, therefore, that thepresent time is a special one in the historyof India’s science as it offers an unusualopportunity to move towards a new andhigher level than the one that we havebecome used to for decades.

At the school-leaving level there is greatenthusiasm for science. A national sciencesurvey4 has found that the most popularsubject among tenth standard students ismathematics (with a vote of 35%). In theinternational Olympiads, Indian studentshave been in the same class as USA, SouthKorea, China and Japan in terms of medalswon in mathematics5; in biology, they rankabove the US. However, as these brightyoung minds begin choosing their careersthey prefer other options, chiefly becausethey see science as offering feweropportunities.

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India has several natural advantages aswell. A major one is the youthfulness ofIndia’s population (Graphic 4), -whichcurrently has a median age of 25 years. Thenumber of Indians in the university-goingage group (between the ages of 17 to 21) iscurrently about 9 crores (90 million), andwill be 10 crores or more in 2025: thedemographics will still be dominated byyouth (Graphic 4). Only 13% are enrolledin higher education today. There istherefore vast scope for expansion.

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India’s strengths in original research inbasic science have been substantial. Thescience, done in India, has often led tostriking new technologies, but thesetechnologies have generally beendeveloped elsewhere in the world. Webelieve that this is a consequence of theoverall weakness of the innovationecosystem in India, as we shall discuss laterin this report.

Graphic 3: Growth in Indian science budget

R&D expenditure5


Graphic 4: Age-wise population distribution6

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Indian basic science has spawned new technologies- but not in India

There is a fairly widespread perception thatbasic science done in India is not relevantfor technology. The history of Indian scienceshows that this perception is not true. Aselsewhere in the world, applicationssometimes follow discovery decades later.Here are three examples

Millimetre waves and J C Bose

In 1895, Jagadish Chandra Bose used whatare today known as microwaves to ignitegunpowder and ring a bell at some distance– without the aid of any mechanical orelectrical contact7. This demonstration,carried out with electro-magnetic radiationof 5-25 mm wavelength in Kolkata, showedfor the first time that communication signalscould be sent through electromagneticwaves (over distances of upto a mile at thetime), without the use of wires. In furtherdemonstrations at the Royal Institution inLondon in 1897, Bose used waveguides,horn antennas, dielectric lenses andpolarisers, and was the first in the world to

use a semiconductor crystal (galena) as adetector of radio waves. In the yearsfollowing, attention was focused on longdistance transmission which demandedusing much longer electromagnetic waves,but in the middle of the 20th centurymicrowaves became very relevant, forgreater resolution rendered them central tosuch important applications as radar. It isthe sort of microwave radiation that Bosedemonstrated in Kolkata more than ahundred years ago that today drives thealmost ubiquitous mobile phone, which hasushered in a communication revolution inIndia among both rich and poor. Otherstriking applications of millimetre wavesare satellite communications and remotesensing. Data on the earth’s atmosphere(e.g. humidity) are obtained by satellitessensing microwave radiation in the 1-30mm wavelength range. Millimetre waveradars are used in short range applicationson automobiles and at airports. Why did allthese applications emerge in the West, notin India?

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Raman scanners

C. V. Raman won the Nobel Prize in 1930for the optical effect known after his name.Using condensed sunlight (the most intensesource of illumination available to him atthe time), Raman discovered a new kind ofradiation, in which the scattered light hada different frequency from that of theillumination. Scattering changed thecolours, so to speak. And the scatterers couldbe gases, vapours, liquids, crystals andamorphous solids. It turns out that thechange in spectrum provides a uniqueidentity tag to any type of molecule: i.e.gives it a ‘finger-print’. Raman foresawearly that his discovery could have manyapplications. But it is only some 70 yearsafter its discovery that Raman spectroscopyis beginning to directly affect the commonman’s life. This has become possible becauseof several other recent developments intechnology: small, inexpensive andpowerful lasers, fast digital imageprocessing techniques developed for thespace and communication industries, andsurface-enhanced spectroscopy – all thesehave now combined to create a new ‘Ramantechnology’. ‘Raman scanners’ using thistechnology have just reached the market

place. With a hand-held device weighingless than 250g it is now possible to scan asurface non-intrusively and in real time todetect, to less than one part in a billion,traces of a wide variety of molecules – frompathogens and drugs to explosivechemicals. This technology appears set togrow vigorously in the next decade in awide variety of fields – from health care tosecurity to many others besides. So, thequestion is how and when do we build theability to traverse the journey from theRaman Effect to the Raman scanner in ourown country?

Mathematics and technology

The work of mathematical geniusRamanujan is a striking example of howbasic research in such abstract branches ofmathematics as number theory can have,many decades later, unexpectedconsequences and applications in newareas such as modern cryptography,population dynamics and theoreticalphysics. There are other examples (e.g.control theory, mobile communications)where basic research in mathematics donein splendid isolation has turned out to be

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crucial in some new technology. With theexplosion of data and the advances ingenomics, it is now widely agreed thatnewer areas of mathematics, in theoreticalcomputer science, statistical analysis,information theory etc., need to bedeveloped, as more scientific discoveriesbegin to be made through exploration of thevast quantities of data that moderntechnology provides us with. The paths ofknowledge application and knowledgecreation have clearly to combine to makerapid strides in development.

