Lok Sabha Question No. 208 (STARRED), answered on 2018-08-01
Subject: Research and Development
Ministry: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: RAJU ALIAS DEVAPPA ANNA SHETTI

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

## DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.208 TO BE ANSWERED ON 1/8/2018

## RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

## †*208. SHRI RAJU SHETTY:

Will the Minister of SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ÉÊ´ÉYÉÉxÉ +ÉÉè® |ÉÉètÉÉäÉÊMÉBÉEÉÒ àÉÆjÉÉÒ be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Research and Development (R&D) establishments in the country have achieved their desired objectives;
- (b) if so, the details thereof during the 11th and 12th Plan periods and the funds spent for this purpose;
- (c) whether R&D as well as innovation capacity in India is lower as compared to other BRICS countries despite better research institutes in the country, if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
- (d) whether the country lacks innovative research and the research carried out by the public and private institutions is not getting converted into commercial ventures significantly; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof and the corrective steps taken/proposed to be taken in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, MINISTER OF EARTH SCIENCES AND MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (DR. HARSH VARDHAN)

ÉÊ´ÉYÉÉxÉ +ÉÉè® |ÉÉètÉÉäÉÊMÉBÉEÉÒ àÉÆjÉÉÒ, {Éßl´ÉÉÒ ÉÊ´ÉYÉÉxÉ àÉÆjÉÉÒ +ÉÉè® {ÉªÉÉÇ´É®hÉ, ´ÉxÉ A´ÉÆ VÉãÉ´ÉÉªÉÖ {ÉÉÊ®´ÉiÉÇxÉ àÉÆjÉÉÒ

(bÉ. c­ÉÇ ´ÉvÉÇxÉ)

- (a) to (e):    A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT AS REFERRED IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.208 FOR 1/8/2018 REGARDING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

(a) Yes, Madam. The Research and Development (R&D) establishments under the Ministry of Science  and  Technology  have  actively  pursued  R&D  to  meet  their  objectives  of  basic  research, technology  development,  human  resource  development  and  establishment  of  advanced  research infrastructure and recorded impressive achievements.

(b) 14  of  the  16  R&D  institutions  under  the  Department  of  Science  and  Technology  (DST) pursue  cutting-edge  basic  research.  The  remaining  two  pursue  applied  and  technology-oriented research in advanced materials technology and bio-medical device technology. Some of the notable achievements of these institutions during the 11 th and 12 th Plan periods were: successful launch of an  Ultraviolet  Imaging  Telescope  (UVIT)  aboard  the  Indian  Astronomy  Satellite  ASTROSAT which  is  giving  the  sharpest  images  in  the  Ultraviolet  region;  establishment  of  a  3.6  m  optical telescope at Devasthal in Uttarakhand, the largest telescope in Asia of its kind; establishment of 1.3 m  optical  telescopes  at  Devasthal,  Uttarakhand  and  Kavalur,  Tamilnadu;  participation  in  the construction  of  the  international  Thirty  Meter  Telescope  (TMT);  participation  in  a  leading experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at Geneva; accelerator and detector building for construction of the upcoming Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) at Darmstadt and subsequent  experiments  at  the  facility;  development  of  better  variety  of  wheat  and  soybean; molecular  understanding  of  cell  cycle  regulation  in  normal  and  cancer  cells;  development  of  an effective antifungal agent; preparation of new gelator molecules for sustained pheromone release for live insect control in open fruit orchard; nanosilver-based antimicrobial textiles; nanotitaniabased self-cleaning textiles; nanotechnology-based drug delivery; bio-remediation of oil pollution in fields; and a large body of cutting-edge fundamental research work on variety of topics in physical, chemical,  and  life  sciences,  earth  and  atmospheric  sciences,  materials  and  nano  science  and technology and astronomy and astrophysics. These institutions published 8846 and 10249 research papers in leading research journals and produced 199 and 359 patents in the 11 th and  12 th Plan Periods respectively.

The 16 R&D institutions under the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) carry out frontline research in life sciences like structural biology, stem cell biology, role of RNA in biological control processes, cellular and molecular basis of memory, DNA  fingerprinting, brain mapping, manipulation  of  plant  genes  to  breed  improved  variety  of  food,  disease  biology,  sustainable exploitation of  bio-resources, infectious  diseases of  animals; drug development and so on. DBT's work  on  biotechnology  have  led  to  major  inventions  in  the  field  of  rapid  diagnostics,  biodesign, agriculture biotechnology, vaccines and food and nutrition during the 11 th and 12 th Plan Periods. A few important examples are rotavirus vaccine, malaria vaccine, dengue diagnostic and vaccine, an innovative  newborn  hearing  screening  device  'Sohum',  neonatal  resuscitation  device,  food formulations for severe acute malnutrition in children and iron fortification in rice. The National Biotechnology  Development  Strategy  was  announced  in  2015  and  the  main  focus  has  been  on generation of biotech products, processes and technology to enhance efficiency, productivity, safety and cost-effectiveness of agriculture, food and nutritional security, affordable health and wellness, environmental safety, clean energy and biofuel and bio-manufacturing.

