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New Delhi: Regretting slow inflow of private investment in R&D in science, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday warned that the country will lag behind in human development unless "internal asymmetries" are bridged.
He asked the scientific community to find viable solutions to "pressing national problems" of food and nutrition security, energy and environment security and those related to water and sanitation besides new approaches to make innovations green and affordable.
Noting that adequate funding is critical for science, he said the government has accorded high priority to this aspect.
"Unfortunately, private sector investment into R&D has not grown fast enough for us to double the overall national investments into R&D from the current level of 1 per cent of GDP to 2 per cent.
"Increasing private sector investments into R&D and making possible conversion of knowledge into value and wealth remains a challenge," he said.
Singh was addressing the scientific community during the release of a book 'Decade of achievements and rising aspirations', compiled by the Scientific Advisory Council (SAC) to the Prime Minister here.
He asked the SAC to look into the concerns flagged by him.
Noting that science is a tool to empower and emancipate our people, he said "unless our internal asymmetries are bridged, India will continue to figure poorly in various human development rankings".
He stressed for regular supply of talent, strong and high-quality educational and scientific institutions to identify and mentor talent to make India a global leader in science.
