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You, as a consultant, are assigned the task of formulating a Technology and
Innovation Policy for India, appropriate for the current environment. Please highlight the
contents of the Policy that you would formulate. Please also specify areas that are
different and additional when compared India’s Science and Technology Policy 2003.
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION POLICY
(DRAFT)
PART-I
Introduction
1. At the dawn of independence in 1947, India nursed the dream of rapid social and
economic development using knowledge and tools derived from Science and
Technology (S & T). In spite of the post-independence push to create indigenous S&T
policy, the current S & T capacity has been stagnant over the decades. In the current
globalisation scenario, India is far behind much smaller countries in terms of S&T
capacity and funding for building the desired S&T capacity. This has been due the
negligence of successive Governments which failed to have a vision, goals, objectives
and priorities.This has resulted in relatively NIL remarkable progress in developing
adequate capacity and in ensuring that Science, Technology and Innovation drive socio-
economic activities. A major cause is the absence of a definitive and prescriptive
National STI policy document which defines the vision, goals, objectives and priorities
for investment in STI. A National Science and Technology Policy would commit
government, the productive sector of the economy, science and technology sector
institutions to targets for production, processing, research and development (R&D) and
innovation.
2. India since ages has had a deep rooted tradition of cultivation of scientific
knowledge and technological innovations in the fields of Metallurgy, shipbuilding, town
planning and architecture, sophisticated guided missiles and chemical warfare, fine art
and carvings, metallic jewellery, coloured rock paintings, avionics and navigation on one
side and rich knowledge of nature and bioscience, medicine and life sciences on the
other side. Post independence, Nehru’s Vision of S&T, led growth and development.
Rise of scientific organisations like DRDO, BARC, ISRO, CSIR and the DST all owe to
Nehru’s tryst with Destiny propelled by his love for cultivation of Science and Scientific
temper coupled with technology development towards making the country independent
and exploit S&T to propel social upliftment and economic growth. For Nehru S&T were
inseparable and often interchangeable, with emphasis on cultivation of science and the
development of technology together in all scientific laboratories. At these laboratories,
scientists and engineers worked together with a mission mode on each project.

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PART-II
Vision, Goals and Objective
3. The policy should be driven on the principles of relevance, realism, cost-
effectiveness, synergy and partnership. The policy should be steered by an independent
body of eminent personnel from respective fields, without interference of the
Government. The role of the Government is limited to arrange for co-ordination,
funding, implement policies / guidelines towards support of the vision.
(a) Vision - Becoming a developed economy in the shortest possible time.
(b) Goal – STI policy to be fully integrated into a national development
strategy that would harness the nation’s total science and technology capacity to
achieve national objectives for:-
- Self reliance in S&T by aggressively promoting S&T culture
- Development of existing academic institutions to help nurture ST&I
- Development of self reliant strategic Industry
- Sustainable industrial growth
- Competitiveness of enterprises
- Poverty reduction and inclusive development
- Sustainable environmental management
(c) Objectives. The basic objectives are:-
- Facilitate mastering of scientific and technological capabilities
- Provide the framework for inter-institutional efforts in developing STI and
programmes in all sectors of the economy towards providing the basic
needs of the society.
- Create the conditions for the improvement of scientific and technological
infrastructure for research and development and innovation.
(i) Long-term Objectives. In the long-term, the main objectives are
to create endogenous science and technology capacities appropriate to
national needs, priorities and resources, and to create a science and
technology culture whereby national, socio-cultural and economic
problems are resolved.
(ii) Medium-Term Objectives. In the medium term, of 10 years, the
objective is to accelerate the promotion of innovation through the
development and utilisation of modern scientific and technological
capabilities to provide the basic needs of the population and to compete
ably in the global market.

