Fifty years is not a long time in a nation's life. Yet it is long enough for its people to expect change. And change, as the founding fathers of Independent India had realised, could be brought about only through greater application of science and technology, which in turn required building up not only the infrastructure, but also skilled manpower.
When India achieved Independence a little over fifty years ago, it did not have any worthwhile infrastructure for the development of science and technology, nor did it have a sound industrial base. Agricultural production was abysmally low and health services almost non-existent. Yet, five decades later, it has emerged as a major techno-logical power with the capability to design, build and launch its own satellites, design, build and run its own nuclear power plants, and develop its own supercomputers. Agricultural production has more than trebled, and today India not only produces all the food grain it needs for domestic consumption but also exports it. India today is the world's largest producer of milk and sugar. With improved health care services, the life expectancy of the average Indian is thirty years more than what it was five decades ago. Few other developing countries can claim such successes.
After Independence, one of the first steps the Indian Government took to make science and technology a national endeavour was to adopt the Scientific Policy Resolution, in March 1958. It spelt out for the first time the Government's resolve to "foster, promote and sustain the cultivation of scientific research and to encourage and initiate programmes for the training of scientific and technical personnel, on a scale adequate to fulfil the country's needs in science and education, agriculture and industry, and defence." The adoption of the Scientific Policy Resolution had far reaching impact on the growth of science and technology in post-Independence India. As a follow up, research facilities were vastly expanded with the setting up of a fa chain of national laboratories, expansion of science departments in universities and opening up of several institutes of technology. The Scientific Policy Resolution was followed in 1983 by the Technology Policy Statement, one of the important objectives of which was to attain self-reliance in technology.
The main thrust of scientific research was to achieve self-sufficiency in food production. Several measures were initiated by the Government to achieve this goal. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) was reorganised into an autonomous, apex agency to promote agricultural research and agricultural education in the country. Agricultural universities were set up in every state. Advanced centres of postgraduate education and research were also set up to promote research in plant genetics and plant breeding.
On another level, arrangements were made for providing adequate supply of essential inputs, like fertiliser, and water for irrigation. Large fertiliser complexes were set up and several hydro-power-cum-irrigation projects were taken up to meet the needs of power and irrigation. High-yielding strains of a wide variety of crops including wheat, rice, maize and sorghum were introduced. All this led to substantial increase in agricultural production, enabling the country to attain self-sufficiency in food production.
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