Submission + - India to double research spending by 2017 (sciencemag.org)
TheWingThing writes: The Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, has promised to double the R&D spending by the government to USD 8 billion (2% of GDP) by 2017, in an interview published by the Science magazine today (full article behind a paywall). He explains that the government plans to “increase gradually the proportion of money that is spent on R&D and at the same time create a system of incentives which will induce the private sector to increase their spending on science and technology”. Richard Stone also reports in this issue of Science that the initiatives are aimed to improve existing research institutions, set up new ones, set up a funding agency modeled after the US National Science Foundation, attract expatriate Indian scientists to return to India, and to set up new universities and research laboratories. The PM also supports his government's decision to place a moratorium on some genetically modified vegetables, and speaks out against some US and Scandinavian NGOs that fund protests against nuclear energy in India. He sees that improvements in agriculture and reduction of malnutrition and communicable diseases are two big challenges facing the country. The Prime Minister's interview comes shortly after the declaration of India as polio-free by the WHO. India currently lags behind most developed countries and China, and its global share of peer-reviewed publications remained at 3.4% in 2010. Whether India will replicate its successes in the Space sector in other areas of science and technology remain to be seen. Bureaucracy and lack of transparency, as reported in the article, seem to be the major hurdles.
