Prime Minister of India - Dr. Manmohan Singh

PM's inaugural speech at 92nd session of Indian Science Congress

"It gives me great pleasure to be here to inaugurate the 92nd session of Indian Science Congress. This is an important gathering of our science fraternity and your annual sessions have played a historic role both in promoting research and in shaping public policy. I sincerely hope your deliberations will contribute to the fostering of scientific temper among our people. Science is not merely an instrument of economic and technological progress, it is also a means to acquiring a more rational approach to life.

Science and technology must pervade our psyche, our way of thinking and our way of working. We must have a greater integration of our economic and social programmes with R&D activists in science. The National Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of our Government underlines the importance of integrating science with society and fostering scientific temper among the people so that we are able to deal with the challenges at hand in a rational and reasonable manner.

In my very first interaction with the scientific community, at the presentation of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar prizes. I had made a few commitments on behalf of our government that I would like to reiterate to this larger audience.

First, I affirm our commitment to the development of basic science, applied science and the promotion of excellence. I do not believe the issue here is of basic versus applied science. It is not an "either/or" issue. We must devote equal attention to the development of basic and applied sciences, both in teaching and research.

Second, I am committed to rebuilding the science base in universities. This will include creating synergy between new initiatives in S&T and our university system.

Third, we will promote public private partnerships, to increase funding for frontier areas of scientific and technological research.

Fourth, the de-bureaucratisation of Science & Technology institutions will be ensured and their academic autonomy assured.

Fifth, we will restructure our Science & Technology support systems.

Sixth, we will create exciting career opportunities for scientists so that we can retain our talent at home. We must build more centres of excellence in science like the Indian Institute of Science. India deserves a dozen such institutions, in various fields of science.

I believe, science must also serve the needs of the weakest sections of our society. Confronted by the colossal human tragedy wreaked on thousands of people in our part of the world by the Tsunami waves triggered by an earthquake in the Andaman Sea and beyond, the question has been asked if we could have made better use of modern science and technology to alleviate, if not prevent, human suffering.

Our heart goes out to those who have suffered from the consequences of a natural disaster of this magnitude. But our scientists cannot remain silent witnesses to such natural disasters. science and technology must play a greater role in our strategy to address the problems of prevention, mitigation and management of the impact of natural disasters.

We must enhance our predictive capabilities and preparedness for meeting emergencies arising from floods, cyclones, earthquakes, droughts, landslides and avalanches. We need a better understanding of natural phenomena that lead to such disasters and of the human activities that aggravate them. Our pre-disaster preparedness is as important as our ability to mitigate and manage the post-disaster situation. I have a great expectation that the Indian Science & Technology community will rise to this challenge.

While our Government is prepared to fund the needed research and invest in the required technologies, we cannot re-invent the wheel nor be oblivious of the fact that there are contending claims on our limited resources. If there are technologies already available we must use them, if there are systems already in place we must link ourselves with them. Where we would need investment is in promoting better utilization of existing knowledge and in disseminating this knowledge as widely as possible.

There are some other concerns about the development of science that I first wish to share with you before I turn to the theme of this year's Congress.

First, I am concerned by the fact that our best minds are not turning to science, and those who do, do not remain in science. On the one hand, we are truly proud of the fact that this year, all the nineteen young boys and girls, who represented India in Olympiads, came back with medals. On the other hand, our past record shows that practically none of such Olympiad medal winners pursued science subsequently as a career! We must reverse this trend. I understand that in a recent nation-wide study launched by Indian National Science Academy and conducted by National Council of Applied Economic Research, it was revealed that less then 3% of school children indicated their preference to pursue a career in science. We have to improve the quality of teaching and increase the enrolment of students in science and mathematics at the school level. Our scientific community must take grater interest in science and maths teaching and syllabi at school level to make them more interesting.

We must find ways of making these disciplines more attractive to children and widen the base of science and maths teaching.

