Science in India at 100: Why path to becoming a developed nation is hard but possible

On 15 August 2022, when India turned 75, Prime Minister Narendra Modi exhorted us all to enjoin ourselves on a journey where India would transform into a developed nation by 2047, that is by the time we would have completed a century as an independent country. The keynote of his address were the three facilitators of such a trajectory — the fact that we have become an aspirational society, that there is now a cultural and civilisational re-awakening amongst Indians, and that the world is taking our claims of attaining our rightful place at the global high table seriously.

Twenty-five years is not such a long time in such a scheme of things, and it is clear that without substantial progress in science and technology, it would be difficult to achieve this ‘developed’ tag. There should be a well-defined road map accordingly for Indian science if it is indeed to achieve developed status. These matters have been highlighted by the recent assumption of the G20 Presidency by India in Bali, Indonesia.

In this context, the role of Science-20, or S20, the Science Engagement Group assumes importance. The S20 is one of the several engagement groups that will be led by experts and independent organisations that work in parallel with the G20 official track and contribute recommendations for the consideration of the G20 leadership. With the constitution of the core team of the S20, Union Minister Jitendra Singh chaired a high-level review meeting to oversee the preparations for the S20 meetings.

Scheduled to be held in Puducherry, Bangaram, Agartala, Indore and Coimbatore next year, the theme of the S20 will be ‘Disruptive Science for Innovative and Sustainable Development’. Complementing these are the side events under the theme of ‘Research Innovation Initiated Gathering’ (RIIG), which is being undertaken largely by the science departments of the government.

The sub-themes for RIIG will be Materials for Sustainable Energy, Scientific Challenges and Opportunities towards Achieving a Sustainable Blue Economy, Biodiversity and Bio-economy and Eco-Innovations for Energy Transition. The government is hopeful that all these meetings will foster a cooperative climate where encouraging frameworks for environmentally friendly technologies can be created. In addition to that, technology transfers, the creation of a global start-up ecosystem and the assertion of IP sharing are on the agenda.

Next year, when India hosts the G20 Summit, we are presented with a perfect opportunity to show the way forward and strike a balance between technical self-sustenance and foreign sourcing. Science and research innovation has become all the more important and that too in a milieu that is both sustainable and inclusive. This is particularly appropriate as no country has become a developed economy with a uniformly high standard of living without investing heavily in science and an R&D process that takes science from the laboratory to the people. Implementing our 25-year game plan seems achievable — but only if we plan and execute with pinpoint strategic accuracy.

In terms of numbers, it is easy to see that with a growth rate of 7.8 per cent in GDP this year, the $5 trillion economy target will be achieved by 2026-27 (unless there are drastic fluctuations in oil prices). With the possible switch from fossil fuels to renewables, one may envisage a $9 trillion economy by 2031-32 and a $40 trillion economy by 2047, whereby we would be within the top three countries of the world in absolute monetary terms and not just PPP numbers.

To achieve the 2047 target, we must focus on education, health and nutrition, pharmaceuticals, women-led growth, ocean and polar research, climate change, genomics, advanced materials including nanomaterials, robotics, electric and solar powered vehicles, drones, outer space, and IT, where scientific methodology practised by Indian experts is translated into globally competitive technology. Indian industry must play a central role in our ascent to becoming a developed country with the government playing a catalytic and facilitative role. All this must be taken in the context of global supply chains that have become the instruments of geopolitical tension. This requires a well thought-out foreign policy keeping India’s interests paramount.

On the economic front, technical matters need to be synergised with issues of scalability, skill development, blockchain technology, artificial intelligence, and supply chain inadequacies—quite a package. No less important are the non-economic, non-scientific matters that demand immediate attention as these matters can stymie any efforts towards technical progress.

There is an urgent need for judicial and law enforcement reform, administrative reform, defence rejig to take into account the use of AI in war, deep and urgent constitutional changes of the type that need a constituent assembly, electoral reforms that would reduce structural and transactional corruption and civilizational reworking, integrating India’s re-awakening with respect to its identity. Some of these issues affect the Indian scientific revolution more than others, but none is unimportant.

A vital aspect of progress is a proper management of education. Institutions of higher learning — IISc, IITs and IIMs have given the world a cursory glance at what India is truly capable of. Despite all this, a lot more needs to be done to modernise our education system and the overall infrastructure that facilitates it. In this regard, the primary concern is an investment.

Currently, we spend around 0.8 per cent of our GDP on education and research. This number needs to be bootstrapped up to say 3-4 per cent of the GDP at the very least. Without scientific excellence, in terms of both quality and quantity, we have no chance at all of becoming a developed country. The role of the private sector in the education sphere is not just necessary but needs to attain dominance under careful regulation.

Most of the technological and R&D heft that India needs should come from mission-oriented government laboratories with no educational component and from corporate research laboratories that dovetail closely with government laboratories. The IITs cannot be expected to solve problems of scalability, economic leverage and supply chain management. Their activities can at most take one to the level of good start-ups but that is insufficient for the big, basic breakthroughs that India 2047 needs.

We need a perfect synergy between academia, industry and government, especially with our defence laboratories. The Department of Atomic Energy is a wonderful example as to how a government scientific department should be organised, independent of educational undertakings. This provision needs to be extended to all non-educational scientific laboratories and institutions that have been charged with the duty of rapidly translating science into immediately applicable technologies, strategic security, and towards products and services.

We now need the political will to effect these changes so that we may all proudly hold our heads high by 2047 as citizens of a truly developed nation of the world.

Gautam R Desiraju is in the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru and a member of the S20 Engagement Group of the Government of India. Sharan Setty is an Associate Editor at Swarajya.

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