Nepal’s R&D funding: Not enough (My Republica March 19, 2014)

http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=71260

Nepal has now become one of the darkest countries in the world due to its remarkably long hours of power cuts and misplaced development priorities. Once a relatively self-dependent country in agricultural production and semi-finished goods like sugar, leather products and cement, Nepal has now been transformed into a nation deprived of almost all basic requirements of life including food, clothing, energy and technology. What should be the focus of our development planning and where should we spend the major chunk of our budget is a topic that is often debated in the media by our economists and development experts alike. There is always disagreement over which sector deserves our priority: energy, education, health, roads, agriculture or tourism infrastructure? But certain areas where comparatively smaller investments can generate really big returns are often neglected in such debates.
If we compare the relatively closed era of say 1950-1990 with the relatively forward-facing 2000-2013 period in the development trajectory of the country, there are a few significant differences. Compared to the first era, we now have a relatively better functioning democracy, which means more people centered decisions, less red tape and good governance. However, the troubles and toils of people have magnified. There are more jobless people now than ever before. For many, the work they do is not sufficient to sustain their livelihood. This is why around 1,500 people are departing the country on a daily basis. An equal number of people cross our open border by road every day. This high migration rate has drained the country labor force in the last few years. 

The population has increased from 18 million in the census of 1991 to 27 million in 2011. The added people need more food, more jobs and better human resource management. However, this population growth is considered normal and not unnatural like the baby-boom that occurred in the western world after Second World War. The three most populated countries in China, India and the US, all have managed their high population pressures rather well. They considered their people as opportunities for national development. China, the most populated country in the world, has also one of the cheapest labor forces in the world that in turn lure foreign investors, contributing to its already big FDI pool. 
However, China has also been training its human resources to better understand basic technology. Hence, it is not the 2.2 population growth rate that has slowed Nepal’s economic growth (to around 2 percent), nor is corruption solely responsible, or the failure of planners, or slackness of implementation agencies. All these might be responsible. But, above all, it is the absence of tech savvy among our planners and policymakers to better understand technology’s important role in the history of mankind that is hindering our development. 
If we study the rise and fall of development in the world, we find a strong correlation between scientific research and the development of a country. No country has developed without investing in Research and Development (R&D). History shows that all powerful countries of the past had big interest in R&D and funded it well. In 17th, 18th and early 19th century, the UK was a hub of scientific research. Most of the discoveries in physics, chemistry, mathematics, statistics, botany and zoology were made there. Large government funds were made available to academia for scientific research. There were Royal Societies for different branches of science (that exists until now). Many scientists were conferred national honors. They were called Sir (Sir Isaac Newton) and appointed in scientific academies. The famous Scottish mathematician and physicist William Thomson, well known as Lord Kelvin, was honored as a Lord, a member of the Upper House of the UK.
The government spent big on scientific innovations. This made the country the most powerful and influential for many centuries. But after the Second World War, the UK’s premier position has been replaced by another great power. From the early 19th century, the US gradually began to take over the mantle of the R&D hub of the world. Today, the US spends a big chunk of its budget on R&D. Other than funding from several private companies, US Federal R&D funding (which is only one major stream of the governmental support) in 2013 was US $138 billion. According to World Bank’s data, US government was spending around 2.8 percent of its GDP for R&D until 2009, which has been raised by the Obama administration to three percent. 
The increasing proportion of R&D spending relative to GDP shows more government inclination for scientific research. Also, and perhaps unsurprisingly, there is a strong correlation between this proportion and development of a country. According to World Bank in 2011, this spending was highest for Israel (4.39 percent) and lowest for some poor African countries like Madagascar (0.11 percent), Burundi (0.12 percent) and Gambia (0.13 percent). Many European countries spend between 2-3 percent of their national budget and the East Asian tiger South Korea spends 3.74 percent. Nepal has never given research and innovation high priority. No government, even after the first advent of democracy in 1950, has seriously thought about investing in research. According to a 2011 NAST report, the government that year allocated a budget of Rs. 443.611 million on R&D which is about 0.37 percent of GDP. Late professor Dayanand Bajracharya often urged the government to raise its research spending to at least 1.3 percent of GDP. 
On the verge of drafting a new constitution, the government should also give due attention to the development of science and technology. The technology related to mobile, internet and computer have revolutionized the way Nepalis live. Such adopted technologies have changed the lifestyles of even the rural folks. This hard fact must never be lost on our planners. I believe giving a little more attention to R&D will in the long run keep able brains in Nepal and in the process accelerate national development.