‘India has data, demography, demand, democracy to achieve world-class scientific solutions,’ PM modi said in his inaugural address at the India International Science Festival-2020
Ancient India has immensely contributed to the knowledge in various branches of Science. The science of astronomy, called Khagolshastra, was in fact well advanced in ancient India. Contributions of popular ancient scientists & discoverers like Kanad, Varahamihira, Nagarjuna, Charak, Sushruta, Aryabhatta, and others, are a proof of India’s rich legacy in science, technology and innovation.
Many of world’s most remarkable and game-changing discoveries were made here long before they got cracked by the western world. The only drawback, however, had been on the promotional front as ancient India missed out on proper pedestalling of the discoveries and a shout out to the world. The new India, which is on a roundabout of taking science to newer heights, is but taking care of both showcasing India’s scientific prowess to the world and promoting science enthusiasm within the country, through even funding and other facilitations now.
Government of India coined a new term i.e. ‘Ease of Doing Science’ in the country today. Union Minister of Science and technology Dr. Jitendra Singh released the new guidelines for ‘Ease of Doing Science: Towards less government, more governance’ on the foundation day of the Department of Biotechnology. This step has been taken to reduce the compliance burden and switching from research administration to research facilitation. Under the initiative, the central government has relaxed compliance guidelines for scientists, therefore making it easier for them to access grants and rope in associates for research and development projects.
It is pertinent to mention that the reforms include single-step approval for administration issues including Budget re-appropriation within the recurring head and change of principle investigatory. The guidelines also stated that to ease the burden of research personnel engaged in research & development projects, salaries for the first two years will be released during the first year as ‘grant-in-aid’ in the project. With the view to promote scientific research in India, the Centre also planned to develop “Ease of Doing Scientific Index” that would ensure effective use of both disbursed funds and the time to weed out sub-standard research work.
Budget 2022-2023 allotted the Ministry of Science & Technology a sum of Rs 14,217, of which Rs 6,000 crore went to DST , Rs 5,636 crore to DSIR and Rs 2,581 crore to DBT. This allocation to DST and DSIR in 2022-2023 has increased by 15% and 6% respectively, as compared to last year allotment. The budget of the Department of Science & Technology (DST) also saw a miniscule jump of Rs 67 crore, whereas the allocation under R&D in DST saw an increase of Rs 11 crore. As the spectrums of innovation, startups, technology, indegeneity and science converge rapidly with changing times in the country, it would be rather interesting to see what all solutions India comes up with before the world in the coming years.
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