India’s advance in S & T @77

With a rich cultural heritage, intellectual achievements, and a deep spiritual tradition, India has consistently produced stalwarts in various fields of science and technology.  The contributions of ancient India in the field of mathematics, astronomy, medicine, philosophy, religion, and literature have a lasting impact on the world and continue to be studied and revered today.

In the last few decades, scientific research leading to advanced technology development has undergone a radical transformation worldwide.  It has moved away from a slow-paced, solitary brilliance to a fast-paced, highly collaborative and technologically driven enterprise.  For example, we talk of big science these days with large team collaborations and integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) due to the democratization of data, with a focus on open access.

In the last decade, India has made significant advancements across several scientific and technological fields, transitioning from a service-oriented economy to a hub of indigenous innovation and deep-tech research.  According to Stanford University rankings, India is among the top 3 in the world in AI research competitiveness. Six areas where India has done exceedingly well, from healing and eradicating deadly diseases, green energy to strengthening borders against external threats to understanding the world and the universe around us are listed:

i) Defence technology – Operation Sindoor surprised the world with India’s innovation in defence technology. India made a strong shift toward indigenization with its “Make in India” initiative. With its recent launch of two Pralay missiles in rapid succession from the Odisha Coast, DRDO demonstrated its strength in surface-to-surface missile systems.  This is in addition of K-4 ballistic missile launched from a submarine with a range up to 3500 km.  India has come a long way from its very lethal Agni-V with MIRV technology, Prithvi, and the deadly BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles that devastated deep targets in Pakistan. On the naval front, INS Vikrant, India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier, was commissioned in 2022. Completion of the nuclear triad with INS Arihant, allowing for nuclear strikes from land, air, and sea, was another addition to our naval forces.  Development of hypersonic technology is yet another lethal component of our missile system that is state-of-the-art.

ii) Space Science – In space science and technology, India demonstrated the biggest technological revolutions. India made history and became the first country in the world with its Chandrayaan-3 mission landing near the lunar south pole in 2023.  It was a proud moment for every citizen of the country. Aditya-L1, India’s first solar observatory mission, followed immediately, demonstrating our prowess both in Lunar and Solar research. Earlier, India stunned the world with its success of Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan) on its first attempt, which was followed by cost-effective, high-frequency launches, including 104 satellites in a single flight.  With its Gaganyaan mission planned to put a crewed space mission next year, India will take its first step towards establishing Bharatiya Antariksha Station (BAS) by 2035 and the moon landing by Indian astronauts when we celebrate a century of our independence in 2047.

iii) Digital Platform for public use – This is one area that has impacted a common citizen the most and changed forever, the way we live today. This happened because of the revolution in digital governance and fintech.  The development of Aadhaar (digital ID), Jan Dhan Yojana (financial inclusion), and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has created a massive, secure, and real-time cashless transaction ecosystem. Rapid rollout of 5G infrastructure has made India one of the fastest adopters, and with initiatives under the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM), India is emerging as a world leader. The race to the summit is on.

iv) Health care – India has cemented its reputation as the “pharmacy of the world” with its advanced research in the field of biotechnology. Rapid development and production of indigenous vaccines, such as Covaxin, during the COVID-19 pandemic is one example of India’s reputation in the world. Development of ZyCoV-D, the world’s first DNA-based vaccine, and India’s first indigenous HPV vaccine (qHPV) for cervical cancer are a few other examples.

v) Emerging technologies – There are three areas where India is taking long and successful strides. These are AI, Quantum computing, and Semiconductors. With a race to acquire rare earth resources, these areas are much in focus of our government, with stress on building domestic capability for chip design and manufacturing under the India Semiconductor Mission.  In AI, India ranks 3^rd globally, in AI research competitiveness as per the recent Stanford University rankings.  This is being actively integrated into agriculture, healthcare, and finance.

vi) Green Energy – The government has initiated significant expansion in solar power installed capacity in the country and has launched the National Hydrogen Mission for sustainable infrastructure development in the energy sector. This will reduce dependence on fossil fuel and will help in minimising India’s carbon footprint. Another innovative technology developed is in road construction with the use of steel slag and End-of-Life plastic waste (EoL) that is converting waste into wealth. EoL refers to materials that have completed their functional lifespan and require disposal, recycling or recovery.  This has long lasting impact on the environment.

In the fast-paced technology world we live in today, I wonder where we will end up.  To me, the world is a hilly terrain, where, after climbing a hill, we find that there are several other hills to climb.  So, we need to take our scientific achievements, whatever it may be, cherish them, utilise them, and move on as we still have other hills to climb. Human curiosity has no end, so keep working to attain excellence.