Leap of Technology

In India, there is a pressing need to spend more on R&D, particularly in areas that are vital to national security

The use of technology for enhancing national security will not happen as a matter of natural progression; it requires a well-crafted strategy backed by action plans and resources. Technology is a generic term which includes many concepts including education, innovation, productionization, commercialization, awareness, training, international cooperation, intellectual property rights (IPR), technology absorption, etc. Each of these components will need to be dealt with separately as well as in conjunction with each other. Their users will have to be brought into the discourse. Proper funding, monitoring and evaluation of institutions will be needed, along with a holistic policy approach.

In 2001, the first National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) produced a comprehensive review which emphasized the importance of technology as an enabler of national security. Since then, the awareness that technology is a force multiplier has grown. The armed forces have taken to the concept of RMA. The nuclear doctrine of the country makes it imperative to build a second-strike capability which is technology intensive. There has been some progress in the improving the ISR system, and the ongoing revolution in communications and computing technologies has also impacted national security.

New applications such as geographic information systems (GIS) are now indispensable. Many new technologies have appeared which combine global positioning system (GPS) technology with satellite imagery, digital elevation maps and data sets in applications of great accuracy which can be used in diverse fields like health, agriculture, surveys, land record systems, etc. India has started using some of these applications to great effect. For instance, land records have been digitized using satellite imagery and GPS. The advance of such GIS technologies has provided both opportunities and challenges for national security. The Challenge before India is how to harness these rapidly emerging technologies to ensure its national security.

Most technologies are still incubated and developed in the west and that too in the private sector and in universities. The US government liberally funds their development. In India, there is a need to spend more on R&D, particularly in areas that are vital to national security. India can learn something from the experience of China in scientific innovation. It needs to pay for greater attention to science and engineering education, particularly in terms of quality. R&D expenditure in India is just about 0.8 per cent of the GDP, which is far less than that of China: more than 2 per cent. China spends more on innovation than on defence.

In India, nearly 80 per cent of R&D is done in the government sector. The share of the private sector must be increased. But enhanced spending on R&D is not enough-India has to create an innovation system which encourages experimentation, critical thinking, and supports small and medium industries. Fiscal policies should be overhauled to support innovation. Existing R&D schemes should be consolidated and made more efficient. The education system is also in need of an overhaul. The high-tech skills needed for science and technology will have to be inculcated and more jobs created in the science and technology sector. The private sector should be nudged to look at innovation and not be simply the consumer of technologies produced by others.

This brings us to the second point of how the private sector can be enthused to pay more attention to R&D. It is a risky activity and the private sector, with its low appetite for risk-taking, will not be attracted to it unless there is profit involved. The government will have to absorb a significant portion of the risk and also provide a market to the private sector for the products that emerge as a result. Thus, there has to be a properly worked out public-private partnership model in th