This explains our Nobel drought

BANGALORE: Ever wondered why India,with a population of over a billion, has so few world-renowned scientists andwon only a few science Nobel Prizes? Consider these: *Less than 10%of the total number of students, identified as promising by the national talentsearch, opt for science at the undergraduate level. Only a fraction of these goon to do their master's in science. *China publishes twice as manyscientific papers as India while USA publishes 20 times as many.*India has the largest scientific manpower but they are not relativeto population and not enough to build India into a scientific superpower."Though the problem is manifold, it all finally boils down to money.Fundamental science careers are not rewarding enough while the government alsomakes no concerted effort to retain talent," says a scientist from a governmentR&D establishment. There's some truth there. According to theUnesco Institute for Statistics, India, spends less than 0.8% of GDP on R&D,while Iran and Brazil spend over 1% of their GDP. Finland and Japan spend closeto 3.5%, Germany and USA over 2.5 per cent. Consequently, not onlyhas research vanished from universities but now students also gravitate towardsmore alluring careers soon after graduation. According to ProfessorC N R Rao, honorary president of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced ScientificResearch, the problem is three-fold. "Interest in science is declining among theyoung due to parental/societal pressure and undue importance to a few sectors,universities which no longer contribute to scientific efforts, and lack ofinterest in the scientific profession due to poor emoluments," says Rao.But Union science and technologyminister Kapil Sibal—who agrees that India is woefully short ofPhDs—insists that the scenario is headed for a change. Theministry's allocation has increased by 37% (from Rs 1,886 crore in 2004-05 to Rs2,541 crore in 2005-06). And the increased funds will be used to buildlaboratories with public-private partnership, encourage multi-disciplinaryresearch, create technology hubs, promote pharma research, as well as buildscientific temper, and rekindle the interest in science and promote it as anattractive career option, Sibal says. *R&D researchers per million: Less than 200,compared to about 400 in Brazil, 500 in Iran, over 600 in China, over 800 inArgentina, 7,300 in Finland, 5,000 in Japan and 4,500 in USA *Numberof PhDs per million: About 4, compared to 5 in China, 89 in USA, 75 in Japan and52 in South Korea *Articles in journals: About 300, compared to over500 by China, 2 lakh by USA, over 50,000 by Japan and 40,000 by Germany*Percentage of GDP spent on R&D: About 0.8, comparedto about 1 by Iran, 1.3 by China, nearly 3.5 by Finland, 3.1 by Japan and morethan 2.5 by USA and Germany *Per capita spend on R&D (in $):About 550, compared to 978 by Japan, 705 by USA, 460 by UK and 15 byChina