Hyderabad: Despite the hue and cry over lack of research funding, crores of rupees are pumped into Research and Development every year with results that are nothing to write home about.
A new analysis of innovation patents filed by Indian inventors in comparison to other countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation found that despite lesser population, lower capability and far lower R&D expenditure, strife-torn Sri Lanka had a better output than India.
An RTI query recently revealed that while Rs 1,285 crore of funds were allocated to 14 institutions controlled by the Department of Biotechnology under the Ministry of Science and Technology, they yielded only Rs 4.7 crore of returns.
Researchers analysed patents filed at the European Patent Office, World Intellectual Property Organisation , United States Patent and Trademark Office and respective patent offices in India, Sri Lanka and other countries over the last decade. Sri Lanka had a patent per million population ratio of 77 while that of India was 39. Worse,
India had just about one patent application per $1 million R&D expenditure while Sri Lanka had more than 9 patents per $1 million R&D spending.
Dr G.V. Rao, head of Forum Against Corruption in Science, said, “ In India, there is no control on recruitment. Favouritism and corruption leads to lack of productivity in science. Better science projects are done in South American countries.”
