As India celebrates its 79th Independence Day, it’s time to pause at this milestone and look back at our journey in science and technology so far, before we resume our march towards becoming a Viksit Bharat in 2047, a goal set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Despite centuries of destruction and loot, first by the Muslim invaders and then by brutal British rule that destroyed our education system and left us impoverished and socioeconomically broken, India has made great progress in science and technology since our independence in 1947.
India needed reconstruction from scratch, and thanks to the hard work and dedication of our scientific fraternity that we are standing tall today as the world’s fourth-largest economy, soon to take the third position. In the very beginning, India started laying a sound foundation,n focusing on agriculture, infrastructure, science, and education, on which our present edifice of a strong democratic and self-reliant India proudly stands today.
The country went through five revolutions: i) Green revolution – In the 1960s, Dr. M S Swaminathan introduced high-yielding crop varieties, modern farming techniques, and irrigation infrastructure that changed the country’s agricultural landscape. It led to a dramatic increase in food production, alleviated hunger and poverty, and enhanced agricultural productivity. The Green Revolution played a crucial role in India’s self-sufficiency in food grains, reducing dependence on imports and strengthening food security, ii) White revolution – In 1970s, Dr. Verghese Kurien led Operation Flood aimed at creating a nationwide milk grid that made India a self-dependent nation in milk production and became one of the largest producers of milk in the world, iii) Yellow revolution – This revolution in 1980s and 1990s brought self-sufficiency in edible oils and was part of a broader effort to enhance agricultural productivity and improve food security in the country, iv) Blue revolution – This revolution lead to rapid increase in the production of fish and marine product through package program since 1985 and resulted in the establishment of several fishing harbours at Tuticorin, Porbandar, Honavar, Vishakhapatnam, Dharmara, Kochi, Kandla and Port Blair and v) Golden revolution – This revolution resulted in significant advancements in the production and export of fruits, particularly mangoes and other tropical fruits in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. This period saw a marked increase in horticultural productivity, driven by improved agricultural practices and research aimed at boosting fruit cultivation.
While these revolutions made India self-sufficient and contributed to the livelihoods of millions of people in the country, parallel efforts were made to create infrastructure to pursue research in cutting edge science in various fields including atomic energy and space at the newly created academic institutes like IITs, laboratories like Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, and other research centres across the country. In the process, Dr. Homi Bhabha established a world-class facility in atomic research in Mumbai that led to India’s first nuclear test in 1974 and later five tests in 1998, firmly putting India on the world map in nuclear energy.
Another offshoot of Bhabha’s efforts led to the establishment of the Indian Space Research Organisation, which was transformed into a frontier research facility by a visionary physicist and astronomer, Vikram Sarabhai, who shaped our research and exploration of the cosmos.
From a humble beginning when rockets were carried on a bicycle or bullock carts to the testing sites, today, indigenously developed satellites from Sriharikota have been put in space by our own PSLV and GSLV rockets that form formidable communication constellations. Our recent successful missions to Mars, the Moon, and the Sun have shown the prowess of the Indian space scientists, who are now planning to have our space station by 2035, manned by our astronauts. Countries, world over, look towards India to put their satellites in space that including the US. The historic launch of the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission onboard the Indian GSLV-F16 rocket on July 30, 2025, is just an example.
The 21st century brought out the brilliance of Indian soft power after the IT-enabled revolution. The push of the Prime Minister on Make in India, which used to be laughed at by the world and our sceptics, is making waves. Operation Sindoor in May this year has surprised the world about our superior advanced research in the defence sector, both in hardware as well as software, with its missile systems and Integrated Aerospace Architecture for Indian Défense Systems on the strength of this revolution.
The recent advances by Indian scientists in quantum physics is a great leap in communication science that is making the world take notice of India as an emerging super science power. A thesis can be written on the giant strides Indian scientists have taken in the last decade, which has resulted in over 1.8 lakhs DPIIT-recognized startups with over 100 unicorns (a startup valued at over US$1 billion). Today, India ranks third globally in terms of the number of startups, following the US and China across various sectors, including technology, fintech, edtech, health tech, e-commerce, and renewable energy.
India has an overflowing young talent pool that needs careful nurturing and an ecosystem that is merit-based. Thanks to the individual brilliance of a handful of scientists, along with their dedicated teams, that led to such spectacular achievements in science and technology so far. But when we look at our work in science and innovation in comparison to other developed countries, it becomes clear that we could not achieve our full potential because there has been a legacy of poor policy and low confidence to take risks. We are bogged down in bureaucratic red tape. Scientists need their space and freedom to work in an ecosystem that is free from the shackles of excessive bureaucracy and adherence to formal rules and procedures as applicable in a factory setup, often leading to delays and inefficiency.
India is fortunate to have a Prime Minister who is tech-savvy and has demonstrated his ability to embrace science and technology for the sake of the betterment of society. His efforts have shown that teamwork built around individual brilliance can do wonders. This paradigm shift has underscored the importance of charismatic leadership, which is the need of the hour. My humble request to our Prime Minister at the 79th milestone is to encourage and support geek culture in science (geek is a person with intense passion, enthusiasm and knowledge about a specific subject, often a technical or niche area) and create enough opportunities and an ecosystem that allows young researchers total freedom to take risks and work for excellence in India so that we can produce many more CEOs like that of Google, Microsoft and many others. I would also urge our Prime Minister to shun pseudoscience and discourage people in high offices of certain IITs, universities, political leaders, and some self-proclaimed gurus who are marauding as the torch bearers of our rich civilisational science heritage.
This brings a bad name to our science and kills the scientific temper in the country. COVID-19 showed us that we need to become Atmanirbhar Bharat by promoting scientific and economic self-sufficiency and reducing dependence on external sources. The ongoing tariff blackmail by the US has further strengthened our resolve to shift gears and move into the fast lane to reach our destination of Atmanirbharta as envisioned by our Prime Minister. The strength of self-reliance is rooted in the power of science and technology. And remember what Albert Einstein said, “We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made”.