Second, I am concerned about the tyranny of bureaucracy and the quality of output in many of our scientific research establishments. The pursuit of research in science is an adventure, a creative endeavour. Are we creating the required environment for innovation, for experimentation, for risk and creativity in our institutions, be they universities or national laboratories? Or have we allowed bureaucratic systems and patron-client relationships to stifle creativity?

Are our research laboratories exciting places for the young, encouraging creativity and experimentation, or are we scaring them away with our bureaucratic ways and our hierarchical systems?

Third, I do wonder whether or not we are creating the required incentive mechanisms to reward creativity? In addressing this challenge we will also be dealing with the problem of making science a more attractive career option. But there are other aspects of the incentives issue that we must also address. One such is the protection of intellectual property. I believe an important incentive mechanism for research is provided by the patent regime.

As you know, the government has taken steps to usher in a new patents regime. Apart from keeping our international commitments, an important objective of our Government is to bring in a balanced intellectual property regime, which on the one hand will give a full expression to the creative ability of India's intellectual prowess and on the other hand also protect the interest of society at large.

Indeed, an ideal regime of intellectual property rights has to strike a balance between the private incentives for innovators and the public interest of maximizing access to the fruits of innovations. This balance is reflected in article 27 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which recongizes both that "Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interest resulting from any scientific, literacy or artistic production of which he is the author" and that "Everyone has the right .... to share in scientific advancement and its benefits".

I do believe that the new regime that we will have will balance the interest of the innovator and that of the society in an optimum way.

The new patents regime will have a special significance for the fortunes of our drugs and pharmaceutical industry. Our industry benefited from the 1970 patent amendments. As a result, today we have a strong manufacturing base in drugs and pharmaceuticals. However, industry will have to move from mere imitation to innovation now. It will have to get into new drug discovery research. I am very happy that industry has already accepted this challenge. I understand that during the last four years, the R&D investment made by drugs and pharmaceutical industry has gone up by 400%. I am also happy to see the creation of new R&D centres by some of the leaders during the past few months. I assure you that our government will play an active role in partnering industry to carry this movement forward.

I would like to draw the attention of our S&T community to two areas of great importance to our economic development where the Nation can benefit from more research and innovation. These are agriculture and energy. Our Government has promised a "new deal to rural India". This "new deal" will have an economic and social content, as well as a technological component. We have emphasized the need for a Second Green Revolution. This requires greater application of S&T in agriculture. We must improve the productivity of land and water as well as of other inputs in agriculture. This requires an increase in investment, both public and private, both in rural infrastructure and in the application of S&T in agriculture. The benefits of new research in bio-technology, in electronics and communication technology and in infrastructure related technologies must translate into higher incomes for our farmers and a strengthening of our farm economy.

Energy security is another area of concern for us. Given the developmental goals we have set for ourselves and the expected increase in per capita consumption the demand for energy can only increase.

We cannot meet this demand on the basis of existing sources of energy and existing technologies for sourcing, distributing and utilizing energy. We require a new technological revolution in the energy sector aimed at meeting the growing demand for energy in more economical and sustainable ways. We have to budget for increased demands on our resources while at the same time ensuring that we protect our environment. A strategy for conservation of energy has both a social dimension as well as a technological dimension. The concept of "Sustainable Development" entails both a social and economic agenda as well as a scientific and technological agenda of research and application. Both our political and social leadership as well as our scientific and technological community must rise to the challenge and meet it in socially, economically and ecologically acceptable ways

This year you have chosen to focus your attention on the theme "HEALTH TECHNOLOGY AS A FULCRUM OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATION".

Bio-technology, pharmaceuticals and health technology are areas in which Indians have made impressive contributions and this is certainly a priority area for public policy.

The recent breakthrough by our scientists in the discovery of a new molecule, the first since 1963, to treat tuberculosis is an important achievement made possible by public-private partnership in R&D. By reducing the time period for treatment of tuberculosis this molecule can help reduce the cost of treatment once it is available in the market. This is a fine example of science coming to the aid of the needy, especially the poor. Scientific advances will continue to offer new solutions for dealing with health issues. Our efforts must be to adapt such advances to our Indian conditions. Here again the importance of appropriate technology, including in instrumentation comes to the fore.

