In the last three years, there are lot of sectors in which government spendings have been slashed. One by one, government undertakings are being handed over to private hands. The field of scientific research is also not insulated from this . In his speech on August 15 this year, the Prime Minister had talked of turning the country into "New India" by 2022, but the truth behind the scene is that under the regime of this government, the research institutes’ budget have received a major reduction. It is a known fact that India’s expenditure on research institutions is lower than what is necessary, only a meagre 0.85% of our Gross Domestic Product is dedicated towards research, which is grossly inadequate. But now even this funding is also being diluted.
Presently, the institutions undertaking scientific research in India are going through a fiscal crisis. This year in June, Dr. Girish Sahni, the Director General of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (C.S.I.R), which is the leading body for Scientific Study and Research in India, wrote a letter to about 38 laboratories and research centers across the country informing them that out of the 4063 crores allocated in the Financial budget of 2017-18, only 202 crores remained for new research projects and since CSIR was facing financial emergency, the institutes will have to look for ‘external sources’ for funding. It cannot be a mere coincidence that situation has come up just after two years of the Ministry of Science and Technology asking research institutes to obtain their 50% funding from private sources. The Ministry took these decisions, also known as the ‘Dehradun Declaration’, in June 2015, during a two day conference (a ‘chintanshivir’) of CSIR Directors held at CSIRIndian Institute of Petroleum in Dehradun. The declaration clearly mandates the institutions and laboratories to generate 50% of their funding themselves; it also directing them to start ‘self-financing’ projects and send in monthly updates, ensuring that the research stays in sync with Central governments ‘social and economic objectives’. By doing this, the government is not only reducing the expenditure on research institutes but also limiting their autonomy. The Central Government will keep a close watch on all the research and research activities under its "agenda". That is, in a way, independent views of our scientists, which is a pre-condition for scientific research, is being destroyed.
Such diktats mean that scientists will now have to ponder upon and find such projects and ventures that generate revenue! If this trend of forcing private funding into research continues, then it could lead to difficult situations because it is clear in all obviousness that such private firms will push the researchers to work upon areas which have better prospects of monetary gains. For example, currently two sectors- Chemical manufacturing and the Automobile sector have a this higher probability of churning out a profit, therefore there will be more investment by the private sector here. On the contrary, institutes focusing on Agroprocessing or even Astronomy and Astrophysics will have to suffer as these researches they will not be resulting in any monetary gain as such. Such fields will be facing a bleak future, which may end up resulting in closure of their projects or institutions.
After the ‘Dehradun declaration’ there has been a decrement of about 2000 crores in the budget of research institutes. Almost all the research institutes of the country except BARC (Bhabha Atomic Research Institute) and TIFR (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research) under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), which have been excluded from the declaration, are suffering a shortage of funds. Two years since the declaration, the situation has deteriorated to extreme extents leading to financial emergency for research institutes all over the country. There have already been such cases where lack of funds has resulted in closure of projects. It is due to lack of funds that led to end of the O.S.D.D.C (Open Source Drug Development Consortium) Project running under CSIR, in 2015. The OSDDC was aimed at developing low cost drugs for contagious diseases, under which a drug named PaMZ was being created for the treatment of M.D.R.-T.B (multi-drugresistant-tuberculosis).This drug was expected to reduce the duration of treatment to one-third of the current time period. As a result of closure of OSDDC, the fate of this project finds itself in dark. Such actions are not limited to Ministry of Science and Technology, even the Health Ministry is taking such steps. About 18 donor-funded (Donor-funded) projects researching HIV / AIDS prevention programs and 14 operational research projects had to be stopped due to fund constraints by the National AIDS Control Organization after the Health Ministry stopped the funding. Under the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-2017) only 5000 crores have been allocated for expenditure on Medical Research. Even ICMR (Indian Council for Medical Research) has said that this amount is insufficient, the budgetary allocation on Medical Research in India is less than a dollar per person and this needs to be raised immediately. The funding is not the only problem, scientific and rational thinking is also being attacked .There have been efforts to prove and pass myths as scientific facts during the Science Congress in the past few years. The scientists have been asked to discover ‘miraculous uses of Gau-Mootr (Cow urine) and Gobar (Cow dung)’ and to ‘discover the extinct Saraswati River and Ram-Setu.’ As a matter of fact, the Ayush Ministry has started projects to establish research institutes and projects where the ‘miraculous uses of Gau-Mootra and Gobar’ will be studied, and a budget worth crores has been made available for it. This year in April, SEED (Science for Equality, Empowerment and Development) under the Ministry of Science and Technology released a memorandum in whichit has been said that the National Steering Committee has been constituted to launch a project called SVAROP (Scientific Validation and Research on panchgavya) in order to conduct research on ‘panchgavya’. The Minister of State, Ayush Ministry, Mr. Shripad Nayak in one of his speeches given in LokSabha in November last year stated that the laboratories under CSIR will collaborate with Nagpur based ‘GauVigyan Anusandhan Kendra’ to research on anti-oxidant, anti-infective, anti-cancer and bio-enhancer properties of the GauMootra. At first, this statement might come across as humorous and hilarious but this is a matter of serious concern. On one hand our research institutes are facing financial troubles and on the other hand the Central Government is spending crores on pseudo-scientific research. In this way it is misusing the hard earned money of the masses. Actually the party in power at the centre is leaving no stone unturned to fulfill its agenda of hindutva. It is putting all its efforts in imposing its regressive way of thinking. It is due to these reasons that the Scientific Community, which generally prefers to be dormant and silent on social issues, had to occupy the streets in protest. On 9th August, this year scientists, researchers and students all over the country came together for a ‘March for Science’, demanding a raise in expenditure on academic and research institutes, also asking the authorities to ensure that only verified fact based concepts and information be included in the curriculum of students, discouraging promotion of unscientific facts and myths. If the expenditure on the research institutes is not increased and private investment is not stopped, the end results will be devastating. To prevent this from happening, science students and teachers will have to go a step ahead beyond the ritualistic protests.
- Vivek (Translated from Hindi by Arnab)
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