Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood, a Distinguished Professor of Physics at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, who took over as the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India, says crucial missions are on the roll now just as the country has overcome three waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. In an interview with The Hindu, he speaks about the need for being ‘future ready’ with regard to the pandemic, why India’s mobility issues should not depend on imported technology, and what the biodiversity mission will entail.
Excerpts from the interview
Can you tell us about the Bio-science for Human Health Mission in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic?
It couldn’t have come at a better time. All of us have been sensisitised to it. Two years of the Covid-19 pandemic have taught us enormous lessons and everyone is aware of the need for this mission. A DPR has been prepared and circulated for expert comments and inter-ministerial consultation. A draft note has been prepared for the national policy. There are genetics and human science initiatives by CSIR and DBT, which has been doing enormous amount of work, such as the Unique Methods of Management and treatment of inherited disorders and Genome India Project. All this needs to be integrated to make sure there is a synergy between various stakeholders.
COVID-19 is not over yet. We have to be future ready. We have to see what is the future vaccination plan, and what our animal pandemic preparedness is. Many things come from the animal world.... They are inter-connected. We must think about pandemic preparedness and see how to integrate the one health system. I hope the PSA office will come up with a plan to work on this idea because it cuts across the entire country.
What is the status of the National Biodiversity Mission?
These are very important missions, which were discussed in PM STIAC meetings almost three years ago. Then COVID-19 happened, and things did not move as fast as they should have. Now, the Department of Expenditure has approved the mission in principle, but has also asked the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to make some revisions so there are no overlaps with the work of other ministries. Now, the ministry is working on the DPR before the money is released. Very soon, we hope that the revised document will be submitted to the Department of Expenditure. Then, we will probably be on our way to launch the mission.
We have specific concerns for national biodiversity — loss of intact forests, which is a big issue; climate change and the pandemic, which cause stress on the natural eco system, which causes a threat to species, India’s natural eco system management, which comes under the control of States, etc. The trans-disciplinary efforts need to be expedited with a lot of planning. India has such a rich biodiversity, so conservation is key. The cost is pretty high from the economic standpoint. Natural services associated with biodiversity have huge economic implications. By some estimates, it is up to ₹128 trillion per year.
What are the critical issues with electric vehicles (EVs)?
For EVs, there are many issues, such as batteries. Is lithium battery everything? Then we have to deal with the issue of materials. Where is so much lithium, cobalt that nations need? A lot of R&D work needs to be done, but we cannot wait for that to happen and then launch EVs. They have to go in parallel. Battery is one aspect. Many people are moving towards hydrogen based systems. We have initiated some effort.
The Department of Science and Technology will lead R&D. We need long-term solutions, and lithium and battery are not.
Immediate action is also needed on charging. Though it looks simple, we don’t have standardisation. Standardisation and innovations have to go hand in hand, and the PSA has led a lot of work already on this. Standards for low power charging stations have been looked at, as two and three wheelers are big markets in India. This has come through the Bureau of Indian Standards, which had notified standards in 2021. For the high power automatic connector charging — four wheelers, buses, etc, the draft is being prepared.
A lot of work for futuristic batteries needs to be done, and they should be made in India. Mobility issues cannot be based on imported technology.
What is the mandate of the AGNIi mission?
This is a partnership between PSA and Invest India. We should target Indian emerging technology capabilities and national objectives in various areas. We must enable technologies and startups to serve these objectives. National priorities will generate opportunities. This is a huge way forward. We have three specific mandates right now: AGNIi will execute exemplar projects, deeper technology partnerships with individual ministries such as the waste-to-wealth project, and additional domains such as AI, robotics. The hope is that in the next year or two, it will make significant impact on the national objective front.
How do we balance basic science and transactional science?
In our anxiety to only translate, we should not lose track of fundamental science. If we only talk about transactional technology, you have to ask, from where will it come five years down the line? If you keep on depending on other countries to generate fundamental science, why will they not commercialise it? We need to generate fundamental smart ideas. All fundamental science will not lead to technology tomorrow.
India has to have three pillars — science, technology and solution. But science cannot be derivative science. Science is also a platform to ignite young minds. If science is not exciting and not making the imagination flow, bright minds won’t come to science. That can happen if fundamental science is equally exciting. It’s all interconnected.
Technology also leads to good science. Now experimental science is so technology driven. We should not lose track of basic science and pitch it high in terms of discovery. Without discovery, you cannot do innovation in the long run.
