State of Indian Science in modern era

India’s first prime minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, coined the phrase ‘scientific temper,’ in 1946. Three decades later, in 1976 to be precise, the term ‘scientific temper’ was added to the Constitution of India as a fundamental duty of every citizen. It states, ‘to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform.’

What is scientific temper? It is broadly defined as a ‘modest open-minded temper, developing new light, new knowledge, new experiments, even when their results are unfavourable to preconceived opinions and long-cherished theories.’

The outlook of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar, the architect of Indian Constitution, was also somewhat identical. He emphasised the importance of reason, evidence, and critical inquiry in all aspects of life. Dr. Ambedkar believed that scientific knowledge is essential for the progress of society and advocated for the use of empirical evidence in the understanding of social realities.

Unfortunately, in the present scientific and political ecosystem, there is an attempt to subvert everything that was associated with the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. History can be re-written, but not subverted.

India has produced some of the best scientific minds in the world, including Sir CV Raman, Satyendra Nath Bose, Homi J. Bhabha, Srinivasa Ramanujan, Har Gobind Khorana, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar and several others in the recent times. Going back in history, we had Brahmagupta, Baudhayana, Varahamihira, Aryabhata, Charaka, Kanada, Mahavira, Sushruta, and Madhava of Sangamagrama, the greatest scientists and mathematicians. Unfortunately, the Western scientific community has often considered itself superior and has not not given due credit to Indian scientists.

Despite India’s pre-eminence in science and mathematics, the country has produced only four scientists of global recognition, i.e., Nobel Prize winners– the last being Venkatraman Ramakrishnan for Chemistry in 2009. The others in this league were Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar for Physics (1983), Har Gobind Khorana for Medicine (1968), and C.V. Raman for Physics (1930).

It is not the dearth of talent in the country that has prevented the emergence world-class scientists, but rather nepotism and political interference in scientific administration that has stunted many deserving scientists.

Krishnamoorthy Kannan, a pioneer in Biotechnology in India, is a classic case. He was the dean of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University in Delhi and later Vice Chancellor of Nagaland University (2006-2011). In 2004, he missed a Nobel Prize purely a because of the government’s failure to recognize a discovery he made 12 years before.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry that year (2004) was awarded jointly to Aaron Ciechanover and Avram Hershko from Israel and Irwin Rose (USA) for ‘the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation.’ While they were the first to demonstrate the role of this molecule ‘inside’ the cells, Dr Kannan was the first to identify an equally important function of ubiquitin ‘outside’ the cells.

“In research everybody follows the bandwagon. This was the first time I decided not to follow the bandwagon, but my own line of thought. Basically, we could stain the stem cells. Everybody was using antibodies.  But we could show that we could stain a cell without an antibody. That was a new thing. Number two, the ubiquitin, we exchanged the bone marrow transplant mechanism, which nobody knew at that time. That was the second major point. It opened a whole new field. Now the protein degradation is only one aspect.  There are another six aspects and a new technology has come which was called proact,” Dr Kannan told this author in a freewheeling exchange.

"We applied for a grant from the Department of Biotechnology, but I was upset when it was turned down. We were denied funds because we were working in the private sector. In the 1980s, the government never funded any scientific work being done in the private sector. It is now that the government talks about public-private collaboration,” added Dr Kannan.

In a scathing comment about science administrators in India, Dr Kannan remarked that the country is still not geared for promoting new ideas. “We wanted only to promote what others have done. Unfortunately, we have not got out of that mould. We do not have peer reviewers or top scientists who can spot talent,” he lamented.

Dr Kannan revealed, there were several others who have done excellent work. But the system is not in place and “the mafia gang is very strong.”

The case of a scientist at the Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH) under the CSIR was no different. The scientist, who wished to remain anonymous, developed recombinant therapeutic proteins. India has been importing these proteins at a huge cost, and the indigenous proteins would have lowered the price significantly. Unfortunately, he also did not receive the required support from his superiors in CSIR and had to retire from the lab before he could share his findings discovery for public good.

During COVID-19, the government mandated development of a vaccine to contain the global crisis. Two laboratories received support: Pune-based Serum Institute of India, which was authorised to produce COVISHIELD, developed by Oxford University’s Jenner Institute and European pharma major AstraZeneca.

The second drug manufacturer supported by the Government of India was Bharat Biotech for production of COVAXIN, which was indigenously developed by National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Both vaccines require a cold-chain system to ensure proper storage and distribution across the country. The cold-chain is an interconnected system, with refrigeration equipment to store the vaccine at recommended temperatures to maintain their potency.

A third drug candidate developed by a startup named Mynvax at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore is designed to withstand the hot climatic conditions prevalent in India. The team was led by Prof. Raghavan Varadarajan. 

The team approached the Government of India and several prospective manufacturers for funding to carry out the process development, safety assessments, and toxicity tests before proceeding with clinical trials.

“We did not have the facilities and it costs a lot of money. We needed to get it done through a contract manufacturing organisation (CMO) under Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). It took some time to secure the necessary funding, primarily through Government sources, and the money was eventually released only in April 2022,” Professor Varadarajan remarked sometime ago.

Unfortunately, government agencies  displayed a lack resolve in completing the funding process, resulting in a two-year delay. Now the vaccine needs to be recalibrated for any future outbreaks of the disease. An Indian-born US system biologist Dr Shiva Ayyadurai, called the Indian scientific institutions ‘feudal.’ Dr Ayyadurai was inducted by then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to revamp the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. However, shaken by his recommendations, which challenged the fundamental structure of CSIR and what he termed ‘feudal’ structure, Dr Ayyadurai was shown the door ahead of his term.

While India aspires to be a Vishwa Guru or World Leader, it needs to inculcate a work culture in every field, free from external influences, both from outside the system and vested interests within it.

The comments of Dr Kannan sum up the state of Indian science - “There is more politics in science than science in politics.”

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N. Bhadran Nair has wide-ranging industry experience both in government and private media, ranging from broadcasting, television, and digital platforms. He currently writes mostly on science and technology and edits a digital journal named Indian Science Journal.