Many such examples can be given fromother fields. What all of them show is thatthe journey from idea to product is complex,and demands science and technologydeveloped in a variety of other fields forquite different applications, and a varietyof expertise all the way from science tomanufacture, financing and marketknowledge. As we argue elsewhere, itdemands a whole new ecosystem thatencourages innovation.

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new universities being established in thecountry, new milestones in national mega-projects, the outstanding performance of asmall number of state universities and theconsiderable growth in private wealth (insome cases arising out of the innovativeinitiatives taken by Indian industrialistsand businessmen), all these are changingthe scientific scenario in India dramatically.These strides should presage a new wave ofinvestment and growth in Indian science –the only one of such magnitude after theearly initiatives taken by the governmentled by Jawaharlal Nehru, in the late 40s andthe 50s.

THE NEW WAVE

Considering that India’s potential in scienceand technology is immense, we believe thata policy of vigorous pursuit of science in thecountry can lead to rapid growth – of thekind that occurred in our GDP following theeconomic reforms of 1991.

The 1991 reforms have just now begun totouch the Indian science system. Therevision of salaries by the Government ofIndia in 2008 has been a significant stepforward. The new Indian Institutes ofTechnology (IITs) established in recentyears, the new system of Indian Institutesof Science Education and Research (IISERs),

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Science at the core of

national development

What science should we do?

Curiosity and quest for understanding havedriven human beings to discover manywonderful things. As we have already seen,it is virtually impossible to exactly predicthow today’s basic research will eventuallyimprove our quality of life or to guess thenew technologies or markets that mayemerge. There is little doubt however, thatsuch improvements and industries willeventually arise. The results of basicresearch are prerequisites for many futuretechnological advances and societalbenefits.

At the heart of the initiatives proposed hereis the need to promote the pursuit of basicscience in the country. Without the anchorof the strong foundation that basic researchcan provide, and the new ideas that can leadto future technologies that could begenerated in the laboratories of the country,

the vision of this document cannot beachieved. Tomorrow’s technology oftendepends on today’s basic science asexemplified earlier.

Innovative solutions will have to beencouraged, by establishing the wholeecosystem that is necessary for ideas thatgerminate in research centres to reach themarket place. Indeed some of the work inthe basic sciences should be driven byprograms that the nation will have toundertake to tackle the major problems thatthe nation, and indeed the whole world, face(Box 2).

Advances in basic science will not bythemselves make India a global knowledgepower. It will be essential to identify the realcauses behind our lack of progress inattaining food security, energyindependence, efficient water management,tackling climate change, providinguniversal health care and a variety of other


♦ Mitigating effects of possible climate change

♦ Strengthening the innovation ecosystem

♦ Skill development for better employment opportunities

♦ National security, internal and external

The pressing problems that we face needcomplex, interdisciplinary solutions. None ofthem is easily solved, but there is no way thatwe will ever solve these problems without theproper use of science.

Water, Energy, Food

Among the foremost of these is water - inparticular drinking water. Because of thevagaries of the monsoon, the nature of thehydrological cycle and the physiographical

Box 2

Pressing problems of India

and geological attributes of the country theonly replenishable water availability isfinite and subject to unpredictablevariability. Scientific analysis suggests thatIndia’s current water usage is already closeto annual availability, and that this couldlead to serious shortfalls over the next twodecades. Furthermore, the physical andecological integrity of India’s waterresource system is seriously jeopardized byrapid industrial and population growth.The time has come for India to formulate a

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areas, some of which are global in nature(Box 2). From this point of view, it would beessential to incorporate a strong scientificcomponent in education in socially

important areas such as agriculture,medicine and veterinary science. We brieflyindicate the kind of challenges faced by usin three areas, water, energy and food.

♦ Equity and social justice

♦ Universal access to education

♦ Energy independence

♦ Health-care for all

♦ Efficient water management

♦ Food security


coherent unifying policy that combinesscientific knowledge with the need to ensureequitable sharing of a vital resource amongall sections of society.

What are the principles that may governsuch a water policy? In the first place, itmust be realized that atmospheric water,surface water, soil water and ground waterconstitute a single interconnected resource.Management of such an interconnectedresource is best achieved with drainagebasins and ground water basins as the basicunits. Resource integrity has to be preservedfor future generations. It is time to realizethat water use privilege cannot be grantedto any person or institution in perpetuity. Itis no longer possible for us to take water forgranted as an abundant renewable resource.Yet, water is humankind’s birthright - afterall, the minimum that the state shouldprovide every citizen is safe drinking water.

Formulating a rational water policy for thewhole of the country is an enormouslycomplex task. Nevertheless it is essentialthat effort be made that combines publiceducation at all levels with the bestscientific evidence and wide consultationwith all stakeholders. The only way forwardis to set up a water management system that

is for the common benefit of the people andcombines scientific analysis withconsiderations of social justice8.

Energy shortage is a chronic and seriousproblem in many parts of the country.Uncertainties in the availability and pricingof oil resources, increasingly seriousconcerns with climate change, difficultecological and human displacementproblems with large dams, and a host ofother similar considerations have made itessential for us to take a more integratedview of energy, in order to be able to secureit for our future. Our most abundantdomestically accessible source of energyremains coal, but its use poses seriousproblems associated with emissions. Here,science and technology should be able tooffer practical solutions, providedappropriate research and developmentprogrammes are pursued.