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(iii) Short-Term Objectives. In the short term of first 5 years of
implementation, the government will restructure the entire science and
technology machinery, infrastructure and programmes in order to make
them more responsive to national needs and priorities in all sectors of the
economy. Towards this, emphasis will be placed on:-
- Restructuring of the National Science and Technology Advisory system.
- Improving basic and applied research infrastructure;
- Restructuring the teaching of science at the basic, secondary and tertiary
levels of the education system
- Promoting the training of a critical mass of middle-level technical
personnel to address the provision of basic needs of food, shelter, health,
clothing, energy, etc...and to enable the population and the nation to
participate in a competitive global economy.
- Acquisition of skills in high and upcoming areas of technology and their
integration into known technologies
- Initiation of mastery of known technologies and their application in
industry.
PART-III
SECTOR-SPECIFIC POLICIES AND MEASURES TO APPLY STI
4. The principal thrust of the National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy is
that it pervades all sectors of the economy. This will ensure the integration of science
and technology into the national development process. STI should be the driver to the
achievement of sectoral goals, objectives and programmes. In order to achieve these
objectives, it is essential to facilitate the implementation of sectoral policies,
programmes and strategies by the respective sectors on the basis of the overall
National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy. Sectors such as Agriculture,
Health, Education, Infrastructure, Defence, Environment, Energy, Trade, strategic and
economy oriented Industry, Natural Resources, Human Settlements and
Communications shall be particularly well-addressed in the formulation of the Science
and Technology Policy guidelines. This section of the National Science, Technology and
Innovation Policy highlights the objectives and strategies for STI facilitation of the
sector-specific policies and programmes.
The scope of this sector policy is limited to only Education
sector. A similar sector specific policy can be developed for all
sectors.
5. Education.
5.1 Objective. To orient all levels of the country’s educational system to the
teaching and learning of science and technology in order to produce a critical
mass of the requisite scientific human resource for national development and

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accelerate the development of a culture of science and technology in society. A
body of noted academicians be made responsible for planning, guiding and
execution of the policy, who in-turn will be responsible to the independent body
for implementation of STI.
5.2 Strategies.
- Ensure that by the year 2020, 60% of all students in the public universities and
80% of those in the polytechnic and vocational institutions are registered in
science and science-related disciplines.
- Promote post-graduate education in scientific disciplines targeting 10% of the
student population in tertiary educational institutions enrolling at the post-raduate
level, on basis of merit.
- Create special incentives for students and graduates of science and echnology
- Improve science education at all levels and in all aspects of the educational
system especially at the basic and secondary levels.
- Promote technical and vocational education and training to enhance middle
level management in science and technology delivery to all sectors.
- Promote science and technology innovativeness within the educational system.
- Increase the country’s capacity in the training of personnel in emerging
technologies.
- Promote acclaimed technical institutions like IITs, IISc and certain universities
for development of incubation centres funded on PPP model.
- Enforce tight control over starting and running of Technical institutions to
maintain quality of technical education.
- All students to be encouraged to develop projects during their graduation/post-
graduation education. Acclaimed or out of the box projects to be incubated for
commercial development. Students developing innovative projects be
encouraged to enroll in post-graduate technical courses with incentives like
employment guarantees and commitment to progress their work within the
country.
- Enhance collaboration between research institutions and universities to train
high level scientific manpower.
- Enhance collaboration between education institutions and industry to ensure
currency of education.
- Ensure that adult literacy classes include studies into cause and effect relations
and how things work.
- Identify skill gaps in STI new emerging technologies through regular review.
[Note for understanding and not a part of policy - As per Prof. PB Sharma, VC
DTU; the students of DTU have developed innovative projects, which have been
recognised at International Forums. However, the Governrnent or its
organisations do not seem to have taken notice of this. While DRDO has been
struggling to develop such airborne systems, students under the guidance of
their professors, have been successful in development of such advanced
technology.

