The Chinese Juggernaut
Remember that typical uncle of ours, who used to come home on the festival, sit down and the first thing he would ask would be our marks. More often than not, his son/daughter would have scored more marks than us. Our uncle would say every irritating thing possible which made us hate him. But, before leaving he would give us a box of sweets, a few chocolates and a cover filled with enough money that made us love him. Our entire childhood passed in the confusion of whether we love him or hate him. China is like that uncle of ours. We hate China for its irritating tactics. But then, China offers cheap phones like Vivo and Oppo to our markets and we can’t hate it. (Why just phones, right from our holi colors and Diwali firecrackers to the kites for Uttrayan, everything comes from China!)
I have written about this previously, and I reiterate that the real enymy of India is not Pakistan but China. This is a second piece in that series. In the first piece I had written about the differences and similarities between India and China with Defence in the background. It is an established fact that China is gradually moving in the direction of becoming a global power. And it's leaving no stones unturned in its relentless pursuit for excellence.
No nation in the history of the world has become great without some remarkable learning institutions flourishing within their territory. India was a sone ki chidiya, when Taxilla and Nalanda were at their helm. Greece was great when Platonic Academy (aka University of Athens) was flourishing. Britain was a hegemony, with Oxford University and Cambridge University at their zenith. And today, USA is the superpower precisely because of the MIT, Stanford, and Havard. It is thus proved that the institutions of higher learning have a vital role to play in the development and growth of a nation.
With this in mind, what I am about to share is a Chinese success story with respect to its emerging strengths in the field of Science and Technology, Innovation and Research.
The table below shows the nations and their share of GDP (in %) invested in science and technology. Though India has done well in the past 70 years, but as the data suggests we are still far behind if viewed form the global perspective. This is important as the development of scientific temper in our citizens is the need of the hour.
In the changing times, it’s the private companies that invest in the R&D and tie up with leading universities. This is a trend world over Eg: SpaceX has its research lab in MIT. Forbes magazine recently published a list of 2500 best private companies which have R&D labs in the universities. The table below shows the lukewarm attitude of Indian corporate giants.
As a forward-thinking nation, we must work on creating research fellows, push academics as a career, motivate students to study further and aim higher. There is a dearth of Indians willing to pursue a career in the field of research, which is clearly indicated in the table below. The table below shows the number of Phd scholars per 1 million population in various nations.
This is likely to lead to the following condition. The table below shows the alarming spike in the papers being published in China. India was way ahead of China in 1990, but as the table below suggests it is a completely different story at present. The figures considered are of PhD student in STEM- Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics.
Finally, with the present structure of research and innovation in India it becomes quite obvious that India laga behind major countries when it comes to filing the Patents. India is however the 7th largest patent filing nation(annually). The table below shows India’s standings globally.
This piece was necessitated as the critics of my first piece had argued that while China did great in their Defence sector, it didn’t do that well in their social sector. Also, that their standards of living haven’t significantly improved as has been the case with their economic growth. With the data presented one can certainly conclude, that China has even progressed qualitatively. It gave priority to education and innovation and could achieve the desired success. I am not a fan Chinese politics or its policies, I rather hate China more any other country. But it’s our neighbor, and it will always remain our neighbor, hence it becomes vital to observe China’s policies and their impact.
A number of people believe that the main hindrance in India’s development is its population. It’s then, when I look at China and feel like breaking this myth and unfolding the reality. Population is a mere excuse to hide the complacence that has crept in our mindset.
Focus on Science and Technology, innovation and establishment of higher learning institutions is the need of the hour. Time for India to become a sone ki chidiya, yet again.
(The source of the data presented is Economic Survey 2017–18 Volume 1)