Speaking at the recently held Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Jaipur, prime minister Manmohan Sin­gh lamented the fact that India had slipped behind in the critical research and development sector and that China was surging ahead. Once, we were the Asian power in supercomputers, but now China has the cr­own. But this is not a recent malady; we have traditionally lacked the enthusiasm for research and development.

Worldwide, institutions of higher learning have doubled as research and development institutions. Look at the Nobel Awards and the awards for science and medicine, which have consistently gone to Am­erican and European scientists working in their laboratories in major universities and institutions of higher learning. Path-breaking research in me­dicine has come from European and American Universities. In ma­ny cases, Indian scientists and doctors, too, have worked with research teams on revolutionary processes and drugs to cure ailments. But back in India, we face a dr­ou­ght of such work. There used to be a few prestigious institutions for research and development, but now these institutes have fallen by the wayside as lack of funds and incentives has strangled intelligence. The institutes remain just as places where very dubious doctorates are granted.

The private sector is no better. Globally, large corporations invest heavily in research and development, either through in-house state of the art facilities or by generously funding research projects in universities or research organisations. In India, the only pure research organisation I can think of is the TATA Institute of Fundamental Research, but it has been ages since groundbreaking discoveries, processes or inventions came out of that prestigious institution. Bhabha Atomic Research Centre was the country’s premier atomic research institution. It was instrumental in making India an atomic power. ISRO did some good work and gave India the ability to put satellites into space but some of their much required projects are floundering and are heavily dependent on vital components being provided by the western nations. In the wake of Pokhran 2, when sanctions were clamped on India, these organisations suffered because they were denied access to technology. The post Pokhran 2 embargo was a setback for our vital research and development programme in the defence sector too.

It is not as if we lack in the intellect and intelligence department. Our scientists have proven their merits and capabilities in foreign countries where they have been given the proper environment, facilities and incentives to do research activities. In Indian institutions their creativity is stifled by politics and red tape; freed from these their talents have flourished.

It isn’t as if we don’t have the faculty for research and innovation. Recently, I visited Gujarat Vidyapeeth in Ahmedabad. Gujarat Vidyapeeth was established in 1920 by Mahatma Gandhi. As a part of their research activities the faculty and students have developed a few alternate energy-producing machines very ingeniously. One was a washing machine working on pedal power. One loaded the drum with clothes and the requisite water and detergent and then sat and pedalled away till the laundry was done. They had a pedal power battery charger, a pedal power electric organ, a pedal power water pump and wood saw and many more products. This showed a creative spark but the problem is that the application of such technology is not available and so they remain amusing show-pieces instead of becoming mass-produced products catering to those who want to lead a less consumptive life style.

When Bapu decided that he was going to revive khadi, hand spun and hand woven cloth to counter the British imports from the mills in Manchester, he sent out his people into the villages of India to find artisans who had till then not lost their traditional skills. The spinning wheel he found was very big and unwieldy. Bapu wanted one that he could easily carry with him while he was travelling and so he got those with technical abilities in his ashram to develop a portable spinning wheel. They came up with the portable spinning wheel, Rentiyo, which neatly folded up into an easily po­rtable box. Both at Sabarmati and later at Sevagram, Bapu had teams of persons developing products and solutions to modernise craftsmen’s tools and instruments and this activity remained a vital part of his ashrams during his lifetime. The evolution of the charkha saw the multi-spindle ambar charkha being developed which multiplied the productivity of spinners. Now there is the e-charkha, which comes with a tiny generator attached. So while the artisan spins khadi yarn, the generator produces electricity to cha­rge a battery that would then produce electricity.

Our prime minister’s concern is justified; if we lag behind in research and development we will not be able to stand independently as an industrial power and may soon become a subservient production facility. We have the talent, all we need is a culture of scientific and industrial research and innovation, and it must be instilled in us during our primary education itself.

(The writer is founder

president, Mahatma

Gandhi Foundation)