Mathur Ritika Passi

Innovative solutions will be the key:
the government, for example, could
divert a percentage of revenue
generated from diinveted assets
towards R & D in the sector the
assets operate.
would have been if they worked in other
sectors. 25
Attention to R&D and innovation is
critical; but for India, the time is ripe to
adopt a broader mandate of transitioning
to a knowledge economy, an economy
which relies heavily on its intellectual
capital. Such a shift gains particular
importance considering the country today is
witnessing a demographic transition. India
today has the largest youth population in
the world, which is not only expected to
grow further, but is currently grappling
with high levels of unemployment.
At present, however, the higher education
system in India is riddled
with inefficiencies—
from a lack of teachers
and infrastructure, to
outdated technologies and
curriculum—so much so,
that over 200,000 Indian
students choose to study
in foreign universities
annually, spending upwards
of $7 billion. 26 In addition
to poor-quality higher
education, inadequate
industry focus on R&D,
lack of enforcement of
intellectual property laws,
and a shortage of basic
and critical infrastructure
requirements has meant India’s knowledge
economy is yet to take off.
The current government has initiated two
policy programmes to encourage a culture
of knowledge and innovation. First is the
Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
policy, which aims to empower citizens by
providing them employable skills, and by
promoting a culture of innovation-based
entrepreneurship that can generate wealth
and employment. 27 There is particular
emphasis on the role of the private sector,
with the government actively encouraging
its participation through a public-private
partnership model. The second is the Digital
India initiative, which aims to transform
India into a digitally empowered society,
reaping the benefits of a knowledge-driven
economy by providing digital literacy to its
citizens 28 (in 2014, India ranked 111th out
of 135 countries in the “use of ICT” index).
While these initiatives are welcome,
the government must ensure adequate
monitoring and regulatory frameworks are
in place so as to yield positive results. This
is a major challenge facing higher education
institutions (both public and private), where
even though quality standards are set, their
enforcement is lacking, leading to poor
outcomes. The current government must
also seek further innovative strategies to
promote R&D. For instance, a percentage
of revenue generated from disinvestment
of government assets must be diverted
towards R&D in the sector the asset
operates. Thus, a proportion of the revenue
generated from the sale of Coal India
must be diverted towards developing clean
technologies, and revenues from spectrum
sale must be invested in developing new-age
optic fibre. 29
It is critical to distinguish between
invention and innovation, as the latter
of the two is often confused with the
former. The aim of the Indian knowledge
economy must not be to only file numerous
patents. To be a sustainable knowledge
economy, the emphasis should also be
to innovate in processes—be it assembly
lines in the manufacturing sector, building
infrastructure, or creating newer, better
products in the services sector. Value
addition through innovation must the longterm
objective.
Providing financial, technological
and technical support
A corollary, from India’s perspective, to
the above-mentioned targets of SDG 9 is
the additional target of 9.a, which focuses
on providing finance and technological
support to the poorest countries for their
infrastructure needs. India already provides
such support through two tools, Lines of
Credit (LOCs) and the Indian Technical &
Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme.
LOCs are concessional loans, with a grant
element, offered to less developed nations
for capacity-building projects. As of May
7, 2015, India had 193 operative LOCs, of
which over 70% (142) were extended to
countries in Africa. 30 The ITEC programme
provides technical and economic training
to government officials of other developing
countries. In 2013-14, approximately
$26.61 million was spent, more than
double the amount in 2008-09. Almost
40% of ITEC assistance was provided to
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