New Delhi: Indian scientific diaspora, including academicians, stakeholders, members of Science India Forum, and distinguished community leaders from gulf countries deliberated on open science policy, fellowships in India, opportunities for innovators, young researchers at the post-draft STIP consultation.
Dr. Akhilesh Gupta Adviser Scientist-G & Head, SITP-2020, Secretariat, said, “The uniqueness of this policy is that this is the first policy which has consulted the Indian Diaspora in policy formulation. It focuses on leveraging the internal strength of the country by making India self-reliant through science and technology interventions and at the same time proactively promoting international cooperation.”
As per the Information and Technology Ministry, he highlighted that in the past 7 years, there has been unprecedented progress in science and technology, and the new policy captures this growth & prepares India for a brighter future.
“Inclusiveness has been a mantra for this policy formulation, and women had about 40% representation in the Thematic Groups along with a good balance of age. With around 300 rounds of consultation, the participation of nearly 43000 participants, the consultation in the pre-draft stage of the policy formulation has been perhaps the one of the largest, widest, and quickest,” he added.
The Department of Science and Technology (DST), GoI, in conjunction with the h Science India Forum, of Vijnana Bharati, organized a virtual meeting for a detailed discussion about the second Post-draft STIP consultation with Indian diaspora from the GCC countries.
“We are in the phase where Government of India has put the entire policy draft in public domain so that people from different strata of society who are engaged with science, technology, and innovation can put forward their suggestions,” said Jayant Sahasrabudhe, National Organising Secretary Vijnana Bharati who presided over the session.
Indian diaspora representatives attending the event provided suggestions on challenges to cover the Article Processing Charge (APC) in facilitating open science policy, availability of Post-doc fellowships in India, the interconnectivity of state-level institutions to maintain high-quality standards, watertight compartments ithe n definition of science, the contribution of the new policy towards Industry 4.0, the registration process of innovation incubators in India and so on.