Scientific Research Needs Focused Funding

The Tribune     12th March 2021     Save    

Context: Understanding challenges in India’s scientific establishment and scope of recently launched National Research Foundation (NRF).

Issues with India’s scientific establishment

  • Bureaucratic culture: Earlier, a distinct set of scientific departments for space, atomic energy, industrial research was created to insulate scientific research from bureaucratic functioning.
    • However, over the years, the number of scientific departments ballooned, and they have got subsumed in the dominant bureaucratic culture.
  • Highly centralised: Resulting in delays in release of research funds, grants, fellowships etc.
  • Promotion of research in government labs at the cost of universities: which were leading centres of research and knowledge creation before 1947.
  • Undermined autonomy: by nurturing another mechanism called the office of the Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA). (although advisory, lines between advice and implementation often get blurred)
    • For E.g. During the pandemic, the PSA was allocated Rs 100 crore for vaccine development from the PM- CARES Fund (which is a private entity), while vaccine development is under the purview of DBT.

About NRF: Announced in Budget 2021 to ‘fund, coordinate and promote research’; Proposed an outlay of Rs 50,000 crore over five years.

  • Objective: To boost the research eco-system in identified thrust areas ‘without duplication of effort and expenditure’.
  • Part of New Education Policy-2020: It will provide a ‘reliable base of merit-based but equitable peer-reviewed research funding’ to state universities and other public institutions.

Associated issues

  • No extra fund: NRF will be funded from budgets of existing funding bodies like the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT).
  • No autonomy: NRF will be managed by the Ministry of Education. NRF will serve as a parallel structure for research funding whose core mandate is not scientific research.
    • E.g. In 2008, the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) (a statutory body) was established with similar objectives but functions under the DST.

Way forward

  • Expand existing mechanism:
    • SERB could be given additional funds for supporting research in universities.
    • Strengthen the Promotion of University Research and Scientific Excellence (PURSE) under DST.
    • For social science research, mechanisms like the Indian Council for Social Science Research (ICSSR) could be renewed and adequately funded.
  • Ensure autonomy: If an overarching body is to be established, it should be an autonomous entity rather than being attached to any Ministry.
  • Expand R&D expenditure: which is stagnating at less than one 1% of GDP.
  • Invoke great principles of a decentralised, evidence-informed, bottom-up, experts-driven, and inclusive approach to Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) policy.