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In the absence of a scientific oriented strategy for education, such brilliant
projects – which could be incubated and further developed by DRDO; and
students with such talents are not being nurtured, will end up to work for
organisations beyond the Indian shores without fostering their knowledge
towards further research which could be of great use to India.]
5.3 Execution Agency
The following agencies shall be responsible for implementation of
the strategy for Education. These agencies will in-turn prepare the detailed
strategies towards achieving the objectives with a perspective of the short term,
medium term and long term goals within the specified time spans.
- University Grants Commission (UGC)
- All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)
[Note for understanding and not a part of policy - Two decades back the India
system of technical education was spread out between ITI / Polytechnic colleges,
Engineering colleges and Institutions of higher learning. This enabled creation of
a mix of skilled persons from the ITIs / polytechnics which produced technicians
OR the work force, Engineering graduates for handling the technology from a
managerial point, and post graduates/Doctorates who could undertake research.
This enabled India to be identified as country with a vast pool of skilled and
research oriented personnel. Post globalisation, as the demand for skilled
technicians increased, any individual with easy money irrespective of his worth
as an academician, invested in Engineering colleges which became a source of
producing more money rather than quality Engineers. In the absence of vision in
the Ministry of HRD, numerous engineering colleges sprouted in every nook and
corner of the country. These colleges passed out engineers as a factory product
without any thought for quality. Today, the country has a vast pool of engineers
who neither understand engineering nor are able to match the aspirations of the
industry. This indirectly has reduced the number of skilled technicians / work
force of industry as well as the number of research fellows to abyssal levels.
The present stage has been realised due the absence of Vision, Control of
agencies like UGC & AICTE by the Executive along with their political masters
and resultant forcing the academicia to exit from the scene.]
PART-IV
MANAGING STI POLICY.
6. A ministry in charge of Science, Technology, and Innovation will manage and
implement Government’s STI policies. His mandate will be executed through an
independent apex organisation operating under his aegis, with the head of this body

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reporting to the minister, interact with the government policymakers, provide STI advice
to the Ministry and the PM, and to ensure coordination and harmonisation of the
nation’s STI policy and programs. The Minister will provide the needed leadership to
network with other ministries and organisations for STI application and development in
the country. The Ministry will have representatives assigned to interact with each of the
relevant sector Ministries in order to ensure the implementation of the sector STI
strategies. A collegium of eminent personalities from various fields & industry will form
the governing members of the apex body, and in-turn will also select the the future
governing members. The head of the apex body will be selected by the minister on the
basis of advice from the existing head and the collegiums. This body would serve as a
Think Tank institution and it is meant to provide the brain power for national strategic
STI policy formulation.
7. The Policy, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Body. The Policy,
Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (PPME) body will be responsible for Policy
formulation and the development of appropriate strategies for the monitoring and
evaluation of these policies. [ The detailed strategy has been omitted due paucity of
time]
8. Promoting, Development and Capacity Building. In line with the vision for
science and technology-led economic growth and enhancement in the quality of life,
government will take necessary measures to promote, develop fully, national
science and technology capabilities to enable it achieve greater productivity and
efficiency, and to attain self-reliance in terms of trained skills and technical know-how
and reverse brain drain. New approaches to education and training shall be developed
to equip researchers to work more effectively in an innovative manner. This will require
new curricula and training programmes that are comprehensive, holistic and flexible
rather than being narrowly discipline-based. A system will be developed to attract,
retrain, motivate and retain indigenous scientific, technical and technological skills and
know-how. Deserving scientists, engineers and technologists will be given special
recognition through awards and remuneration in line with the market trends to reverse
brain drain. [ The detailed strategy has been omitted due paucity of time]
9. Strengthening National Engineering Design Capacity. The acceleration of
the mastery of known technologies is of prime importance in the industrialisation
programme. Government will facilitate the establishment of centre(s) for engineering
and manufacturing, and pilot and demonstration plants in selected departments and
institutions and to promote the development of indigenous capacity and capability in
desired fields. An all-embracing capacity for industrial design will be established in
support of quality presentation at all levels of product development and manufacture.
[ The detailed strategy has been omitted due paucity of time]
PART-V

