India more than ready to take next step towards becoming science powerhouse: Nature
India along with being an economic power is also more than ready to take the next step towards becoming a science powerhouse, as it called for a rise in the country's research and development spending, especially from the private sector. The prestigious British weekly said in its editorial headlined «How India can become a science powerhouse» cited researchers to highlight that basic research has been neglected by successive governments and that a thriving research system needs much greater autonomy.
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«Along with being an economic power, India is also more than ready to take the next step towards becoming a science powerhouse. This is not yet a given, but it can happen,» it said.
«In this editorial, we discuss a third aspect: how to bridge the funding gap. One thing India's government can do is to boost science spending by encouraging businesses to contribute more, as is the case for other leading economies. If policymakers and industrialists can get this right, an opportunity to put rocket boosters under the country's impressive scientific achievements is there for the taking,» the journal said.
The editorial noted that in 2021-22, according to government data, India had the world's third-largest pharmaceutical industry by volume and was the leading supplier of affordable medicines and generic drugs, some of which were «crucial» to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide.
Last year, India became the fourth country ever to achieve a soft
