‘India losing scientific edge to China’

The SAC to the PM exemplified the Chinese specter using a recent study by the US government. According to the study, in the last 25 years, China’s research output has increased more than 25 times in comparison to India’s.

The study compares the number of published research papers in both countries and surmises that all is not well with Indian science. ‘‘The difference between China and India is dramatic,’’ says lead author of the study R N Kostoff from the Office of Naval Research, US Ministry of Defence, Arlington, US.

According to the exhaustive 300-page study, between 1980 and 2005, China increased its number of scientific papers published in quality journals by over 104 times, while India could manage to do it only by 2.3 times. Concerned over the way China is making rapid strides, Union Minister for Science, Technology and Ocean Development Kapil Sibal says ‘‘we cannot lag behind China’’ and according to him the Prime Minister has tasked the council to prepare a roadmap ‘‘to reverse this trend’’.

Raghunath A Mashelkar, director-general of the CSIR, in his presentation to the PM said ‘‘India’s competitive base is eroding and the relative rank of China rising in the world order’’.

India today spends only about US$ 5 billion on R&D every year amounting to 0.9 per cent of the GNP. In comparison, China spends about 1.3 per cent of its GDP on R&D and by 2020 wants to increase spending on science and technology to US$ 112 billion.

Sibal told The Indian Express that if India had to be a frontrunner in the knowledge economy ‘‘the investment in R&D has to go up to 1.1 per cent of total GNP in the next two to three years and should actually reach about three per cent in a decade so that India can build further on its good base of excellence’’. The minister added: ‘‘India surely needs to increase its human resource in terms of quality and numbers so as to be reckoned as a frontrunner in the world knowledge space’’.

The council has, as members, 30 top scientists of the country, from top engineers like Anil Kakodkar of the Department of Atomic Energy to basic science researchers like Indian Institute of Science chief P Balaram.

The Prime Minister’s Office said the ‘‘SAC also expressed its concern over excessive bureaucratic and political interference in the functioning of research institutions and universities’’. However, no discussion seems to have taken place on the raging controversy at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

The Prime Minister has agreed to convene a conference of chief ministers to discuss issues pertaining to science teaching and research and improvement of higher education in India.