Energy at present is the core mandate of sixMinistries: Power, Petroleum and NaturalGas, Coal, New and Renewable Energy,Environment and Forests, and theDepartment of Atomic Energy. A properpolicy is clearly necessary for us to developan appropriate energy economy that createsan optimal mix of energy sources capable

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of meeting the steeply increasing demandsin the country. We have to become moreinvolved in research in areas such as solarenergy and hydrogen energy to fully benefitfrom the advances being made elsewhere,and to add to them from our own efforts.Even as we write this document, major newdevelopments are being reported in theseareas, and we should be pursuing relevantR&D with vigour and purpose.

If we consider the science of combustion andthe need to enhance the efficiency ofautomotive or aero-engines, or for thatmatter the use of new fuels (such as bio-fuels) across the energy sector, so much canbe meaningfully attempted andaccomplished with the combinedknowledge available in the differentministries. Much more has also to be doneto develop more knowledgeable humanresources in the energy sector.

Food security is associated with problemsof water and energy resources that we haveindicated above. Here again, science canplay a major role, as it already did in the(first) green revolution. A second greenrevolution is now needed. In spite of all thecontroversies surrounding geneticallymodified foods, the science of genetics is

bound to play a major role in these advances- as indeed it has done in the past.

In all these problems concerning theessentials of life - water, food, energy etc. -further progress will depend on the best usethe country can make of evidence-basedscience, but its effectiveness will alsodepend on establishing new mechanisms ofconsultation, mutual education anddialogue among different disciplines asamongst various stake holders. Devisingsuch mechanisms is essential if science is tobe harnessed for the next phase of nationaldevelopment.

Science outside the sciencedepartments

Promoting the use of science and technologyin various socio-economic sectors, outsidethe departments of science is of primeimportance. With this objective, S & TAdvisory Committees (STACs) in the socio-economic ministries were proposed to be setup during the Seventh Plan period. As aresult, over the last two decades, 25 STACsand an Inter-sectoral S & T AdvisoryCommittee with Secretary, DST as

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Chairman have been established. Theperformance of most of the STACs does notpresent an edifying picture. It is understoodthat about half the STACs have not met evenonce during the last few years. It is not clearif any major programmes or projects havebeen taken to a stage where their impact hasbeen felt in the economic growth of theconcerned sector. However a few STACsthat had distinguished scientists asChairmen have yielded better results.

No coordination to achieve well-definedobjectives from the use of S&T in a giveneconomic sector appears to have beenattempted.

Currently the science and technologycomponents receive less than 1%, and inseveral ministries less than 0.5%, of theministry’s total allocation. The rate of

increase of allocation to S & T is significantlylower than that of the total allocation to theministries. Given the authority of theministries, there is considerable room toderive support from industry, in the publicas well as in the private sector, ifcollaborative projects can be thoughtfullycrafted. Such measures can attract moreinvestment in S & T from industry.

The scientific advisory system in the socio-economic ministries need to be restructured,in particular also to exploit the potentialS&T strengths residing in nationallaboratories in several areas of considerableeconomic relevance.

A new mechanism must be evolved by thePrime Minister and the Cabinet to ensurethat the STACs function smoothly andeffectively, and that science plays its role innational development across differentsectors.

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India as a Global Leader:

The Way Forward

Making India a global leaderin science

In order to begin to contribute significantlyto world science and to make an impact onit, India’s contribution to global scientificliterature would have to rise to somethinglike 10% (from the present 2% or so) – thatis a major increase in ten years. Similarly ourownership of intellectual assets would alsohave to show an increase – from a little morethan 1900 filed by Indians and sealed in2007 to about 20000 patents sealed per yearby 2020.

A mere increase in the number ofpublications or of patents, however striking,will not by itself make a great impact onIndia’s position as a global leader. What isneeded in addition is that, first, the sciencethat is generated is of high quality, and

second, it also helps in tackling thenumerous problems of Indian society andstate, and indeed of mankind as a whole, asalready discussed. We must be able to affordthe opportunity for all Indians to lead a lifeof dignity. These include such essentials asfood security, water resources, energyindependence, health care for all, a cleanenvironment, universal access to education.

The country should get to be known for itsexcellence in science; in terms of metrics, thenumber of Indian publications among thetop 1% of the most cited in the world wouldhave to be higher than 5%. Some of oureducational institutions should be amongstthe top 50 in the world. Indian scienceproducts would have to be seen on thehighways and sea lanes, in the skies, at homeand everywhere in the global market place.India’s natural advantage in knowledge-based industries must be fully exploited to

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d generate novel solutions for old as well asnew problems. To accomplish all this,pursuit of excellence has to become a wayof life and only this can make us leaders inscience, technology and innovation.

How can we begin to move towardsachieving these goals? Given the youngIndia advantage, one major instrumentshould be stronger science education at alllevels, from elementary schools to post-graduate institutes, including a system ofvocational training that can produceexcellent technicians. At the early levels ofeducation, the key to excellence in theeducation system is the teacher – as indeedit has always been in history and as ourancestors recognized all along (Box 3).

In technical education, a national or aninternational council could be appointed torestructure the present system and monitorits progress.

