{"id":36215,"date":"2023-07-05T07:32:45","date_gmt":"2023-07-05T02:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=36215"},"modified":"2025-04-21T16:20:44","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T10:50:44","slug":"state-of-science-research-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/state-of-science-research-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"State of Science Research in India"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>State of Science Research in India<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Expenditure on R&amp;D<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Research in Universities<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Research in Universities<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Publications and Patents<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is NRF?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>How NRF will Improve the State of Science Research in India?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The government\u2019s approval for a <strong>National Research Foundation (NRF)<\/strong> is being widely welcomed by the scientific community as an effort to improve the state of science research in India.<\/li>\n<li>The Union Cabinet approved <strong>the National Research Foundation (NRF) Bill 2023<\/strong>, which will establish NRF as an apex body to provide high-level strategic direction to scientific research in the country.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>State of Science Research in India:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/yyJUulKI3pvt1hxtKMO0w3iYr27-QTymSWoHJPddDjn6667ASEf2C-7cXQT8W0gHO5u76M1TeN28Zlf1ovKkkQYdmhajehg7CBSBBDHZGh_aMyQxRLbsCa9d4TNzzOSCgfyxxr2YMwZ1\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Leading country with deep scientific abilities: <\/strong>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).<\/li>\n<li><strong>In comparative terms<\/strong>: <strong>India lags behind several countries<\/strong>, on a variety of research indicators. Primary among these &#8211;\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The money<\/strong> India spends on research and development (R&amp;D) activities.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Women<\/strong> comprise only 18% of total scientific researchers in India, while globally this number was 33%.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Expenditure on R&amp;D:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>For more than two decades now, the Centre\u2019s stated objective has been <strong>to allocate at least 2% of the national GDP on R&amp;D.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Not only has this objective not been met,<strong> the expenditure on research as a proportion of GDP has gone down,<\/strong> from about 0.8% to 0.65% between 2000 and now.<\/li>\n<li><strong>This does not mean that money for research has not increased<\/strong>. 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.\n<ul>\n<li>But India\u2019s GDP has grown faster, and so the share of research has gone down.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Comparative study:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>India\u2019s total expenditure on R&amp;D in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms in 2018 &#8211; about <strong>US$ 68 billion<\/strong>, was the sixth highest in the world, after the US, China, Japan, Germany and South Korea.<\/li>\n<li>However, <strong>India is far behind<\/strong> as the US and China both spent more than US$ 500 billion that year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Research in Universities:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>India has nearly 40,000 institutions of higher education and over <strong>1,200 <\/strong>of these are full-fledged universities. <strong>Only 1% of these engage in active research.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>According to the DST, <strong>there were 7,888 R&amp;D institutions in the country in 2021<\/strong>, including more than 5,200 units in the private sector and industries, which engage mainly in industry-specific research.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The count of private sector units even includes 921 industries<\/strong> with potential to undertake research activities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Research Output:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>India produced 25,550 doctorates in 2020-21, of which 14,983 were in science and engineering disciplines.<\/li>\n<li><strong>This 59% proportion<\/strong> in the overall doctorates compares well with other countries, putting India in the<strong> seventh rank overall.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>But because of India\u2019s large population<\/strong>, this is not impressive in proportional terms.<\/li>\n<li>The number of researchers per million population in India, <strong>262<\/strong>, is extremely low compared with even developing countries like Brazil (888), South Africa (484) or Mexico (349).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure class=\"media\">\n<div data-oembed-url=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Y776fAG7vJU\">\n<div><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Y776fAG7vJU\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Publications and Patents:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>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.<\/li>\n<li>However, <strong>it still constituted only 5% of all the articles. <\/strong>Chinese researchers contributed 23%, while US researchers accounted for 15.5%.<\/li>\n<li>In 2021, <strong>a total of 61,573 patents were filed in India, making it the sixth largest in the world<\/strong>. But this was nowhere close to the nearly 16 lakh patents filed in China, and about six lakhs in the US that year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is NRF?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Recommended by the <strong>National Education Policy (NEP) 2020<\/strong>, NRF will be established at a total estimated cost of<strong> \u20b950,000 crore from 2023-28,<\/strong> to &#8211;\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Focus on creating a policy framework<\/strong> and putting in place regulatory processes to ensure <strong>increased spending on R&amp;D.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Ensure that scientific research was conducted and funded <strong>equitably with the greater participation from the private sector<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Prioritise research funding<\/strong> and <strong>forge collaborations<\/strong> among the industry, academia, and government departments and research institutions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Department of S&amp;T (DST) <\/strong>would be an administrative department of NRF that would be governed by a <strong>Governing Board<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The Prime Minister will be the ex-officio President<\/strong> of the Board and the Union Minister of Science &amp; Technology and Union Minister of Education will be the ex-officio Vice-Presidents.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>Governing Board <\/strong>will also consist of eminent researchers and professionals across disciplines.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>NRF\u2019s functioning will be governed by an <strong>Executive Council<\/strong> chaired by the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How NRF will Improve the State of Science Research in India?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong>By democratising science funding: <\/strong>NRF will emphasise the funding of projects in peripheral, rural and semi-urban areas, which are neglected and never receive funding for science projects.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>By finding solutions to the big problems facing Indian society:<\/strong> The NRF would promote research not just in the natural sciences and engineering, but also in social sciences, arts and humanities.<\/li>\n<li><strong>By providing an efficient and integrated management system:<\/strong> For the implementation of the missions such as the supercomputer mission or the quantum mission.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1) How much (of its GDP) India spends on research and development (R&amp;D)?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>India&#8217;s R&amp;D expenditure-GDP ratio of 0.7% is very low when compared to major economies and is much below the world average of 1.8%. The main reason is the low investment in R&amp;D by the corporate sector.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2) What is the scheme to promote women in science in India?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The \u201cKnowledge Involvement in Research Advancement through Nurturing (KIRAN)\u201d Scheme of DST had been instituted to encourage women scientists through various programmes in the field of S&amp;T.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-sci-tech\/national-research-foundation-approved-state-of-science-where-india-lags-8751448\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>National Research Foundation approved State of science: Where India lags<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The National Research Foundation will help to improve the state of science research in India.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":36216,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-36215","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}