State of science research in India

July 5, 2023

Why in News?

The government’s approval for a National Research Foundation (NRF) is being widely welcomed by the scientific community as an effort to improve the state of science research in India.
The Union Cabinet approved the National Research Foundation (NRF) Bill 2023, which will establish NRF as an apex body to provide high-level strategic direction to scientific research in the country.

What’s in Today’s Article?

State of Science Research in India:

Leading country with deep scientific abilities: A huge pool of science and engineering graduates, a large network of laboratories and research institutions and active involvement in some of the frontline areas of scientific research (supercomputer, quantum).
In comparative terms: India lags behind several countries, on a variety of research indicators. Primary among these -
- The money India spends on research and development (R&D) activities.
- Women comprise only 18% of total scientific researchers in India, while globally this number was 33%.

Expenditure on R&D:

For more than two decades now, the Centre’s stated objective has been to allocate at least 2% of the national GDP on R&D.
Not only has this objective not been met, the expenditure on research as a proportion of GDP has gone down, from about 0.8% to 0.65% between 2000 and now.
This does not mean that money for research has not increased. It has more than tripled in the last 15 years, from Rs 39,437 to over 1.27 lakh crores between 2007-08 and 2020-21.
- But India’s GDP has grown faster, and so the share of research has gone down.
Comparative study:
- India’s total expenditure on R&D in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms in 2018 - about US$ 68 billion, was the sixth highest in the world, after the US, China, Japan, Germany and South Korea.
- However, India is far behind as the US and China both spent more than US$ 500 billion that year.

Research in Universities:

India has nearly 40,000 institutions of higher education and over 1,200 of these are full-fledged universities. Only 1% of these engage in active research.
According to the DST, there were 7,888 R&D institutions in the country in 2021, including more than 5,200 units in the private sector and industries, which engage mainly in industry-specific research.
The count of private sector units even includes 921 industries with potential to undertake research activities.

Research Output:

India produced 25,550 doctorates in 2020-21, of which 14,983 were in science and engineering disciplines.
This 59% proportion in the overall doctorates compares well with other countries, putting India in the seventh rank overall.
But because of India’s large population, this is not impressive in proportional terms.
The number of researchers per million population in India, 262, is extremely low compared with even developing countries like Brazil (888), South Africa (484) or Mexico (349).

Publications and Patents:

Indian researchers published 149,213 articles in science and engineering journals across the world in 2020, almost two and a half times more than a decade earlier.
However, it still constituted only 5% of all the articles. Chinese researchers contributed 23%, while US researchers accounted for 15.5%.
In 2021, a total of 61,573 patents were filed in India, making it the sixth largest in the world. But this was nowhere close to the nearly 16 lakh patents filed in China, and about six lakhs in the US that year.

What is NRF?

Recommended by the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, NRF will be established at a total estimated cost of ₹50,000 crore from 2023-28, to -
- Focus on creating a policy framework and putting in place regulatory processes to ensure increased spending on R&D.
- Ensure that scientific research was conducted and funded equitably with the greater participation from the private sector.
- Prioritise research funding and forge collaborations among the industry, academia, and government departments and research institutions.
The Department of S&T (DST) would be an administrative department of NRF that would be governed by a Governing Board.
- The Prime Minister will be the ex-officio President of the Board and the Union Minister of Science & Technology and Union Minister of Education will be the ex-officio Vice-Presidents.
- The Governing Board will also consist of eminent researchers and professionals across disciplines.
NRF’s functioning will be governed by an Executive Council chaired by the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India.

How NRF will Improve the State of Science Research in India?

By democratising science funding: NRF will emphasise the funding of projects in peripheral, rural and semi-urban areas, which are neglected and never receive funding for science projects.
By finding solutions to the big problems facing Indian society: The NRF would promote research not just in the natural sciences and engineering, but also in social sciences, arts and humanities.
By providing an efficient and integrated management system: For the implementation of the missions such as the supercomputer mission or the quantum mission.

See All