The Hindu

Mangalore, Apr 8: If India wants to sustain its growth rate, there is a need to support basic research in the country, R. Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Union Government and former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, had said.
 
He was delivering a special lecture on "Directed basic research" at Mangalagangotri, Mangalore University, on Saturday. Dr. Chidambaram said that if basic research was ignored, gaps in knowledge would appear between applied research and basic research. How to attract the most talented in science to basic research was a challenge faced by not only India but also some other countries, he said.
 
There was also a need to strengthen the interaction between the university system and national laboratory system. In this regard, the Department of Atomic Energy had signed a memorandum of understanding with Bombay University on March 27 to set up a centre of excellence for basic sciences.
 
He said that industries were not investing much on research and development. They should contribute more for such activities. Dr Chidambaram said that international cooperation in research should be based on equal partnership. India should decide what was its important area of research, he said and added that directed basic research should either help the society in general for long term or science in particular. He said that there was a need to improve the quality of science in undergraduate education. For this, universities could introduce five-year, integrated postgraduate courses.

K M Kaveriappa, vice-chancellor, Mangalore University, spoke.