corporatisation of science research in India

 corporatisation of science research in India

In establishing the Anusandhan National Research Foundation and the way its funding proportion is designed, there are clear signals of the government’s plan

अनुसंधान राष्ट्रीय अनुसंधान फाउंडेशन की स्थापना और इसके वित्तपोषण के तरीके से सरकार की योजना के स्पष्ट संकेत मिलते हैं।

107th Science Congress in Bengaluru 

1 inaugural address of the 107th Science Congress in Bengaluru in January 2020 .

2 new policy on knowledge production under Modi's leadership -

It was conveyed to young researchers speaking: “innovate, patent, produce, prosper”.  .

How earn their revenue from external sources 

Gov directing laboratories 

Over several years, the current ruling regime has been directing laboratories and other research centres to earn their revenue from external sources by marketing their expertise and investing the surplus to develop technologies for national missions. 

‘Dehradun Declaration’  

This policy position can be traced to the ‘Dehradun Declaration’ prepared by the directors of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research labs in 2015, 

where it was decided to market patents as a means to self-finance research. 

corporatisation of science research 

In other words, this was a call for the corporatisation of science research — a process of converting any state-owned entity into a market commodity and being able to follow the business model to support itself, rather than relying on public support. 

 Section 8 companies 

Science institutes are now encouraged to develop research centres registered as Section 8 companies, wherein private companies or shareholders can invest money.

The ANRF and research

 

Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF)

 1 why ? 

Established under the ANRF Act of 2023, this new mechanism is designed to

•  fund research in the country 
•  to improve linkages between research and development, academia and industry.

 2 Finance Minister to ANRF 

 “We will operationalise the ANRF for basic research and prototype development.” 

3 prototype development - in ANRF

किसी उत्पाद की बाजार क्षमता का आकलन करने के लिए - लेकिन यहाँ सरकार की मुख्य रुचि उस शोध को वित्तपोषित करने में है जो बाजार की जरूरतों को पूरा करेगा। एक और संकेत यह है कि जिस तरह से फंडिंग अनुपात को डिज़ाइन किया गया है। 

4 Funding to ANRF

The ANRF will receive ₹50,000 crore over five years, 72% of which is expected to be from the private sector. 

 government intends to reduce its role in funding the research and expects private entrepreneurship to pitch in a big way.

knowledge is  commodity to be marketed ?

Even in the United States, where research and development has significantly outstripped / better government funding over the last decade, it is clustered mostly in IT and pharmaceuticals. 

The knowledge thus generated through research is considered a commodity to be marketed. 

market-oriented perspectives comes from ? 

1 as discussed by Prabir Purkayastha in his book, Knowledge as Commons. 

2 science and technology are now more closely integrated than ever, and scientific advances can now end up as marketable products more rapidly. 

3 This transformation has also led to intellectual property rights allowing universities to sell the patents to private corporations, even if the research is publicly funded. 

Signals despite the stated objective

private sector and profit 

1 curiosity-driven research in natural sciences involves understanding and predicting natural phenomena based on empirical evidence and experimentation.

 2 The private sector cannot be expected to finance curiosity-driven science because it will not invest money unless the research finds some immediate application that maximises its profits.

3 what can we do ? 

This can be encouraged only by increasing the share of public funding. 

The research proposals in basic science need to be assessed based on the proposers’ ability to acquire knowledge about a problem defined by conducting observations, experimentation and analyses. 

Country comparison

public funding for science research in India  

1 Although India is ranked among the top 10 by gross domestic product (GDP), the ratio of public funding for science research in India has been 0.6% to 0.7% of GDP for the last decade. 

2 A country such as South Korea, only a third the size of India and its population, spends about 2% to 3% of its GDP. 

3 While the private sector is encouraged to fund, the government must increase its basic science and non-profit research allocation. 

 free enquiry 

and maintain the financial and administrative autonomy of the institutes. 

 As Niraja Gopal Jayal 

 although the heavy hand of the educational bureaucracy has always been hovering over public universities, constraining their autonomy, 

in recent times “the state intervention has become more manifestly political in a partisan way, and openly ideological within an ecosystem that attaches no value to academic freedom”. 

source the hindu