The goals articulated in the Centre’s new Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STI 2013) are both ambitious and unexceptionable. STI is key to addressing a host of issues concerning energy and food security, nutrition, health care, environment, water, sanitation and, ultimately, employment generation. The policy paradigm is to be “inclusive innovation”, where STI furthers the aims of faster, inclusive and sustainable growth. STI integration is also the bedrock of the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) and the policy seeks to support STI-led services for increasing transparency in government functioning. Specific time-bound goals have been set. The prime minister, addressing the Indian Science Congress last week, said that STI 2013 aimed to position India among the “top five scientific powers” by 2020. Technology missions will target global leadership in select areas. As of now, India’s R&D investment is under one per cent of GDP and the policy target is to push it to two per cent of GDP in the 12th Plan period.
In 2011, India ranked ninth globally in the number of scientific publications, and 12th in terms of patents filed. The share of Indian publications in the top one per cent of cited journals is 2.5 per cent. STI 2013 will aim to increase India’s share of all scientific publications from the current 3.5 per cent to over seven per cent and to quadruple the number of papers in top journals by 2020. At the commercial end, India’s share of global trade in high technology products is eight per cent and the policy hopes to double this. Private investment must rise substantially. The current ratio of public-private R&D investments is 3:1 and STI aims to create an enabling environment in which this ratio balances to 1:1 in five years. Private industrial investments in R&D grew 250 per cent between 2005 and 2010; so this is possible, given the right incentives. Careers in research-related fields must become more attractive. R&D manpower has to grow by at least 66 per cent. That means establishing better R&D infrastructure, changing the national mindset and value systems, and translating R&D into commercial use.
One key suggestion is that private R&D should be treated on a par with public institutions for availing public funds. Another is the setting up of inter-university centres in different fields to enable cross-disciplinary research. STI also moots modifying the intellectual property rights policy to provide for social good when supported by public funds, and for co-sharing IPR generated under public-private partnership. The regulatory and legal framework would need a radical overhaul for this. The policy also advocates positive steps to induct women and correct biased gender ratios. Indeed, the policy notes that “the civilisational aspect of science or scientific temper is to be promoted across all sections of society” and the “people and decision makers must be made aware of the implications of emerging technologies, including ethical, social and economic dimensions”.
Such high-minded aims are difficult to meet if over 25 per cent of citizens are illiterate and businesses bemoan the need to retrain supposedly qualified engineers for entry-level jobs. The unmentioned elephant in the bedroom is the inadequate education infrastructure, at all levels. That will need fixing with a bottom-up approach, if the goals of this top-down policy are to be met.
