India’s opportunity to catch up in S&T

As India makes efforts to upgrade its scientific, technology and research capabilities, major new opportunities have recently presented themselves. Unlike in the 1990s when an entrenched administrative and scientific bureaucracy missed opportunities for India to make significant advances in S&T (science and technology), this time government must take full advantage. Opportunities seldom knock twice. Obsessed with imposing exorbitant tariffs across the board to balance US trade, US President Donald Trump has also in his first hundred days targeted immigrants, America’s prestigious higher education institutions, and researchers and students.

Chinese students, who dominate STEM subjects, were specially identified, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stating that Chinese students, and particularly those who are members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), would be denied visas and admission to US colleges. The requests from the US Administration seeking personal information of foreign students—of whom Indian and Chinese students are the majority— created a climate of apprehension and fear among foreign students in the US. It has put at risk the nearly USD 80 billion that the US earns from students of these two nationalities. Indian and Chinese students are also the highest number engaged in research in STEM areas.

Faculty, including American nationals teaching science and guiding research in STEM subjects, have not been spared. Their government research grants have been slashed. Consequently, a number of them are exploring opportunities elsewhere outside the US. France and Germany, both advanced in science, technology and manufacturing, have taken steps to lure this talent. Their expectation is that this will boost their R&D in S&T and critical cuttingedge future technologies. France began placing advertisements in relevant US journals and magazines at least three months ago. They offered professors, researchers and doctoral research students attractive salaries, benefits and comparable living and work conditions.

Germany has similarly offered attractive opportunities. EU President Ursula van Der Luyen recently announced a Euro 500 million “Choose Europe for Science” programme. Last month, Chinese President Xi Jinping banned China from exporting rare earths thereby virtually crippling US industries. The move coerced Trump into capitulating and announcing that Chinese students will be welcomed at US colleges. Xi Jinping’s interest is to ensure that Chinese students, many of whom study STEM subjects and have been uncovered as affiliated to China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), return with up to date knowledge of the research in hi-tech sciences. Many return with copies of drawings and classified papers.

China’s intensive and successful cyber espionage efforts. which yielded an estimated US$220-600 billion worth of classified information, supplemented these efforts, particularly in the US, UK and Europe. India is today quite different from the India of the 1980s. It has thriving entrepreneurial talent, the government has shown it is willing to spend on S&T and R&D, and some—albeit very few—of its industries are striving to make hi-tech indigenous products. This creates the foundational basis for high end scientific research in India and attracting competent talent. This will help India in its efforts to become a self-reliant major technologically advanced power. To achieve this, however, India must craft a bold, attractive package of incentives to attract high value scientific talent, whether professors, researchers or students. It will need to compete with China and Europe and offer wages equal to, or higher than what these individuals presently earn.  But this is not enough.

In the immediate term India must take advantage of the changed, fraught international environment and approve dual citizenship to attract the NRIs, many of whom are high performing individuals. The recent sharp jump in applications for OCI cards is a pointer. They can be encouraged to build state-of-the-art laboratories and granted budgets to undertake necessary research. To encourage independence and innovation, Government will need to establish a fund for this purpose and allocate adequate funds to the institutions earmarked for this programme. Government should, however, monitor progress towards achieving the end objective. To obtain optimum results and harness all available talent, including within India, the funds should be allocated to government-run and private institutions. Special enclaves will additionally need to be set up to provide a congenial living environment for foreign talent and this includes modern educational and health facilities.

Government funding should be augmented by mandating that a certain percentage of CSR funds of companies be funnelled for this purpose. In reality, today a large number of companies channel CSR funds to family-run enterprises or ventures. While these contribute to their personal wealth and, by inference possibly to the national economy, they do not contribute to national development or meeting strategic goals. Today as avenues for higher and specialised research shrink, this is an urgent issue. The government needs to take bold steps if India is not to lag behind in its quest to modernise and become an advanced country.

The author is President of the Centre for China Analysis and Strategy.