Sir, I rise to support this Bill. I think this is a great landmark for this Government. I congratulate the hon. Minister and the hon. Prime Minister for the promises that this Government has made for the common man and this is one of the milestones towards that achievement. Sir, ours is a great country and I think the entire House will agree with me. We have such a wide diversity. Sir, the greatest boon, which the Nature has given us, is the sunshine. India is one of the most fortunate countries in the world to have almost 360 days of sunshine. Sir, there are countries which die for sunshine. This is a great energy that we have, and120 all the living things are surviving on this. As the hon. Minister has mentioned, any country’s development depends on the140 (1) knowledge that it develops. I applaud the efforts made by the hon. Minister. He has covered most of the points. At the same time, what we really require is the fundamentals. We have to start from the basics. If we have to make our country strong, we need good education. Unless we have a strong education base, I do not think we will be able to produce the kind of quality of manpower we intend to produce and we aspire to produce.
Sir, I stand here to support this
Bill. Through this legislation, we are going to promote research240
in science and engineering. We are going to provide funds to encourage
research. Sir, research programmes in our country are not very strong.
People who are engaged in research are working in universities. They are
working in institutes of higher280 learning. They are working in research
labs too. They should be (2) encouraged.
As a matter of fact, we have more than 300 universities in the country
including deemed universities and most of the universities barring the Central
Universities are affiliating universities. These universities spend most of
their time and resources in managing the affairs of the affiliated colleges and
the departments in the campus. They have very little time for research.
Their main activity is teaching. In fact, research360 is secondary
activity. I can understand that teaching is more important in colleges and
universities, but research should be an important activity in our
universities. The main hurdle is the affiliating system. In the advanced
countries, they do not have this kind of system. All the universities and
colleges are autonomous. That is why they give a lot of importance420
to research. There is a very good example of land grant given to colleges and
universities of America to carry on research and the research was brought to
the people. That is (3) why there
was no gap between the people and the research. Therefore, this particular
attitude has to be adopted in our country also. During the colonial
times, our480
universities could not pay much attention to research. Even after that, we
did not have the urge for research. That is why our first Prime
Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, had to establish the national laboratories
in the country. I feel that teaching and research should go together in
universities and colleges so that our students can get the benefit of research
and new knowledge. Sir, we require fundamental research. I find a
distinction between basic research and applied research. Basic560
research goes to the fundamentals. It discovers the universal principles in
nature on the basis of which, we go to other things. That is why our
emphasis should be on research. We have a great pool of talent in the600
country. Our students are doing well in America. They get funding and (4) they get freedom also. We have to
give both the things to our people. If this particular Board is going to be
really autonomous, it should be autonomous in the real sense of the
term. There should not be inference every now and then in their own
affairs. Therefore, this particular matter has to be understood in
its entirety. Sir, students in our universities and colleges are not going
for pure sciences today. The University Grants Commission is worried
about the strength of the students taking subjects like700 physics and
mathematics. After 12th standard, students go and join professional courses.
Much of the talent goes in for professional720 courses and students do not come to the
science stream. So, this also has to be taken care of. In order to
promote research, we have to give incentives; we have to give scholarships; we
have to give grants and all such things. As far as our own universities
are concerned, (5) it should be
obligatory on their part to have research not only by individual scientists but
also through projects. This is going to be the age of knowledge. That is why
research is very important. You cannot generate new knowledge unless you do
research. Knowledge is always generated through research. This particular thing
has to be understood. I do not have much to say about all this, but this840
Board should be autonomous. Sir, this is the Board which is going to
encourage and promote research in the field of engineering. It seems to me
that the University Grants Commission has been ignored. The University Grants
Commission is managing more than 300 universities. That is why the Chairman of
the University Grants Commission can be taken on this particular Board. I
know that you are going to have an Oversight Committee. We have
national laboratories across the country. So, the experts who are managing
these national laboratories, should be taken (6) on the Oversight Committee. It should be an academic body.
Though the name of the University Grants Commission includes the word ‘grants’,
it does not simply give grants, it960 has to manage academic affairs also. So
this particular Board should also have this function. It should not
only give980 funds, but also frame policies of
research. There are many areas which you have not explored so far. For
instance, we have abundant sunlight in this country. If
you can have a very big project, and incentives and awards are given to our
scientists, we can make great progress in this particular field. You have come
forward with a Bill which is going to create history in the field of research.
Every industry must have its own research laboratory. It should be made
compulsory. It is there in America, Germany and other countries where every
industry has its own laboratory.1080 Since it is a global age,
industries are coming up in (7) a
free market economy. Therefore, every industry should have its own laboratory.
Mr.
Deputy Chairman, Sir, I am very happy that across the House there is unanimity
of opinion1120
that this is a piece of legislation that ought to be supported. I
am grateful to each Member of this House for having given his
support for this particular Bill. I am also grateful that we have
had a debate on an issue relating to science and technology, something that I
had been waiting for a long time, and which has enabled the hon. Members to
express their opinion on various aspects of science and technology. I
would like to1200 give a broad picture of where we stand
as a country and what we need to do as we move forward. Sir, I just want to
mention that not enough money is invested in research and development. I just
want to mention the fact that in a country like the United (8) States, on an annual basis, the amount of money1260
for research and development is in the range of 340 billion dollars. In a small
country like the United Kingdom, it is 43 billion dollars. In Germany, it is 73
billion dollars. In Japan, it is almost 150 billion dollars. In China, it is
about 40 billion dollars. In India, it is only about 8 billion
dollars. Now, if this is the kind of investment that our country makes
in research and development, then how do you expect the scientific community to
deliver? So, it is not a question of who is in power and who is out
of power. I think, it is about time that this nation decided upon
its priority.
Sir. I
support the Collection of Statistics Bill, 2007. It is really a very
important and historic Bill. Sir, this particular1400 (9) Department of Statistics was not known to the public but the hon.
Minister made it very constructive by building up the Ministry. We really
appreciate that this historic Bill is now introduced and moved by a very young
politician who has come forward with all the aspects which were recommended by
the National Statistics Commission. There is a need for doing everything
to make statistics available in this globalized economy. It is an international
obligation which we have to fulfil after we signed as a party to the World
Trade Organization. When we became a part of the international economy, we
should have everything under the numbers. We, keep everything secret. That is
the way of life in this country. There is no doubt that there
should be secrecy in the industry because it is a very competitive
area. But, (10) at the same time, we
need the data for our own development.