We will have to give considerable attentionto provide massive continuing educationprogrammes for teachers. Summer andwinter schools (month or two long),retraining something like 50000 teacherseach year over the next 5 years, are essential.We need to give teachers a position ofhonour in society – one from which teachersthemselves encourage an open, creative

questioning attitude. This involvespermitting schools to adopt a wide varietyof systems to suit the diversity of India’spopulation, while at the same time ensuringquality – defined in a broad sense ratherthan as the mere ability to secure highmarks in scholastic tests. The administrationof the education system would have to takeon a totally different character, drawing onall appropriate sources of funding and othersupport for establishing more schools. Atthe same time, given the inequities that haveunfortunately been inherent in Indiansociety for far too long, a vast system offinancial support to those in need or thosewho cannot afford appropriate educationfor economic reasons although they havethe ability, will have to be created. The sameprivate sector that has set up or promotedschools must be persuaded to support a vastsystem of new pan-Indian networks ofassistance to the Indian young.

Similarly, in higher education, the vastexpansion the country needs (Box 4) canonly be achieved by public-privatepartnerships. We must recall that majorinvestments in science education in the late19th and the first half of the 20th century,were the result of private initiative. Weshould do everything to revive that spirit,including large tax benefits to private


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partners. It is equally important to take amajor initiative in technical education, withspecial support for technology universitiesthat can bridge the gaps between scienceand enterprise. Science must become an

integral part of education in agriculture,medicine, pharmaceuticals, veterinarymedicine etc., and in particular also intechnology.

Box 3

How to run the best schools in the world

The best school systems are not to be found inthe countries which have done a great deal ofresearch on education systems, nor in the oneswho pay teachers the highest salaries,according to a report by McKinsey9 The best-performing systems (as measured by the meanscore in mathematics on an internationalassessment) are apparently in Finland, SouthKorea and Japan. What is common aboutthem is that they have found ways to attractthe best teachers to the profession. In SouthKorea, primary school teachers come from thetop 5% of the graduating class in the 4-yearundergraduate programmes undertaken in 12selected universities. No more than the requirednumber of teachers is taken every year. Incountries like South Korea, Finland andSingapore the teaching profession iscompetitive, difficult to get into, andprestigious. Teachers undergo special trainingprogrammes every year. Failing pupils getattention, through separate programmesdesigned specifically for them.

No educational system can be better than theteachers it manages to get. This simple

principle seems to be common to all the high-performing countries. In India, where teachingis unfortunately no longer a respected calling,we need to experiment with new methods ofgetting the best teachers into the profession andrecognizing them for the profound nationaland societal value of teaching – and forming –new generations of citizens. The school systemhas to support all parts of the distribution –the high- and low-achieving tails and the mid-level groups. This needs a diversity in thesystem, but a method of preparing andrewarding the right teachers at each levelremains the key ingredient of a successfulsystem.

Space, communications and computertechnologies should be fully exploited toprovide best possible teaching across thecountry. The knowledge TV channels nowrunning should be improved. Whatever elsewe may do, we should not forget that a mainaim of our educational efforts should be toinculcate scientific temper amongst childrenand, indeed, all our citizens.


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Box 4

How many scientists do we need?

In 2006-7, the total university enrollment in S&T(including medicine and agriculture) was 36.6lakhs. The out-turn in 2003 was 6.1 lakhs, ofwhich 82.6% took the first degree, 16.3% post-graduate degrees, and only 1.1% obtained a PhD.India graduated 8420 PhDs in science in the year2005-0610.

In the age group 17-21 years, the number enrolledin higher education in 2006-7 was about 1.1crore, i.e. approximately 13%. Of these, S&Taccount for about a third – say 4 to 5 %. In 2025,the 17-21 year group will number around 9.8crores. If we should plan for about twice thepresent ratio and require that 25% of themshould be enrolled in higher education, we willhave to cater to about 2.5 crore – nearly 2½ timesthe present number. This means a student bodyin S&T of nearly a crore, against the presentnumber of about 37 lakhs. These are probablyconservative estimates.

At higher educational levels, the numbers wouldhave to increase a great deal more if India has tobe competitive. In 2005-06, India produced about1000 PhDs in engineering and technology,whereas the US and China were alreadyproducing about eight times as many in 2004-05. We should plan for a huge increase by 2030;even ten times would barely match China’scurrent output. This shows the enormousmagnitude of the problem. In areas such ascomputer science, the situation is serious, withonly 25 or so Ph.Ds being produced per year inIndia.

During 2004-06, India produced one researchscientist for every 7100 people; China 1 in 1080,S. Korea 1 in 240, Sweden 1 in 163.

Another way of looking at the problem is to planfor world-class education in all of S&T for 20% ofthe university-age Indians – i.e. to about 2 croresin 2025; If 10% of these went on to post-graduatework to embark on research (Masters + PhD –say over 4 years) we would have 20 lakhs – ofwhich about 5 lakhs will graduate each year, saya tenth of these with a PhD (50000approximately). At current ratios, about 35000will be in natural science, and 5000 will be inengineering and technology.

No matter how we look at the numbers, if Indiahas ambitions of becoming a leading global forcein science, a massive increase in S&T educationwill be necessary – both in quality and quantity.We should expect the number of scientists toincrease at least at the following rates by 2025:

Graduate scientists: 15 lakhs per yearPost-graduate scientists: 3 lakhs per yearPhDs: 30,000 per year

The large S & T manpower in India will not onlysupport our national efforts but will also be ableto assist the aging world elsewhere, making Indiaa leading knowledge provider through its humanresources.

It would indeed be advisable for a group of wise personsto examine the education scenario and manpowerrequirements of 2025.


