Title: Not above the law
(The verdict in the Salman Khan blackbuck case is a huge blow for conservation)
The stiff sentence of five years in jail awarded to actor Salman Khan for hunting blackbuck in Rajasthan’s Kankani village in 1998 should send out the message that stardom does not confer impunity.
Unlike the average wildlife poaching case, where State forest departments struggle to gather credible evidence, the prosecution in the blackbuck case has been vigorously supported by the local Bishnoi community.
Stars like Khan, who is no stranger to controversy surrounding hunting expeditions, seem to think conservation is not serious business, and the clock can readily be turned back to an era when the wealthy and powerful organised ‘shikar’ parties to hunt for pleasure. That era is over.
If the verdict of the Jodhpur court in the blackbuck case survives the appeals process, it would send out the powerful message that the judicial system feels no constraint in exerting the full weight of the law to protect threatened wildlife.
The Wildlife (Protection) Act, the landmark law from 1972 that shields the diversity of India’s endangered animals mainly in 4% of its land area designated as protected, struggles to be effective and conviction rates are low.
Even the population of the tiger, the most protected species, faces erosion due to poaching. At least 136 tigers were killed between 2014 and 2017, according to an estimate by the Wildlife Protection Society of India that includes official data on poaching.
What is more, several species protected under the Schedules of the Wildlife Act are often found in areas that lie outside sanctuaries, and are commonly hunted.
The court makes the important observation that personalities who are capable of influencing the behaviour of others must naturally be conscious of what they do.
Title: Forging a culture of innovation
(India’s innovation policy has to shift beyond a mere focus on R&D spending to transforming the ecosystem)
On paper, India should be in a good position in terms of research and development (R&D) spending. Our pipeline of researchers seems undiminished; we are ranked third in the world in number of science and technology PhDs awarded and have improved our ranking in the Global Innovation Index, from 66 to 60.
And yet, there is no Indian university in the top hundred (QS World University Rankings, 2018) and only 46,904 patents were filed in India in 2016 (China filed over a million patents). Somehow, we have enabled an ethos of publishing, but not “patenting, publishing and prospering”.
Between the numbers
India’s gross expenditure on R&D has increased by three times over the decade 2005-15, crossing the ₹1 lakh crore mark in 2016-17. The Centre spent 45.1% of the total amount in 2015, while private industry contributed 38.1%. In comparison to the West, the contribution of higher educational institutions in R&D spending was lackluster.
India’s R&D spending, as a percentage of GDP, still lags significantly, at 0.69% in 2015 — this share has been stagnating for the last decade. Even among other BRICS countries, only South Africa lags behind India in terms of R&D expenditure.
Allocation of spending is also significantly constrained. Over 90% of Indian start-ups face a risk of failure in their initial stages, partially due to a lack of access to financing.
Only 28% of patents registered for applications are eventually filed. Meanwhile, patent pendency times in India are among the highest in the major economies, with a patent taking about 6-7 years between a request for examination and a final office action. In comparison, South Korea and China have pendency timings of 16 and 22 months, respectively.
Over 77% of Indian venture capitalists believe that India lacks unique business models or new technologies.
The CSIR’s patents, mentioned earlier, were mostly “bio-data patents”, and are claimed to have been filed primarily to enhance a scientist’s resume.
Tested by application
We need to push beyond metrics, papers and patents to focus on providing solutions to development and economic challenges.
Our innovation policy has to shift beyond a focus on increasing R&D spending to inculcating a mindset of “out-of-the-box” thinking in our universities, start-ups and corporates.
The Atal Innovation Mission is an encouraging start, focussing on facilitating school-level financial grants to help nurture an initial layer of innovation.
Final words:-
For a nation whose public debate is often given to recalling innovations in our historical and mythological past, the future state of India’s R&D activities demands significant attention.
Vocabulary words:
Verdict (noun) = Judgement (निर्णय)
Conservation (noun) = Protection (संरक्षण)
Stardom (noun) = The status of being very famous
entertainer (प्रसिद्ध अभिनेते)
Impunity (noun) = Exemption from punishment (दण्ड से मुक्ति)
Blood sport (noun) = A sport involving the hunting, wounding or killing of animals
Expedition (noun) = Campaign (अभियान)
Constraint (noun) = Restriction (बाधा)
conviction (noun) = Sentence (दोषसिद्धि)
Snares (noun) = Netting (फंदा)
Grotesquely (adv) = Ridiculously, abnormally (विकृत रूप से)
Deterrent (noun) = A thing that discourages
Ethos (noun) = The characteristic spirit of a culture (प्रकृति)
Lag (verb) = Fail to keep up with another (पिछड़ जाना)
Pendency (noun) = The state of being pending (लम्बित)
Bogus (adj) = Fake (फर्जी)
Rote (noun) = Mechanical or habitual repetition of something (दुहराव)
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