Why I support the initiative, but most of the companies won’t…

It would not be so wrong to say that the newly drafted 5th Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP) has been rooted in the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Since the crisis laid groundwork for most R&D institutes, industry experts and academicians to support each other, work as a team towards a shared vision… This has strengthened the prospects of collaboration in the future.

The government describes this practice as a holistic policy geared towards elevating research standards of Science, technology and innovation. It wants to reorient the research in these sectors. In what terms, you may ask?

In terms of priorities, sectoral focus and strategy. Apart from this the Department of Science and Technology has been set up to lookover and coordinate the whole process.

I don’t believe this is a one-time wonder policy… can it completely reinvent the research culture and infrastructure in India now? Maybe, not. But it has the potential to do so in say 10-20 years and it’s either ‘one day or day one’. I believe the policy has the potential to bring forth some very big changes via short-term, medium-term and long-term mission mode projects by creating a nurturing environment that encourages innovation led research on the part of both individuals and organizations.

I believe that the vision of One nation, One Subscription is a thoughtful one indeed. I believe this will go a long way to position India as one of the scientific superpowers.

Now, the critique!

A lot of individuals and organizations have posed a question… Is such a humongous change realistic? Are we aiming for the stars here… looking at the current quality of websites and servers hosted by public agencies?

Is the confidence slightly misplaced regarding the  grid, database and digital facilities?

And research facilities are barely able to service, so the ‘scope’ of sharing is slim.

Well, I won’t disagree… yes, there is a lot of work that needs to be done and the ‘policy’ might be seemingly too perfect, for where we really are. But. instead of thwarting significant growth that can happen in the pretext of this policy… I as an active member of Federation Of Indian Publishers (FIP) and Indian Reprographic Rights Organization (IRRO) pledge my full support towards the execution of this policy.

In collaboration we can successfully develop the relevant software and other infrastructure to host the database of research articles on a proper platform, which will be accessible by the whole academic circles.

We can also arrange for an add on value in regards to the article / document by assigning internationally accepted library science ‘subject headings’ and ‘subject classifications’ so as to substantiate the relevance of the entire database by the scholar