It is not a question of numbers alone. Weneed to pick the best talent for science. Thisshould be possible with the large untappedtalent especially in rural India. Every effortshould be made to attract young people inschools and colleges to science by takingvarious types of initiatives including settingup a large number of fully fundedresidential schools and colleges in India’sinterior. We should also use the talent ofIndians settled elsewhere for variousnational endeavours and provide suitableopportunities for talented persons fromother countries to work here. We shouldstrive to make a scientific environment inIndia that is so attractive that many Indian

scientists now working abroad will want toreturn and join in the exciting project ofbuilding a new India.

As much of the rest of the world grays intoa predominantly older demographic profileIndia will only show a middle-aged bulgeeven in 2050, and will continue to possess aconsiderable human advantage.

Another advantage that India has is that itis today the most cost-effective source ofinternationally accepted R&D in the world.Roughly speaking, India spends only ½ %of what the world does on science, butproduces 2-2½ % of global scientificliterature (Table1).

Table1: Some S&T indicators for Select Countries11

Country Total no. of High-impact GDP, Investment Investment $ M/ PhDspublications publications $ T(2003) R&D, R&D, $B publication E&T(2006), % (change) %GPD per(change over 1997) year

USA 451 028 63% 10.9 2.68% 292.0 0.65 8000(+18%) (-4%)

UK ~122 000 12.8% 1.79 1.89% 33.8 0.28(+25%)

China 78 671 0.99% 1.42 1.31% 18.6 0.24 9000(+358%) (+125%)

South 0.78% 0.61 2.64% 16.1 0.60Korea (+290%) (+178%)

India 26 963 0.54% 0.60 0.77% 4.6 0.17 700(+60%) (+69%)

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Our total production of world R&D is small,but its cost-effectiveness is unsurpassed.Furthermore, public sector science in India,wherever it has been successful, confirmsthis advantage. For example, in comparisonwith that of the other major space powers,India has been described as running its‘prolific programme’ on a ‘shoestringbudget’ as Aviation Week and SpaceTechnology has commented.

Although India is not yet a major source ofinnovation in the world, many Indianscientists (often working abroad) haveshown that the innovative spirit iswidespread among Indians. In a recent polltaken by Zogby International in the US 28%of 3000 respondents voted that the next BillGates will come from India: only the US (at29%) had a better chance12. What India lacksis not the innovative spirit, but an effectiveinnovation eco-system.

A framework forhigher education

There have been numerous studies of theIndian higher education system, and severalproposals have been and continue to bemade to improve its performance.Successive Prime Ministers (beginning with

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru) have oftenremarked on the bureaucracy and politicalinterference that characterize the system.As the problem has persisted in spite of allthis attention, some radical ideas have to beconsidered. The following proposals aremade, in the light of the Government’sintention of establishing several world-classuniversities. As the present system is bycommon consent inimical to the success ofsuch a project, a new framework has to bedevised. Here are some criteria that woulddefine a new framework.

Seek dynamic leadership at the top and provide “real” autonomy with minimal

bureaucracy.

Get the best faculty and establish the bestfacilities

Establish a proper faculty promotion policy.

Keep out political interference

Welcome private investment and supportfrom private wealth.

Assemble a diverse student bodybalancing excellence and inclusion.

Combine undergraduate teaching andworld-class research


Balance educational efforts in science,technology, humanities

Inculcate national pride amongst pupils

Build campuses with character andsuitable traditions.

Keep student numbers manageable

Offer integrated 4+1 year BS/BA + MS/MA programmes with a flexible packageof courses

Match supply and demand

The innovation eco-system

In a world of rapidly-advancing and ever-changing technology, innovation is a keydriver of science, technology and – indeed –of economic advance. Innovation is not justabout patents and new products, thoughthese are important outcomes of innovation.It is equally about new ideas, services, andeven business models. Social networkingsites like the Facebook are examples of newservices based on technology, while Googlerepresents an innovative business model(where the user does not pay for service).

India has been active in innovation ofcertain kinds. Its IT industry created a newand disruptive business model through its

on-site plus off-shore structure, whichresulted in unprecedented growth andsuccess. The Tata Nano represents acombination of innovative design andengineering, while nano in a different sphere– shampoo and other sachets – has createda new business model serving what has beencalled the “bottom of the pyramid”. This hasbeen emulated in such vital areas as health.Grass-roots innovation thrives, asdocumented by the National InnovationFoundation. However, much of ourinnovation has been incremental and hasfocused on “jugaad”, best characterized asimprovisation rather than true or radicalinnovation. Inventions, break-throughs andlarge value-addition are rare.

The potential for innovation is extremelyhigh since diversity and adversity, bothcrucial to innovation, are characteristicfeatures of the Indian scene. The firstpermits, even encourages, out-of-boxthinking, while the latter throws up day-to-day problems that can be overcome only bycreative solutions. Our investments inhigher education and R&D facilities shouldprovide the wherewithal to facilitateinnovation. In recognition of India’scapabilities, a large number of MNCs haveset up R&D centres in India. Yet India has

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d not become a leader in innovation. (It isworrisome that 9 out of the top 10 entitiesreceiving Indian patents are of foreignorigin) What seems to be lacking is theoverall eco-system that can translate theundoubted Indian potential into reality. Themain elements of such an eco-system wouldinclude the following:

♦ Venture funding: While there is nowfunding available for commercial scaling-up of successful proof-of-concepts or pilots,there is yet a problem with regard to seedor “angel” funding that is willing to takerisks on ideas. At this stage, failure rates arenecessarily high and in many countries suchfunding is often provided directly orindirectly by government (Israel is a strikingexample). However, in the case ofgovernment involvement, there must behigh failure-tolerance: conventionalauditing, that tries to fix accountability forunsuccessful investments, will not do, assome failures are an integral part ofinnovation. A separate, large fund (of theorder of Rs. 1000 crore/year) must be set upand administered autonomously– possiblythrough a public-private Board, or as a not-for-profit company that invests ininnovative start-up ventures.