New advanced health technology must help the poor and needy. Our 'best minds' in science must engage themselves in providing solutions to the problems that can make a difference to humanity. Every thirty seconds, a child dies somewhere of malaria.

We can imagine the benefit to humanity if we had a good vaccine for malaria. HIV/AIDS is ravaging nations today. A new vaccine of HIV/AIDS can make a big difference. Such breakthroughs cannot occur unless our most creative brains dedicate themselves to these problems. I appeal to the very best of our scientific community to engage themselves in dealing with such challenges that are both intellectually stimulating and socially relevant.

New drug discovery research is becoming increasingly expensive. It now take upto 15 years and upto 1.5 billion dollars to move a molecule to the market. Let alone the poor in India, even the rich in the developed world will not be able to afford such drugs! India cannot just emulate these models and hope to win. We must create alternative paths of drug discovery, where India has distinct comparative advantage and a chance to win.

India can be a major partner in the process of discovery, development and delivery of such products.

Consider just two recent examples that encourage me to believe that our biotechnology and pharma R&D system and industry can help reduce the cost of medicines worldwide and be a force for good in the world. The Central Drug Research Institute produced a drug to treat cerebral malaria. Themis, an Indian pharma company sells it under the brand name E-Mal to 48 countries, many of them in Sub-Saharan Africa, at affordable prices. India's Shantha Biotech came out with a recombinant DNA vaccine (Shanvac) on Hepatitis B. This vaccine was being sold for US $ 15 per dose. Thanks to the entry of Shanvac, the prices of the vaccine kept on tumbling till they came to less than a dollar per dose. Shanvac today supplies this vaccine to UNICEF for 50 cents! This is a spectacular reduction in price by a factor of thirty! India's unique S&T capacity as well as low-cost manufacturing capacity can benefit India and the whole world.

I am afraid that worldwide, we are not doing enough to fund those areas of research, which will benefit the poor. This is more so in the case of diseases of the poor. Large drugs and pharma companies will obviously work to provide the maximum value to their shareholders.

This means their research portfolio will be heavily slanted towards drugs, which bring in maximum profits to the firms and not towards the drugs for the poor. The developed countries do not have an incentive to work on diseases which do not affect at least some part of their own population.

Countries like ours must therefore look at the diseases that affect our own populations. There is no substitute to creating new drugs for the poor excepting through public funding, both at the national and international level, and also through meaningful public private partnerships. Our Government is presently formulating programmes to launch a National Rural Healthcare Mission. I urge you to come forward with practical and relevant ideas that can help us address the needs of the people in an effective, efficient and humane manner.

This Congress has a special focus on "health technology". A strategy for development of instrumentation in India has been worked out by the Indian National Science Academy. I agree with its conclusion that Indian firms must acquire a high profile in the global market for medical instrumentation. The INSA report too emphasises the importance of patenting and of increasing the number of patents filed by Indians.

The nation expects a lot from those among us who have had the privilege of good education. We owe it to our people as much as we owe to ourselves that we must apply our knowledge to deal with the extant challenges of our times. Equally, we must encourage a new wave of creativity and experimentation among our youth. Indian science needs a new boost, a new lease of life, a push into the future. Our Government will ensure that the most supportive policy environment is in place. We will commit the resources necessary. However, in the final analysis, it is up to you, scientists, educationists, and administrators of research and educational institutions to take the lead and show us the way forward.

I am happy to announce that I have constituted a Science Advisory Council to Prime Minister with Dr C.N.R. Rao as its chairman.

I look forward to the Council's guidance in addressing the challenges facing Indian science that you may identify at this Congress.

I hope the Indian Science Congress will remain an enlightened platform of creativity and free intellectual debate, engaging society and engaged with it at all levels. If you succeed in attracting more young people to your Congress by next year I would say you have started moving in the right direction. I wish the Congress all success in its deliberations".