Bureaucracy a major hurdle in the development of Science in India
- Bureaucracy is not designed to encourage innovation. Applying bureaucratic restrictions to research forms a major hurdle in the development of Science in India despite us having enough funding and relatively less competition. Unlike DBT (Dept of Biotech), DAE (Dept of Atomic Energy) and the department of space are the only institutions that undertake developments in-house.
What ails Science in India?
- Modelling scientific departments on the rest of the bureaucracy thereby stunting its development. Important contributions from people like Jagadish Chandra Bose, Satyendra Nath Bose and Srinivasa Ramanujan came from within the country before the machinery of government took over and mismanaged research. Science and research is now hamstrung by bureaucratic mentality that values administrative power over scientific achievements.
- However, the department of space stands out from the rest. Younger people have been put in charge of important programmes, and they have succeeded.
- Restriction over travelling of students and scientists thereby preventing them from gaining exposure to the work of their peers in different countries, from exchanging ideas and gain in terms of networking.
- Undermining scientific enterprises by containing their heads within the bureaucracy. Scientists who are part of the bureaucracy do not receive hikes and promotions despite doing remarkable research.
- Rewarding years of service as opposed to rewarding scientific achievements.
- Lack of lateral movement of scientists from one institution to the other. Scientists collaborate with scientist from other institutes and very rarely have move out. Even collaborations are rare, and funding is instead provided for collaboration within the institutions.
- There is no common goal that scientists are working towards by collaborating with other institutions. Nano mission has funded 150 individual projects, 11 centres of excellence and six industry-linked projects, but no collaborations between institutions. In European countries, programmes like ESPRIT [European Strategic Programme on Research in Information Technology] insist on collaboration across institutions and countries for funding.
Urgent changes that need to be initiated to rejuvenate research:
- Decouple funding and government control.
- Limit the tenure of heads of institutions to 5yrs and encourage them to return to active research.
Exams Perspective:
- Development of Science in India
- Red Tape
- What ails Science in India?