♦ Tax incentives: Given high failure rates,there must be some tax write-off and otherincentives to encourage angel investing,linked to the crucial element of mentoring.

♦ Greater funding for new ideas andinnovation in government-funded R&Dorganizations, academic institutions anduniversities, and a willingness to risk failure:Such funding could be separately provided(as extra-budgetary grants) through thefund mentioned earlier.

♦ Less bureaucratic controls in government-funded R&D organizations: This is a bigimpediment to free thinking,experimentation and innovation.

♦ Encouragement: Through both sabbaticalleave and other schemes and appropriatefunding, scientists and technologists shouldbe encouraged to realize and monetize theirideas through commercial ventures.

♦ Changes in education curricula to encouragecreative thinking and innovation (asopposed to rote learning): Since a great dealof innovation takes place through cross-fertilization of ideas, we need to encouragetrans-disciplinary centres and give freedom


to students to take various combinations ofcourses (as against the present strait-jacketing).

♦ A fund (either as part of the one suggestedearlier or separately) to promote socialinnovations: Ideas or ventures that may notbe commercially profitable but have highsocial returns will have to be supported.

♦ Encouraging tie-ups between academia,R&D laboratories and commercial ventures:This, as proven elsewhere in the world, isan excellent combination for promotinginnovation and taking it to market quickly.

♦ Strengthening the intellectual property lawsand their enforcement: While there arestrong arguments for putting certain kindsof developments in the public sphere, thereis also need to enforce IP laws, so as toencourage investments in and developmentof new products and processes.

♦ A special package for a Small BusinessInitiative that will promote theestablishment of and provide support forsmall R &D intensive firms.

India needs innovation to tackle the diverseproblems confronting it, including the onefor converting our knowledge-assets to

economic growth and strength. Fortunatelythe country has great potential to be trulyinnovative. Demography, democracy anddiversity give us a unique advantage. If wecan create the right ambience through anappropriate eco-system, we can reap thebenefits of these advantages.

Finally, the investment in science that begansome sixty years ago has left the countrywith a broad infrastructure going all theway from a few excellent academicinstitutions to fine research laboratoriesand effective technology delivery systems.This infrastructure has many weaknesses,but with the growing economic strength ofthe country a rapid build up has becomefeasible.

Investment in science

Science budgets of the Government havebeen steadily increasing, although as afraction of GNP they have remained moreor less stagnant in the last ten years (SeeGraphic 2).

The State Governments do not invest muchmoney on science either. Only in somespecial sectors such as pharma havesignificant budgets been set apart for R&D

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d by industry. India is still a small player inhigh technology exports (Box 5), and thenew wave in science that we advocate herewould not be sustainable unless thedemands made by not only the sciencesector itself but also by industry andcommerce for scientist-personnel showsignificant increase. In recent years thenature of exports from India has beenchanging, and high-tech products arebeginning to show a rise although the totalstill remains small. But there is promise thatthis can increase a great deal more. For

example the Indian automobile industrysurpassed the performance of China lastyear; the main force that drove thisdevelopment was the higher skill levels ofthe Indian industrial work force13. Indiansatellites continue to be 25-30% lessexpensive than those launched fromwestern nations. With appropriateincentives for innovation and hightechnology exports, Indian industry will bewell set to grow in internationallycompetitive sectors.

Box5

High-tech exports

The European Union’s definition of hightechnology includes nine sectors: aerospace,computers and office machines, electronicsand telecommunications, pharmacy,scientific instruments, selected electricalmachinery, selected chemicals, selected non-electrical machinery and armaments. Overthe period 1995 to 2006 India’s high techtrade increased more than four fold (fromUS $ 1.0 B to 4.5 B), but over the same periodBrazil’s went up by 8 times and China’s 25times (to about US $ 300 B).

High-tech trade accounted for only 0.49%of India’s GNP in 2006, and for 0.23% ofglobal high-tech trade. India’s imports ofhigh tech goods increased form $ 2.6 B in1995 to $ 23 B in 2006 – still only 1.2% ofglobal imports. These figures aredisproportionately low (the lowest in theBRIC countries), and explain the generallylow demand for science in Indian industry:we are still largely a low-tech tradingnation14.


In such cases, government schemes mustprovide the full funding where necessary(for example in energy research anddevelopment, with specific goals over a5-10 year period). Formulation of economicpolicies that reward competitiveknowledge-intensive industries shouldreceive high priority.

