- The 18th Lok Sabha include a minister of State with independent charge overseeing the Departments of Space (DoS) and Atomic Energy (DAE), the Ministries of Earth Sciences (MoES) and Science and Technology (MST).
- Gross domestic expenditure on research and development as a fraction of GDP has been declining since 2008-09.
- Each of these ministries or departments presents significant challenges.
| Ministry/Department | Challenges/Responsibilities |
| DoS | Managing the entry of private sector players in the national space programme, the development of the maiden human spaceflight mission, and new launch vehicles. |
| MoES | Involved in seabed exploration for mineral resources and climate adaptation and mitigation. |
| MST | Oversees India’s three foremost research departments at a critical time for advancements in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, multi-omics approaches, and advanced energy storage solutions. |
| DAE | Plans to rapidly advance nuclear power, starting phase two of its reactors programme and commissioning one facility yearly. |
- These bodies face persistent problems, such as delays in fellowship and grant disbursals, localised and collaboration-unfriendly research facilities, fluctuating regulations, insufficient intellectual property rights protection, and limited translational research.
Multi-omics (multiple omics)
- It provides an integrated approach to power discovery across multiple levels of biology. By combining data from genomics, transcriptomics, epigenetics, and proteomics, researchers can achieve a more comprehensive understanding of molecular changes contributing to normal development, cellular response, and disease.
Dig Deeper: Which part of the Constitution talks about ‘Scientific temper, humanism and spirit of enquiry’?
