India accounts for about 10% of all expenditure on research and development in Asia and the number of scientific publications grew by 45% over the past five years.[5] However, according to India’s science and technology minister, Kapil Sibal, India is lagging in science and technology compared to developed countries.[6] India has only 140 researchers per 1,000,000 population, compared to 4,651 in the United States.[6] India invested US$3.7 billion in science and technology in 2002–2003.[7] For comparison, China invested about four times more than India, while the United States invested approximately 75 times more than India on science and technology.[7]
Despite this, five Indian Institutes of Technologywere listed among the top 10 science and technology schools in Asia by Asiaweek The tradition of Science and Technology (S & T) in India is over 5000 years old. A renaissance was witnessed in the first half of the 20th century. The S&T infrastructure has grown up from about Rs. 10 million at the time of independence in 1947 to Rs. 30 billion. Significant achievements have been made in the areas of nuclear and space science, electronics and defense. The government is committed to making S&T an integral part of the socio-economic development of the country.
