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The stage for developing a robust science and technology infrastructure existed even before India became free in 1947. Has Indian science been provided the resources and opportunities to live up to its potential?

Dinesh C Sharma Delhi

The journey of Indian science and technology has been exciting in the post-independence era. The stage for developing a robust science and technology infrastructure was ready much before the country became free in 1947. Jawaharlal Nehru had involved leading scientists in the National Planning Committee that the Indian National Congress set up in 1938. This helped him develop close relationships with leading scientists such as Prasant Chandra Mahalanobis, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar and Homi Bhabha. Bhatnagar was the head of the Board of Scientific and Industrial Research established during the British period. This organisation became the nucleus for the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) as well as the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) in free India. And from the atomic energy centre was born the space programme. Thus, three of India's leading scientific research bodies — CSIR, DAE and (Indian Space Research Organisation) ISRO — have a common lineage.

Science and technology in the Nehru era grew largely due to Nehru's deep interest and commitment to science. But the direction this field took was guided by the top scientists surrounding him. Mahalanobis, Bhatnagar and Bhabha can be called the troika of Indian science during the Nehru era. Policies and funding decisions related to science and technology during this period were influenced by the three. Nehru nurtured the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), set up by Mahalanobis, much before independence, and gave Mahalanobis a leading role to play in the planning process in free India. Bhatnagar, too, was given the support he needed to establish a number of laboratories under CSIR within a short period — a phenomenon dubbed by C V Raman the 'Nehru-Bhatnagar effect' (like the Raman Effect which won him the Physics Nobel Prize in 1930). Similarly, the DAE, under Bhabha, also got necessary funding and support to lay the foundation of an indigenous programme in atomic energy development. Nehru gave scientist-administrators the powers of civil servants — a tradition that continues in Indian science and technology departments even now.

However, there was a notable exception. The Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), the oldest research council in the country, did not get the same treatment as research conglomerates headed by Bhabha and Bhatnagar. The ICAR continued to be an organisation appended to the ministry of agriculture. This changed only when Lal Bahadur Shastri became prime minister. C Subramaniam, agriculture minister in Shastri's cabinet, reorganised agriculture research in 1965-66 and appointed plant breeder Benjamin Peary Pal, as the first scientist head of the ICAR. These changes played a critical role in ushering in the wheat revolution, popularly known as the Green Revolution, perhaps the most successful science and technology story of independent India. Wheat production, which had remained stagnant despite better irrigation and other inputs, jumped up significantly following the introduction of high yield variety plants. Wheat production in 1968 grew to 17 million tonnes, compared with about six million tonnes in 1947. Since then, there has been no looking back for Indian agriculture. The wheat revolution was a classic case of using science, backed by political support and a machinery to disseminate new technologies for the benefit of the country and its people.