India jumped from 7th to 3rd global ranking in scientific publications: Jitendra Singh

New Delhi [India], December 18 (ANI): Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh on Sunday said India has jumped from 7th to 3rd global ranking in scientific publications.

Lauding the efforts of India’s scientific fraternity, Singh said the very fact that such quantum leaps in our scientific pursuits are happening only in the last few years is a testimony to the push given by the government in terms of the ease of policy.

The Union Minister informed that as per the National Science Foundation (NSF)’s Science and Engineering Indicators 2022 report of the United States, India’s position globally in scientific publications, has improved from 7th position in 2010 to 3rd position in 2020. He added that India’s scholarly output increased from 60,555 papers in 2010 to 1,49,213 papers in 2020.

Singh said India’s scientific prowess is going to have a major role in the making of ‘AtmaNirbhar Bharat’. The Minister said India’s research performance in science and technology has improved significantly over the past few years which is visible through a large amount of scientific knowledge in terms of research publications, development of technologies and innovations contributing to overall development.

Singh also took pride that India now ranks 3rd in terms of the number of PhDs in science and engineering. He was also apprised of the fact that the number of patents granted to Indian scientists at India Patent Office (IPO) during the last three years has also increased from 2,511 in 2018-19 to 4,003 in 2019-20 and 5,629 in 2020-21.

The National Science Foundation is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering.

As per the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2022 brought out by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), India’s GII ranking has also improved significantly from 81st in 2014 to 40th in 2022.

Singh said the government has taken several steps to boost the science and technology sector which includes a successive increase in allocations for Scientific Departments, incentivizing investment by the private sector to increase their share in GERD, improving the ease of doing business in the Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) activities; introducing flexible tools for public procurement; creating avenues for collaborative STI funding through portfolio-based funding mechanisms such as Public-Private-Partnerships and other innovative hybrid funding mechanisms.

A senior official informed that the Department of Science and Technology (DST) is likely to get 20 per cent more money in the upcoming Union Budget 2023-24 compared to last year, Singh said.

In the last budget, DST received Rs 6,002 crore, which was 42 per cent of the total fund of Rs 14,217 crore allocated to the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) received Rs 5,636 crore (40 per cent), while the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) got Rs 2,581 Crore (18 per cent).

According to the Ministry of Science and Technology, the government has allowed the corporate sector to make research and development investments under the provision of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Corporates can invest in technology business incubators or contribute to research efforts carried out by institutions and national research laboratories as a part of their CSR.

There are specific investment incentives offered such as Location-based tax incentives that enable 100 per cent deductions of profits generated from establishing and doing business in northeastern states of India.