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YUGADRISHTI
1. BRAIN GAIN
(PROMOTING RESEARCH AND INNOVATION)
YUGADRISHTI-”Vision of the Era”
TEAM MEMBERS
-HIMANSHU JOSHI
-HEARSH VARMA
-S RAVI TEJA
-SREE SURAPANENI
-NAGARJUNA TADISETTI
FOR
BY
A COUNTRY’S DEVELOPMENT MODEL ENVISAGES HIGHER, SUSTAINABLE AND INCLUSIVE
GROWTH. TO MEET THESE GOALS, SCIENCE, RESEARCH AND INNOVATION PLAY A LEADING ROLE.
BECAUSE
2. India, the second most populous country with
over 1.2 billion people and the 10th largest
economy by nominal GDP but still,
•India ranks 66th in the Global Innovation Index.
•India accounts for a meagre 3.5% of the global
research output.
• China’s share of world research output jumped
from 2.5% in 1996 to 11.7% in 2010, while India
lagged at under 3.5%
•Not even one Indian university ranks among the
Top 200 Global Universities in the Forbes list.
• Only 3 Indian companies have been listed
amongst the world's most innovative ones.
But why is India lacking?
A few reasons are:
•India spent only 2.9% of the
world’s total expenditure on
research against China which
spent 14.2%.
• Poor infrastructure which is an
outcome of low spending on
R&D.
• Poor quality of education.
• A corrupt and chaotic
governance spoiling the route to
innovation and the loop holes in
the Intellectual Property Rights.
For India to become a knowledge powerhouse, promotion of basic research and innovation, and
development of cutting edge technologies are essential. There is a need to speed up the process
of discovery, diffusion and delivery of technology solutions.
LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT FEW FACTS
4. PROPOSED SOLUTIONS
Formation of a Committee for Research
and Exploration (CRE)
SOLUTION DESCRIPTION
The CRE formed by the government will
fund scientific research and innovation
projects. While the first priority of the CRE
is to fund high-quality scientific research,
particular interest will be in funding
projects that promote the growth of
scientific infrastructure of the country.
Formation of Network for Citizens with
Scientific Acumen (NCSA)
Form an organisation where the citizens of
India who excel in the fields of science and
technology can network together to share
their research, resources and use the
advantage of social networking to gain
knowledge from the like. Various scientific
events, meets and gatherings will be held
within NCSA.
Contd.
5. PROPOSED SOLUTIONS
SOLUTION DESCRIPTION
Quality, affordability and accessibility
should be the mainstay of higher
education, in order to encourage
innovation and research. Education system
in India is failing because of more intrinsic
reasons. There are systemic faults that do
not let our demand for good education
translate into a great marketplace with
excellent education services. A change in
the education policy has to be made to
tackle the flaws in the existing education
system. For this purpose a great deal of
actions need to be taken such as focussing
on skilled education, implementing
massive technology infrastructure for
education, redefining the purpose of
education, getting smarter people to
teach, effective deregulation etc.
Remodelling the education system to
enable qualitative and skilled
learning in order to redefine the
purpose of education.
6. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE SOLUTIONS - COMMITTEE FOR RESEARCH AND
EXPLORATION(CRE)
Functions of the CRE:
CRE will grant funds for performing research and projects to the applicants after a well assessment
of their application, the area of their project, usefulness of the project and its role in enabling the
research and innovation ecosystem in the country.
Priority will be given to those applicants who have a lack of resources but are determined to
research and innovation and to those projects which are more useful for the country’s development
in the science and technology field.
Associate with people with scientific acumen around the world, top universities in the world for
objective setting, maturity and cost effective planning to promote scientific development.
Contd.
The Panel members who approve the
applications:
Retired Defence personnel as they have
ample time and experience, experienced
HR Managers.
Associates from foreign universities like
Stanford, MIT, Harvard Business School
etc.
PhD holders, scholars and Professors
from premier institutes who will be
recruited by the Govt. of India for CRE.
Expected cost :
Approximately 10 crores investment yearly by the
government, donations from private firms and
interested people will be welcomed.
Implementation and growth of the CRE:
Conduct awareness programs in the rural area as
they have lack to media resources.
Conduct workshops and competitions to promote
the drive for innovation and research.
7. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE SOLUTIONS - NETWORK FOR CITIZENS WITH SCIENTIFIC
ACUMEN (NCSA)
Functions of the NCSA:
It will act as a platform to build relations and network among people who share common interests
i.e.; in the field of research and innovation and help India to set a benchmark.
It will be a platform for people to share resources, their work and knowledge for a substantial
growth in scientific discoveries and publications with in the country and at a global level.
Events such as seminars, conferences and expos to be conducted to ensure the continuity of
knowledge sharing as a process in the development of a research and innovation ecosystem.
In house funding for research and innovation work of members after a careful assessment of their
field of interested work, research and funding to be done (as a scholarship) for deserving members
to pursue higher studies and for scientific tours and works abroad. Annual conference for promoting
entrepreneurship where startup ideas will be presented and funded by willing investors.
Member applications will be approved by the controlling authority.
Contd.
The controlling authority of the NCSA:
The NCSA’s control will be under the hands of
Ministry of Science and Technology who will appoint
the board of directors for NCSA and will look over
the finance and maintenance of the group.
Board will also include key personnel from
organizations like BARC, ISRO etc.
Expected cost :
10 crores investment yearly by the
government for functioning, support to
research and maintenance.
In house funding will also play a key role
in the finance.
8. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE SOLUTIONS - REMODELLING THE EDUCATION SYSTEM TO
ENABLE QUALITATIVE AND SKILLED LEARNING
Current Education Pattern:
We have established IITs, IIMs, law schools and other institutions of excellence; students now
routinely score 90% marks so that even students with 90+ percentage find it difficult to get into the
colleges of their choice; but we do more of the same old stuff.
Our education system is geared towards teaching and testing knowledge at every level as opposed
to teaching skills.
The mind numbing competition and rote learning do not only crush the creativity and originality of
millions of Indian students every year, it also drives brilliant students to commit suicide.
Contd.
Actions that need to be taken:
The curriculum must be changed from being quantitative to qualitative because by teaching a man
a skill, you enable him for a lifetime. Knowledge is largely forgotten after the semester exam is over
Instead of focussing on outdated models of brick and mortar, colleges and universities, we need to
create educational delivery mechanisms that can actually take the wealth of human knowledge to
the masses and for this investment in internet shared learning in institutes is the need for the day.
There should be no room for reservations in the post of a teacher, as for way too long teaching
became the sanctuary of the incompetent. Teaching jobs are widely regarded as safe, well-paying,
risk-free and low-pressure jobs. The mediocre quality of the teachers directly impacts the quality of
the knowledge the students gain.
9. Allow private capital in education, the
government cannot afford to provide higher
education to all the people in the country. It is
too costly for the government to do so. The
central government spends about 4% of budget
expenditure on education, compared to 40% on
defence. Historically, the government just did
not have enough money to spend on even
opening new schools and universities, forget
overhauling the entire system and investing in
technology and innovation related to the
education system. Allowing profit making will
encourage serious entrepreneurs, innovators
and investors to take interest in the education
sector. The government does not have enough
money to provide higher education of
reasonable quality to all of us, and it has no
excuse to prevent private capital from coming
into the educational sector.
We have reservation in education today
because education is not available universally.
Education has to be rationed. This is not a long
term solution. If we want to emerge as a
country build on a knowledge economy, driven
by highly educated people we need to make
good education so universally available that
reservation will lose its meaning. Today top
universities worldwide are taking various
courses online, one can easily attend a live class
taught by a top professor of Harvard University
online if they want, no matter which country
they belong to. This is the future & easy way to
beat reservation and make it inconsequential.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE SOLUTIONS - REMODELLING THE EDUCATION SYSTEM TO
ENABLE QUALITATIVE AND SKILLED LEARNING
Actions that need to be taken:
10. CONCLUSION
Innovation capability must be slowly ingrained into the DNA of the society while the government
provides a level playing field to promote innovation. Innovation is vital to a healthy, competitive
economy and is one of the principal drivers of growth. Innovative economies are more productive
and grow faster.
India can start small, build a few platforms with well defined goals and rules, and then let Indian
creativity burst into creation of an innovation and research ecosystem which places great emphasis
on catalyzing the development of as yet non-existent or nascent industrial sectors to fully realize
India’s innovative potential and achieve sustained economic growth.
Improving the innovation system will directly support the government’s priorities for growth, by
helping to make India the best place in Asia to start or grow a business and encouraging investment
and exports.