To make sustainable growth in sciencepossible, it is necessary that it is perceivedas a national goal, cutting across the variousministries of the Government of India, thepublic and private sector industry,educational institutions, national researchlaboratories and the growing privateinitiatives in R&D. This will need to besignalled through a variety of actions. Firstof all, the investment of the UnionGovernment in science must begin to showa significant increase as a percentage ofGNP, rising to at least 2.5% by 2020. Statesshould also invest more in science as wellas higher education and support their ownuniversities adequately.

A special economic package must be puttogether for the promotion of high-techindustry in India and its exports (just as inthe IT sector). Educational and research

institutions in the country would have to gomore global and make special schemes forexchange of scientists at various levels withselected partner nations or institutionsacross the globe. In particular, we suggest amajor initiative that makes internationalcollaboration both ways easier. It isnecessary to devise special schemes forpost-doctoral fellows and otherprofessionals, both Indian and foreign, thatmake it attractive to work here. It shouldbe noted that post-doctoral fellows havebeen largely responsible for the greaterproductivity in top class science in theadvanced nations of the world; in India, arecent initiative makes post-doctoralfellowships more attractive, but a great dealmore needs to be done. A scheme that willmake it possible for increasing numbers ofyoung foreign scientific workers to conductcollaborative research with Indiancolleagues in our own laboratories can be amajor step forward in enhancing the qualityof communication and cooperationbetween the scientific communities of Indiaand other countries of the world.

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Can NSERB be an engine ofchange?

The recently established National Scienceand Engineering Research Board (NSERB),which is the Indian counterpart of the U.S.National Science Foundation, can act as anengine driving some of the changes. TheBoard should constantly monitor the stateof health of Indian science, and take actionon its own initiative to promote the growthof science and to realize the vision that thisdocument sets out. It will be necessary tosee that all serious scientists in India getadequate support for their professionalwork. It is also necessary that NSERB takesthe initiative in putting together mega-

projects or mounting grand challenges thatwill bring together scientists and theirinstitutions from across the country, andperhaps the rest of the world, in achievingthese objectives. One mechanism that mightbe particularly useful is to set apart fundingfor projects executed by teams of scientistscutting across disciplines and institutions,assembled together by enterprisingscientists in the country. NSERB could alsocreate new types of fellowships andprofessorships to support and encourageoutstanding scientists of all age groups.

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THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE

INSTITUTION

The growth of modern science andtechnology in India owes a great deal tovisionary individuals who went on to buildgreat institutions. Beginning with the IndianAssociation for the Cultivation of Scienceset up in 1876 by a well-known physicianof Calcutta, Dr. Mahendra Lal Sircar, theIndian Institute of Science established in1909 by the vision of the great industrialistJamsetji Tata, and the Banaras HinduUniversity in 1916 by Pt. Madan MohanMalaviya, private initiative played a keyrole in reviving Indian science at a timewhen the national scene looked extremelybleak. Sir M.Visvesvaraya was the greatestnational champion of modern Indianindustry in the first half of the 20th century.Many of these pioneers encouraged public-

private partnerships, of which the moststriking example was the Indian Institute ofScience, which came up by a three-partyagreement between the House of Tatas, theMaharaja of Mysore and the Britishgovernment. The Tata Institute ofFundamental Research has had similarorigins, and was the result of the sharedvision of H. J. Bhabha and J. R. D. Tata.There are numerous less well-knownexamples in the form of professional collegesbuilt by successful local professionals orprinces. In 1942, Indian private enterprisecame forward to fund the Board of Scientificand Industrial Research when the BritishIndian government cut budgets because ofthe War 15.

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Has this private passion for the growth ofIndian science waned in the last sixty years?Since the economic reforms of 1991, privatewealth in India has soared, but it isgenerally conspicuous by its absence onIndian campuses barring professionalundergraduate courses. Indian business isnow more entrepreneurial than ever. It hasbuilt the most competitive automotive andsoftware businesses in the world, created thelargest telecommunication market in theworld, and a vigorous pharmaceuticalindustry. It also has the world’s largestpetroleum refinery. An Indian-bornbusinessman has brought into being thelargest steel-making entity in the world. Thepublic sector has remarkable examples aswell: one of the most cost-effective spaceprogrammes, and a science base that is thesource of world-level R&D for most majormultinational companies. The spectacular

growth of private engineering and medicalcolleges, the former producing more than10 times the graduates that governmentinstitutions do, indicate the potential ofprivate enterprise in education.

Is post-reform private wealth allergic tomajor investments and initiatives ineducation? Does the present educationalsystem, dominated by the Governmentsince 1947, discourage bold new individualinitiatives through over-regulation? Arethere sufficient domestic incentives for suchpublic-spirited initiatives? Is the UnitedStates doing better in inviting Indian wealthto their campuses than we are able to doourselves here in India? These areimportant issues that need to be debated.We need to understand why private wealthhas turned away from supportingexcellence in higher education.

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A Way to GET GOOD ADVICE

Many problems today, typified by climatechange, genetically modified foods andwater resources management, to mentiononly a few, touch the daily lives of allIndians directly. The problems raised hereare complex. They have widespread socialand economic impact, and often becomesubjects of intense political debate. Whilescience must continue to seek advances onthe basis of its own internal drives andjudgements, a serious problem will remainin communicating the conclusions ofscience, simply and accurately, to the publicat large. This requires a special effort. Oncontroversial scientific issues (for example,genetically modified foods and climatechange), the Government should make aserious effort to get the most unbiased andaccurate advice possible by calling on the

academies of science to present accurateaccounts of the state of the art. It is worthconsidering whether this objective could bebetter achieved through a council such asthe Science Advisory Council to the PrimeMinister or by the constitution of a NationalS&T Council (NSTC), on the lines of the USNational Research Council. NSTC wouldcomprise all the major academies of science,engineering, agriculture and medicine,heads of science agencies and eminentscientists in their individual capacity. Sucha council will be assigned the responsibilityfor major scientific assessments bycommissioning reports through well-defined contracts and for advising thegovernment on relative priorities in S&Tand associated investments.

