There is little reason to believe that a third term for Narendra Modi will result in the renaissance of Indian scientific research and innovation.
When Modi became India’s prime minister in 2014, his election was expected to awaken the dormant potential of Indian scientific research and innovation.
Although several initiatives were announced in the following years, spending on scientific research and innovation remained stagnant.
‘Well below the global average’
The government’s Chief Scientific Advisor recently acknowledged that “if we look at any indicators commonly used to measure a country’s scientific strength, we are far behind, well below the global average.”
He said that it is necessary to improve indicators such as gross expenditure on R&D, the number of researchers per million inhabitants, women in science, the number of patents, among others.
After a decade of political discussions aimed at increasing gross expenditure on R&D, the government created the National Research Foundation in 2023 with a budget allocation of almost US$6 billion over five years. However, only $30.9 million was allocated to the foundation in the 2023-24 national budget.
To the detriment of scientific education
In the last decade, India has indeed witnessed a regression in the uncritical glorification of ancient knowledge to the detriment of scientific education.
The removal of certain rational and scientific topics—such as the Periodic Table, water conservation, air pollution, and resource management—from the curriculum caused alarm in the scientific community.
Darwin’s exclusion from the program, for example, is not an innocuous change. It represents a setback for the teaching of science and represents a threat to the scientific temperament.
Optimism is gone
The optimism that greeted Modi’s rise to power has evaporated. And the future, should he return for a third term, does not look promising.
The most fundamental requirement for the advancement of science and innovation is adequate gross expenditure on R&D as a proportion of GDP.
To understand the extent of India’s regression in scientific progress, a comparison with China is illuminating.
In the early 1990s, both India and China invested similar amounts in R&D, each contributing around 0.7% of GDPD. Notably, during this period, India’s scientific publication output, as assessed by the ISI database, exceeded that of China, with nearly 10,000 articles per year, compared to less than 6,000 for China.
However, in 2020, China surpassed India’s scientific output by three times, which is attributed to a substantial increase in investment in R&D, which increased to 2.2% of GDP in 2021.
Lack of investment
In contrast, India’s investment stood at 0.65 percent of GDP in 2023. An analysis of the R&D budget structure reveals that more than 65 percent is allocated to three major strategic sectors: defense, nuclear and space, leaving just 35 percent for civil R&D.
Lack of sufficient investment in R&D has hampered government efforts to realize the scientific and development agenda in several flagship programs, with the exception of Digital India.
This program has had some successes, such as Unified Payments Interface (UPI) platforms, which enable fast and free money transfers using fintech applications. These platforms processed more than $1 billion in transactions in 2021 and India is now a world leader in real-time digital payments. Another success story is that of Aadhar, which has emerged as India’s personal identity platform, covering more than 1.2 billion people.
Despite a major announcement in 2015, not a single “Smart City” model — sustainable and inclusive cities that provide basic infrastructure and provide a dignified quality of life for their citizens, a clean and sustainable environment and application of “smart” solutions ” – It has been established.
National budget estimates from 2022 to 2024 clearly indicate that a dozen scientific missions, ranging from quantum technology to telecommunications (including 5G and 6G), are struggling due to inadequate funding.
Nowhere near
In 2024, India, therefore, is nowhere near the global frontiers of science and technology.
Modi came to office with a grand vision for science and innovation – articulated not only in his speeches at the Indian Science Congress Association’s annual events, but also in his government’s policy pronouncements.
He made clear commitments to eliminate bureaucratic obstacles in laboratories, reduce bureaucracy and increase transparency to inspire the scientific community. He then announced important policy initiatives along with additional budgetary allocations for their implementation.
He wanted India to be among the top three science producing countries. In 2020, the government even introduced the National Education Policy, which declared India’s aspiration to become a leading force in science and technology.
Limited success
In his second term, a dozen frontier “science missions” were announced to advance science and capitalize on innovations in AI-enabled technologies, machine learning and supercomputing, frontier electronics, quantum technologies, electric mobility, geospatial policy, a human spaceflight through Gaganyaan. , data protection and cloud computing, graphene and green energy technologies. Again, success was limited.
This great ambition requires qualified scientific manpower, as well as financial resources. The lack of substantial investment in R&D at universities, for example, has seriously hampered their ability to compete globally.
Lack of autonomy
Although China has more than seven universities in the top 50 and 100 rankings, only a few Indian institutions (such as the IITs and the Indian Institute of Science) have managed to secure rankings between 200 and 400. The lack of autonomy and relative freedom of expression has also significantly impeded scientific research and creativity in universities.
The internationalization of higher education in the new educational policy and the vision of building world-class universities remain illusory. Instead, the policy clearly articulates its emphasis on the “rich heritage of ancient and eternal Indian knowledge and thought”.
Under these constraints, it cannot be assumed that a third Modi term will result in a radical overhaul of India’s science and innovation agenda.
(Written by Venni V Krishna, University of New South Wales. Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info.)
