The government will seek changes in the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-2017) to see that results of lab work benefit common man in terms of better sanitation, healthcare and sustainable development, the minister told the sources in an interview.
He said there was a need to increase the number of citizens acquiring doctoral degrees so that the country can satisfy its future needs for advanced research in pure sciences.
"The prime minister has repeatedly stressed that in the past decline in pursuit of science studies has been a disappointment. We need to promote advanced research and scientific inquiry in various disciplines such as material sciences, biotechnology, nuclear and space research, healthcare and chemicals," Kumar said.
As part of the efforts to encourage students to take up science, the government has launched "Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE)" which will also help build a resource pool for research.
Launched in 2008, INSPIRE has three components - Scheme for Early Attraction of Talent for Science (SEATS), Scholarship for Higher Education (SHE) and Assured Opportunity for Research Careers (AORC).
SEATS aims at attracting children in age group 10-15 years and provides for award of Rs.5,000.
As part of SHE, 10,000 scholarships are offered every year for youth in the 17-22 age group. AORC envisages providing 1,000 post-doctoral fellowships each year in the 22-27 age group in both basic and applied sciences.
Kumar said that over 370,000 INSPIRE awards have been sanctioned till March this year at a cost of Rs.188.24 crore. Apart from this, Rs.45.65 crore has also been sanctioned for organizing exhibitions.
The minister said that he intended to tour various educational institutions to obtain first- hand information regarding ways to enhance the utility of the INSPIRE scheme and to take further policy initiatives as would enthuse a large number of students in schools and colleges to take to science as a discipline and a career.
He said it was absolutely imperative to increase public and private spending on research and development. "So far the public spending on (research and development) is less than one percent of GDP which is completely unacceptable," he said.
The minister said a critical element for science and technology in the next plan was to promote intra-departmental and inter-departmental cooperation within the government institutions so that duplication of research effort can be avoided and there is horizontal and vertical transfer of scientific results.
"The paradigm shift that we are seeking to achieve in the 12th Plan is to translate results of research into technology which would directly impact quality of daily lives of 'aam aadmi' (common man), be it in terms of pure drinking water, sanitation, better health care, sustainable development and our ability to fight pandemics," Kumar said.
As part of the strategy, he added, the government would ensure that there is pro-active participation by private industry in developing new technologies based on research in government institutions such as the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
According to Kumar, the 12th Plan will also closely look at strategies to ensure that brain drain does not take place and world class renowned scientists working abroad were persuaded to return to India and contribute in a programme of national renewal.
He said the Department of Earth Sciences was giving advanced information to farmers and fishermen about monsoon and the figure is expected to be taken to 50 million at the end of the 12th Plan. IANS
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