Current Affairs Brain Booster for UPSC & State PCS Examination (Topic: Science and Technology Indicators)

Current Affairs Brain Booster for UPSC & State PCS Examination

Topic: Science and Technology Indicators

Science and Technology Indicators

Why in News?

As per the Research and Development (R&D) Statistics and Indicators 2019- 20, India’s gross expenditure in R&D has tripled between 2008 & 2018 driven mainly by government sector and scientific publications have risen placing the country internationally among the top few.
These indicators are based on the national science and technology (S&T) survey 2018 brought out by the National Science and Technology Management Information (NSTMIS).

Key Findings

The Gross expenditure on R&D (GERD) in the country has been consistently increasing over the years and has nearly tripled from Rs. 39,437.77 crore in 2007- 08 to Rs. 1,13,825.03 crore in 2017-18.
India’s per capita R&D expenditure has increased to PPP $ 47.2 in 2017-18 from PPP $ 29.2 in 2007-08.
India spent 0.7% of its GDP on R&D in 2017-18, while the same among other developing BRICS countries was Brazil 1.3%, Russian Federation 1.1%, China 2.1% and South Africa 0.8%.
DST and Department of Bio-Technology (DBT) were the two major players contributing 63% and 14%, respectively of the total extramural R&D support in the country during 2016-17.
Women participation in extramural R&D projects has increased significantly to 24% in 2016-17 from 13% in 2000-01 due to various initiatives undertaken by the government in S&T sector.
As on 1st April 2018, nearly 5.52 lakh personnel were employed in the R&D establishments in the country.
Number of researchers per million population in India has increased to 255 in 2017 from 218 in 2015 and 110 in 2000.
India’s R&D expenditure per researcher was 185 (‘000 PPP$) during 2017-18 and was ahead of Russian Federation, Israel, Hungary, Spain and UK.
India occupies 3rd rank in terms of number of Ph.D.’s awarded in Science and Engineering (S&E) after USA (39,710 in 2016) and China (34,440 in 2015).
During 2018, India was ranked at 3rd, 5th and 9th in scientific publication output as per the NSF, SCOPUS and SCI database respectively.
During 2011-2016, India’s growth rate of scientific publication as per the SCOPUS and SCI database was 8.4% and 6.4% as against the world average of 1.9% and 3.7%, respectively.
During 2017-18 a total of 47,854 patents were filed in India. Out of which, 15,550 (32%) patents were filed by Indian residents.
Patent applications filed in India are dominated by disciplines like Mechanical, Chemical, Computer/Electronics, and Communication.
According to WIPO, India’s Patent Office stands at the 7th position among the top 10 Patent Filing Offices in the world.

About NSTMIS

The National Science and Technology Management Information System (NSTMIS) is a division of Department of Science and Technology (DST).
It has been entrusted with the task of building the information base on a continuous basis on resources devoted to scientific and technological activities for policy planning in the country.