Nobel Laureate Prof. Ramakrishnan Questions India’s Underinvestment in Science

Prof Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Structural Biologist and Nobel Laureate said that Science should be protected from political interference. Talking about the research initiatives in India, Ramakrishnan said that India needs more investment in the field of science.

Ramakrishnan spoke about the changing dynamics of the world of Science and Technology at the 38th Vikram Sarabhai Memorial Lecture. He said that countries like China and Singapore have enormously transformed themselves and India needs to catch up as we are not among the top 10 countries.

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He further stated that India underinvests in science as compared to other developing and developed countries. He also added that the reason behind this is the absence of research and development initiatives in India.

He stressed on the need of introducing some good practices to derive economic success from science and technology. He said that a country can’t just rely on manufacturing and labour as manufacturing also requires innovation.

He highlighted the importance of innovation and said that creativity is what a country needs to develop in all fronts. He also said that flexible funding is required in order to help science expand and contribute to the development of the nation. Talking about the importance of investment, he said that a nation should not wait for the economy to stabilize to start investing in science.

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Ramakrishnan talked about his dream for India and said that he wants the nation to be corruption free. Ha also said that he would want India to raise its standard of public hygiene and provide education to all its students.