During  the  11 th and  12 th Plan  Periods,  the  38  laboratories  of  Council  of  Scientific  and Industrial Research (CSIR) implemented 105 and 159 projects, respectively, covering diverse areas ranging from radio and space physics, oceanography, earth sciences, geophysics, chemicals, drugs, genomics, biotechnology and nanotechnology to mining, aeronautics, instrumentation, environmental engineering and information technology. Some notable developments were: Drishti transmissometer, a visibility measuring system providing information to pilots on visibility for safe landing  and  take-off  operations;  wax  deoiling  technology  that  has  generated  livelihood  for  2500 Micro,  Small  and  Medium  Enterprises  (MSMEs)  and  reducing  imports  of  wax  by  over  Rs.  300 crores per annum; high density glass for radiation protection in nuclear reactors developed by the Department of Atomic Energy; four generations of streptokinase thrombolytics that have realized a direct value of Rs. 580 crores for the patients; BGR-34, a herbal formulation for diabetes; and lowcost portable system for detection of adulteration in milk. CSIR  published 21,381 and

27,241research papers in leading journals of international repute and filed 2782 and 3476 patents during the 11 th and 12 th Plan Periods respectively.

The  funds  exclusively  spent  by  the  R&D  institutions  of  the  Ministry  of  Science  and Technology during the 11 th and 12 th Plan periods were as follows:

(Figures in Rs. crores)

|                   |    CSIR |     DST |     DBT |
|-------------------|---------|---------|---------|
| 11 th Plan Period | 12950.6 | 2463.8  | 1220.63 |
| 12 th Plan Period | 17344.7 | 3148.32 | 2566.48 |

In addition, DST and DBT spend the major component of their budget for funding R&D,  building  research  infrastructure and  human  resource,  promoting  innovation, technology development and commercialization etc. to universities, other higher educational institutions, R&D  establishments  of other Ministries/Departments, industry, etc. on competitive basis.

(c) Two  important  parameters  for  measuring  Research  and  Development  (R&D)  and innovation capacity are scientific publications and patents. In scientific publications, India ranks 2 nd after China among BRICS nations. India's scientific publications are also growing at a rate of approximately 14% as compared to the world average growth rate of around 4%. In terms of patent filings by Residents, India is 3 rd after  China and Russia. But, the good news is that the share of patents filed in India by Indian Residents has grown from 28%  to  33%  between  2015-16  to  2017-18.  These  data  indicate  that  R&D  as  well  as innovation capacity of Indian researchers are rapidly growing. This is also consistent with the latest Global Innovation Index 2018 that shows that India, at 57 th position, ranks after China (17 th position) and Russia (46 th position) among BRICS countries. While comparing with China and Russia, however, we have to keep in mind that the number of researchers in China and Russia are 15.24 lakhs and 4.45 lakhs respectively as compared to 2.83 lakhs in India.  Whether  India  has  better  research  institutions  than  other  BRICS  countries  is  a matter of debate as different ranking systems assign different weights to different attributes of institutions. A reasonable statement to make will be that our leading research institutions carry out internationally competitive R&D.

(d) & (e):  It is true that the R&D enterprise in our country is relatively stronger in basic research and knowledge generation, which is evident from our publication record and its impressive growth rate. Innovative and applied research, leading to commercialization of products  or  commercial  ventures,  are,  however,  also  showing  an  upward  trend.  The Ministry of Science and Technology has taken a number of steps to accelerate applied and innovative  research  leading  to  commercialization  of  products  and  processes.  Some  of  the prominent ones are: (i) DST's National Innovation Foundation (NIF) has widened the base of innovation and recorded grassroots technological innovations and outstanding traditional knowledge, has created a pool of over 2,95,000 technological ideas, innovations and  traditional  knowledge  practices,  has  helped  get  around  1500  grassroots  technologies validated  and/or  value  added,  has  filed  over  980  patents  and  applications  for  68  plant varieties  developed  by farmers and has succeeded in commercializing 108 such cases; (ii) DST's NIDHI (National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations), an umbrella programme for nurturing ideas and innovations into successful start-ups, has added 50 new Technology Business Incubators (TBIs) in the last four years taking the total number to 120 TBIs supported by DST; (iii) Technology Development Board (TDB), a unique organization under DST for providing financial assistance, by way of Loan, Equity or Grant,  to industrial  concerns  for  attempting  development  and  commercialization  of

indigenous  technology,  has  led  to  commercialization  of  343  technologies  and  about  150 socially relevant technologies based  on  innovations  so  far; (iv)  DBT's  public  sector undertaking, Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), has provided funds  to  200  companies  and  150  entrepreneurs  bridging    the  gaps  in  the  biotechnology innovation pipeline from ideation to commercialization which has led to commercialization of  high  quality  and  affordable  products  towards  commercialization;  (v)  The  Technology Development  and  Demonstration  Programme  (TDDP)  of  Department  of  Scientific  and Industrial Research (DSIR)provides financial support to industry for innovative technology development  and  demonstration  in  major  sectors  of  industry;  (vi)  The  Fast  Track Translation  Projects  (FTTs)  of  CSIR  that  provide  implementation  of  close  to  market, business-drive projects, in any area of technology or application without thematic restrictions;  (vii)  Mission  Mode  Projects  (MMPs)  of  CSIR  which  synergize  the  best competencies  in  CSIR  labs  and  outside  institutions  which  will  also  lead  to  innovative research;  (viii)  CSIR's  focused  efforts  at  enabling  commercial  exploitation  of  intellectual property, knowledge  base and/or technologies/products developed in its constituent laboratories; often handholding the industry partner even after licensing of the technologies/products  for  further  development  of  the  technology  to  facilitate  market acceptance  and  thereby  its  commercial  success;  and  (ix)  a  large  number  of  other programmes  under  DST,  DBT  and  DSIR  aiming  at  innovative  and  technology-oriented research; one such programme is India Innovation Growth Programme which has helped about 500 start-ups which have created a market value of 800 million dollars. And, to instil the  culture  of  innovation  in  young  minds,  DST's  MANAK  (Million  Minds  Augmenting National Aspiration and Knowledge) is a gigantic programme aimed at school children of class VI to class X which encourages them to visualize and analyse the needs of society and devise innovative ideas to address them.

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