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MECHANISMS FOR FINANCING STI
10. The success of a programme for integrating science and technology into the
country’s development agenda depends on the establishment of appropriate
arrangements for managing the science and technology development and delivery
system. It is important that all sectors of the economy, especially the private sector,
realise the importance of science and technology and provide adequate resources to
support science and technology activities. The necessary systems should also be put in
place to ensure that such resources are utilised optimally and that duplication of activities is
avoided, as much as possible.
11. Allocation of a minimum of 2% of the GDP to begin with, to support the science and
technology sector. Encourage the private sector to support the funding for R&D activities,
especially to cater for the needs of the small, micro, and medium enterprises (SMMEs) which
can be nurtured to become the cutting edge for the commercialisation of novel products or
processes. Institute an attractive tax incentive mechanism for contributors to the instituted funds
or directly to R&D activities, tax break during period of commercial spin off of technology
developed by the institutions but in such a way as not to erode the national tax base. Encourage
the formation of a venture capital (high risk) fund administering authority for the
commercialisation of new technologies from scientific and technological institutions.
PART-VI
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT AND PROMOTION INSTITUTIONS.
12. The institutions as mentioned at Appendix shall support the STI policy. [The
details of the institutions has been omitted due paucity of time]
JAIHIND

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Comparison between the proposed policy and SIT-2003
1. The following are the differences between the proposed SIT policy and the SIT
policy of 2003.
(a) The proposed policy highlights the Vision, Goals and objectives;
furthermore the objectives are classified as long term, medium term and short
term.
This gives the executing parties as to the plan the course of action keeping
in mind the short term goals, medium term goals and long term goals.
(b) The proposed policy is sector specific while the SIT-2003 does not spell
out so; the Strategy and Implementation Plan at section-C, gives a fair idea of the
target sectors.
Science & Technology has influenced every sphere of life. Unless the
specific spheres are identified, the executing agencies is lost as to which
areas the SIT-2003 is to be applied.
(c) The proposed policy also stipulates the strategy to be adopted towards
implementation of the SIT policy; while the SIT-2003 does not have a strategy. It
only redefines the objective. This indicates that the policy has been formulated
without much thought of action/implementation.
In the absence of a strategy to pursue the SIT policy, it is left to the
managing body as how to achieve the set objectives; which as a norm
differs from one individual to another. Hence specifying the strategy helps
the executing agencies to start working towards achieving the objectives
rather than firstly to start planning as how to achieve the pbjectives.
(d) The proposed policy highlights brings out the way how to Manage the STI
policy; which is not visible in the SIT-2003.
The stake holders are aware of the organisation, thus providing them
awareness of the channel of communication.
(e) The proposed policy also highlights the strategy for Monitoring and
Evaluation, Promotion & Development, Strengthening of National Design
Capacity; where as the SIT-2003 has a few lines mentioned about it without any
strategy..
Any task required to be implemented needs a body for evaluation, whose
feedback will help the executing body/agencies to review and re-
strategise.
(f) Implementation of the SIT policy calls for large scale investments – while
the proposed policy has specified the strategy for funding etc... SIT-2003 is
vague in this aspect.

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(g) The proposed policy specifies the institutions which are responsible for
taking forward the proposed policy; while the SIT-2003 does not have any
mention of the stake holders.
Note: Over the years successive Governments’ have developed STI plans; first in
1958, followed by 1983, 2003 and the latest in 2013. After a look at these
policies, it becomes obvious that over the years, each plan has been a watered
down version of its earlier avatar, while the political aspirations of the
Government in power are being reflected in successive policies. The policies are
more like a party’s manifesto – lacking Vision, Goal, Objective & Perspective.
This only highlights the attitude of those at the helm.
Y Krishna Mohan
2012Hz58051
References:
Presentation by Prof. PB Sharma, VC DTU
Resolution on ''Science and Technology for Development'' by UNITED NATIONS
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL