Giving R&D the much needed push, and at about right time too

Lakshmana Venkat Kuchi *

If there is something that India can showcase as success in science and technology it is the discovery of the vaccine against the deadly Coronavirus that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives across the globe, including India.

India’s vaccination programme and drive, the largest in the world, was made possible because of the trust, faith in the country’s scientific community and the support given to it for coming up with solutions to the worst public health crisis the world has seen in hundred years.

If the Prime Minister Narendra Modi showcased this in his call to the community of scientists and researchers to come to the aid of the country and push it to greater heights as a developed country in the next couple of decades, he continues to stress on building the scientific temper that we as a nation have adopted since times immemorial.

India could achieve stupendous success in the vaccine against Covid and later on scale up the vaccination drive to humongous proportions to cater to the entire population on the strength of the technical wherewithal and the robust logistics and infrastructure built over the years. Yes, Modi’s powerful push and unrelenting pressure in the right proportions delivered the results.

To this extent, his contribution is immense in first believing that our scientists can do it and backing them to the hilt, at a time when the very notion brought up sniggers from several quarters.

While giving due credit to Prime Minister Modi, one does acknowledge the contribution of successive governments since Independence in building institutions of excellence in higher education and technical education centres that have turned out highly qualified, capable and efficient engineers and technically skilled manpower that is proving itself in the world, day after day since times immemorial.

But, yet there is so much more needs to be done, given the size, shape and enormity of our nation, and our needs. Which is why, the Prime Minister’s call for strengthening research in the country in his Independence Day speech assumes more importance as inventions and innovations alone can give the kind of an aggressive push to the economic growth needed to take India into the league of developed nations.

Delivering the 76th Independence Day speech from the ramparts of The Red Fort, Prime Minister said it has now become necessary to add Jai Anusandhan (research and innovation) in Lal Bahadur Shastri famous slogan of Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan.

“Later, Atal Bihari Vajpayee added 'Jai Vigyaan' to this slogan. Now, there is another necessity to add, Jai Anusandhan (research and innovation). Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyaan aur Jai Anusandhan,” PM Modi said and added he had faith in the youth of India to harness the power of innovation. India’s digital payments infrastructure and unified payments interface (UPI) helped India’s fintech sector to claim its rightful place in the world.

Now this is something that is not available to every person in the developed world. “About 40 per cent digital transactions of the world are happening in India. India has achieved it. We are now moving towards 5G very soon. We are making optical fibre available in every village of this country. The dream of Digital India passes through villages of this country. I am happy that India’s 4,00,000 common service centres are being developed in the villages,” Modi said.

Betting big on science and technology, Modi said, the Digital India movement, semi-conductor manufacturing, 5G rollout, spreading of optical fibre network, is not only a journey towards self-reliance but the next revolution will be there in education, health services, and every other aspect of life. This decade is the decade of technology and India has created a name in the world of information technology.

So India has the backbone to make the best of this decade. Atal Innovation Mission, our start-ups, our incubation centres are all together creating a new sector which is bringing new opportunities for India’s youth, he said.

But if India is to realise its full potential, given its natural resources and more important, human resources, it must increase spending on basic research and development. Without investing money in research and development, either for an individual or a company or a nation it is impossible to grow as in the highly competitive world, only those who invent and innovate and are able to do things in newer, cheaper ways can progress, profit and prosper.

India has been guilty of spending much less than many countries on R&D, and definitely lesser than the world average. Even the private enterprise in the country has spent less on R&D, which explains why not many Indian companies have become mega global corporations, like American and European companies have become. Within India, few examples go to show that companies that do spend on R&D, prospered more, especially in the drugs and pharmaceuticals. In fact, the entire pharma sector is a shining example of India’s R&D success as highlighted during the pandemic.

But in most other areas, India’s track record on R&D spending has been pathetic. The government too admits it, although in not so many words. The latest economic survey notes the fact that India lags behind China and US, and few other countries, in patents too, because of its lower spend on R&D.

It is in this context that the push being given to research and development from the Prime Minister assumes greater significance. It remains to be seen from where we find money to invest in R&D activities, and whether it will be left to the government and government institutions to bear the burden.

Now is the time for the private sector to stand up and be counted. Unless we as a nation come together and realise the importance of investing time and money in pure research in applied science and technology to make things simpler, cheaper and better, we cannot get anywhere in this highly competitive world. If we do not, then not just China, there is every danger that most countries could flood the Indian markets with their goods.