Funding Woes in Indian Science

What is the issue?

India is primarily sustained by direct funding from the government which still remains static.

Public expenditure- The public expenditure on science in India hovers between a 0.6 to 0.8% of GDP over a decade.
While India’s global R&D expenditure remains static at 1-3% of the global total, the U.S. and China accounted for 25% and 23%, respectively.
Private participation-There is very little participation from the private sector in the country.
Qualified researchers- The under-funding is reflected in the low proportion of qualified researchers available in India.
The World Bank statistics indicate that India had 255 researchers per million people and only 15 researchers per 1,00,000 population in 2017.
Budgetary allocation- The budgetary allocations over the last several years show a consistent downward trend (a drop of 3.9% from last year is witnessed in this year’s budget).
Much of the total of the funding available goes to DRDO, Department of Space and Atomic Energy, leaving only 30 to 40% for other agencies.

Number of Patents- India lags behind other nations in the number of patents produced (58,502 patents were filed in 2020-21).
Number of Publications- India has been doing somewhat better, showing steady growth in its output but both the USA and China published approximately four times as many articles as India in 2016.
Quality of Research- The quality of publications from India has also been substantially lower than global standards.

The available number of people required to do scientific work as a career option enlarged exponentially.
This can be seen from the following:
- The number of universities jumped from 752 to 1,016
- Doctoral degrees escalated from 10,111 to 24,474
Realising this demand from the new generation of researchers, the 2021-22 budget offered Rs. 10,000 crore every year from 2021, over the next five years, for a new funding agency called the National Research Foundation (NRF).
National Education Policy 2019 also stressed on the pressing need to set up– NRF.

National Research Foundation (NRF) is a professional and comprehensive research and education framework that was aimed to strengthen the research ecosystem in India.
The aim of proposing NRF is that it will improve linkages between Research & Development, academia, and industry.
It will be set up under National Education Policy 2020.
The total proposed outlay of the National Research Foundation is Rs 50,000 crore over a period of five years.
Structure- The NRF will be established initially as a Society under the Societies (Registration) Act, 1860.
Within three years, the NRF will by an Act of Parliament, become an autonomous body of the Government of India.
The NRF will be governed by an 18-member NRF Governing Board consisting of eminent researchers and professionals in their respective fields.
Experts may be drawn from within the country and internationally, and it is expected that about a third of the Board member are women.
A President, Vice-President, and Chief Operating Officer will be searched for and selected by the NRF Board.
The NRF will consist of ten major Directorates, each Directorate with a Chair and Vice-Chair, appointed by the NRF Board.
The NRF will be given an annual grant that will eventually aim to reach at least 0.1% of GDP and will be conferred with the autonomy to set its own finances, governance, and statutes.

The NRF was expected to bring thousands of colleges and universities under its ambit.
As most of the country’s scientific research is being conducted by government laboratories and a few premier institutes, NRF was thought to be a game-changer by its intent of democratisation of the knowledge base.
An autonomous, more participatory and less bureaucratic system is needed to unleash the fullest potential of Indian science.

Infusion of more funds- India needs to inject enough funds into basic research by committing to raise the R&D spending to at least 1% of the GDP.
Government incentives-The government should incentivise the private players by giving them tax breaks for the private sector to chip in.
Upgradation of SERB- Another option is to upgrade the SERB (Science Engineering Research Board) to play the role assigned to the NRF.

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