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need for much better methods of appointingvice-chancellors, greater autonomy, majorchanges in the examination system,procedures for admission, recruitment andpromotion of faculty, researchadministration and, in fact, a totaltransformation of the academicenvironment. We suggest that theGovernment appoint a ScienceAdministrative Reforms Commission,comprising largely of scientists, to proposea new administrative system foruniversities, national laboratories and thescience departments and agencies.

When asked about how to build a greatinstitution, James Conant of HarvardUniversity said the following: “Get the bestminds and leave them alone”. There is alesson for all of us in this statement.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stated inthe recent science congress session that it ishigh time that we liberate science frombureaucracy. How true! Practice of sciencein India has been severely hampered byoppressive bureaucratic practices andinflexible administrative and financialcontrols. One of the necessary conditions forprogress in science is the elimination orminimization of bureaucracy. This isrequired in the central government and evenmore so in the state governments.

In addition to eliminating bureaucracy, itis important that we restructure many ofour organizations and institutions so thatthey are able to create the right atmosphereto pursue research and higher educationmore effectively. Restructuring is speciallyessential in the state university system andits educational institutions, where there is

LIBERATING SCIENCE FROM

BUREAUCRACY

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EPILOGUE

What has been projected here has to be accomplished within a short period, ifIndia has to truly find a place in the sun; we cannot afford to lose time. The nationis demanding accelerated, inclusive growth and world class governance. Indianscience is today in a position to help in this endeavour. India has to become aleader in the scientific world, and a knowledge provider for the world. For this tohappen, it is essential that science gets an important position in our way of thinking.Pursuit of excellence and elimination of mediocrity should become guidingprinciples in all our endeavours. Policy makers, administrators, and politiciansas well as the general public have to view science as an essential agent oftransformation. There is much to be done by individual scientists, scientificinstitutions, academies, universities and the society at large. One hopes that theentire nation will rise to the occasion.

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REFERENCES1. D. King 2004 Nature 430; 311-316.

2. C Wagner 2008 The New Invisible College , Brookings Institution, Washington DC(Graphic reproduced by permission of author)

3. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Science, Technology andIndustry Outlook 2008

4. NCAER 2005 India Science Report

5. NISTADS-CSIR 2009 India: Science and Technology 2008

6. U.S. Census Bureau, International data base

7. D T Emerson 1997 IEEE-Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 45:2267-73;D R Vizard 2006 Microwave Journal 49(7):22-34.

8. T N Narasimhan, V K Gaur 2010 Economic & Political Weekly, XLV:20-23; also NIAS ReportR4-09, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore

9. Summarized by The Economist, 18 October 2009.

10. DST 2009 Research and Development Statistics 2007-08; NISTADS-CSIR 2009 India: Science andTechnology 2008.

11. R. Narasimha 2008 Technology in Society, 30:330-338

12. Manufacturing and Technology News, 16 June, 2009.

13. Sunday Times of India, 15 August 2010

14. World Bank data in India Science & Technology 2008, NISTADS-CSIR 2009

15. N. R. Rajagopal et al, 1991 CSIR Saga, CSIR, New Delhi.

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SCIENCE ADVISORY COUNCIL TO THE PRIME MINISTER

C. N. R. Rao (Chairman)S. AyyappanP. BalaramBaldev RajS. BanerjiMustansir BarmaM. K. BhanS. K. BrahmachariR. ChidambaramS. E. HasnainAshok JhunjhunwalaKiran KarnikV. M. KatochD. V. KhakharR. A. MashelkarGoverdhan Mehta

Shailesh NaikRoddam NarasimhaSwati PiramalK. RadhakrishnanSujatha RamadoraiT.V. RamakrishnanP. Rama RaoT. Ramasami (Secretary)Vijay Kumar SaraswatM. M. SharmaV. K. SinghBikash SinhaA. K. SoodVenu SrinivasanB. K. ThelmaK. VijayRaghavan

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“The key to national prosperity, apart from the spirit of the people, lies inthe modern age, in the effective combination of three factors, technology,raw materials and capital, of which the first is perhaps the most important,since the creation and adoption of new scientific techniques can, in fact,make up for a deficiency in natural resources, and reduce the demands oncapital. But technology can only grow out of the study of science and itsapplications.

The dominating feature of the contemporary world is the intense cultivationof science on a large scale, and its application to meet a country’srequirements. It is this, which, for the first time in man’s history, has givento the common man in countries advanced in science, a standard of livingand social and cultural amenities, which were once confined to a very smallprivileged minority of the population. Science has led to the growth anddiffusion of culture to an extent never possible before. It has not onlyradically altered man’s material environment, but, what is of still deepersignificance, it has provided new tools of thought and has extended man’smental horizon. It has thus influenced even the basic values of life, andgiven to civilization a new vitality and a new dynamism”.

From the Scientific Policy Resolution (1958)

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