India's investment in science & technology lesser than China

The government today admitted that investment in science and technology in the country has been lower than that of China but said several initiatives including establishment of centre of excellences have been taken for growth of scientific research in the country.  

The measures also include higher allocation for scientific research and encouraging public-private R&D partnership, said Minister of State for Science and Technology Prithviraj Chavan.  

Replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha, he said, investment in the scientific field in the country was 0.88 per cent of the GDP which was lower compared to countries like China and Hungary where it stood at 1.42 per cent and 1 per cent of the GDP respectively.  

He said new and attractive fellowships such as INSPIRE and strengthening infrastructure for R&D in universities have been launched. 

Similarly, saying that in case of presentation of scientific research papers, India has also lagged behind China, he said all the measures would give a fillip to preparation of research papers.  

Presentation of research papers in India between 1997 and 2007 only rose from 11000 to 22,215 whereas it rose from 12,632 to 67,443 during the same period in China, the Minister said.  

However, India's position with regards to investment in R&D was better than that of other developing countries like Brazil, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Argentina, Mexico and Venezuela, he said.