A Science Policy to Cope with the Inevitable?

Abstract

Planning to cope with the Indian population dynamics is the central issue of the remarkable book edited by V. Gowariker, The Inevitable Billion Plus. The paper discusses the feasibility of Gowariker's proposals by examining first the science and technology policy experiences of the so-called developed countries, and then the lessons that can be drawn for a developing country such as India. With the end of the Cold War, the grounds for the support of basic science are everywhere reconsidered. This may be an opportunity for India, doomed to remain a 'mixed economy' whatever the fate of the liberal reforms, to design an alternative path of development aimed at reconciling the economic and strategic imperative of innovation with the nonetheless pressing imperative of social improvement. Such a policy is not so much to train Western-style researches as to increase and spread basic technical skills in line with local needs.