Indigenus

In the biggest ever climate change research networking in India, 75 institutes will come together to conduct scientific and economic studies steered by the country's ministry of environment and forests. The results will form part of the national report to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The India Institute of Tropical Meteorology will play a key role in defining the scope and expanse of the studies. The project will focus primarily on the impact of climate change on the country -- its water resources, agriculture, forests, health, energy and economy among a few variables. This promises to be the most comprehensive climate change research consortium ever constituted in this country. It will be well worth waiting to see the results of the studies and how they match up with western projections for India.

Posted by Subhra Priyadarshini on August 12, 2008
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The debate on whether India should be allowed to become the 'clinical trials hub' of the world is slowly losing fire. When multinational companies zeroed-in on India about a decade back, critics called it their ploy to get "human guinea pigs" in India. Undoubtedly, India's disease burden in cancer, diabetes and tuberculosis -- far more than most countries -- was the prime attraction. Add to that the huge population, cheaper operational costs, easy patient procurement, English speaking physicians and IPR preparedness -- the perfect setting.

The country's clinical trials market in 2006 was US$ 140m and is growing at a compounded annual rate of 40%. It is estimated to touch US$ 600m by 2010.

What's your take on the clinical trials scenario in the country? Do you think India has overcome the initial setback of lack of experienced investigators and clinical research professionals? Is there better awareness of good clinical practice (GCP) compliance? Are ethics always in place?

Posted by Subhra Priyadarshini on May 21, 2008
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The verdict is finally out. The government wants to evolve a more 'effective, alternative mechanism' for a science conclave that overcomes the rot plaguing the annual Indian Science Congress. Science minister Kapil Sibal has announced in a written reply in Parliament that the number of participants and topics at the science congress had increased in recent years, thereby making it 'impossible for any organiser to hold meaningful discussions'.
We were expecting the government to take note of this malaise as reflected in this discussion in the Nature India forum.
It seems, a parallel annual meet of top scientists from across disciplines is being proposed in New Delhi to keep up with the latest in their respective fields. One just hopes that it doesn't end up being another government exercise in Vigyan Bhavan.

Posted by Subhra Priyadarshini on March 19, 2008
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Amidst all the debate on the rise and fall and rise of Indian science, this piece of news in the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of Indian Parliament, was quite uplifting. Many might dismiss this as the regular politician's occasional figure-rattling exercise, but sampe this: 38% of all doctors in the US and 36% of NASA scientists are Indians, as it turns out after careful inspection of payrolls.

What's more, 12 per cent of all scientists in the US of A are Indians. Research is on the upswing with the number of PhDs from India going up from 17,898 two years back to 18,730. The Union minister of state for HRD D. Purandeshwari merrily announced plans of creating 1,000 more positions for research scientists in this country.

More happy figures: Micrososft has 36% Indian staff, IBM 28%, Intel 17% and Xerox 13%.

Very optimistic statistics. What do we make out of this?

Posted by Subhra Priyadarshini on March 11, 2008
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India has allocated Rs 85 crore in its 2008-09 budget to woo back students into science. The programme -- Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) -- will groom meritorious science students from Class XII onwards, offering them scholarships to groom a career in science. The idea is to churn out more scientists and offer them attractive jobs in leading research institutes of the country. The fund for multi-disciplinary research in frontier areas has also been hiked from Rs 370 crore to Rs 415 crore. The overall spending in science and technology and environment has increased significantly from Rs 7,742 crore to Rs 9,283 crore.

Does the future of doing science in this country look brighter?

Posted by Subhra Priyadarshini on March 01, 2008
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