Without reliable long-term data in a uniform format, it is impossible to evaluate ongoing research and development (R&D) activities, launch new initiatives or make international comparisons with any confidence.
Yet in India — and many other developing countries — data compilation is such a haphazard process that we have no clear picture of national R&D. Since 1973, the Indian government's Department of Science and Technology has been responsible for creating a reliable database on the availability and deployment of scientific and technical resources.
The latest (2000-1) edition of the department's valuable Research and Development Statistics is based on a national survey carried out in the fiscal year 1998-99, and was published in May 2002.
The database has two parts. One consists of information taken from government records. This material, dealing mainly with funding, is intrinsically very reliable.
First part contains information on the Indian R& D expenditure and the inflow and outflow of money. This is quite useful. But the problem arises with second part of the R&D database, which deals mainly with the scientific output.
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