ISLAMABAD: Secretary Ministry of Science and Technology Kamran Ali Qureshi on Thursday said research and development (R&D) was not the priority of the present government which spends less than one per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) on it.

“It pains me to admit that allocations and releases have gone down since past years and so have research and development activities. The results of ongoing projects are not visible anywhere though our scientists have worked hard,” Mr Qureshi told the National Assembly standing committee on science and technology.

These few words were the bluntest admission by a top government official about the pitiable state of affairs in R&D.

The meeting was held at the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) to deliberate the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) of the ministry and its attached departments.

Mr Qureshi told the meeting: “We know that energy, defence and infrastructure development are important but it is distressing to learn that funding for R&D is an insignificant 0.5 per cent of the GDP.” He believed that Pakistan needed to learn from countries such as Israel, South Korea and Japan, which invested the most in R&D.

Chaired by PML-N MNA Chaudhry Tariq Bashir Cheema, the meeting learnt that though the government committed in billions for research and development, it released only in millions.

According to the presentation on the ministry’s budget, Rs695.7 million were released against the demand for over Rs3 billion in 2008-09. Allocations and releases had gone down since then. In 2014-15, Rs548 million were released against the ministry’s demand for Rs1.2 billion for R&D.

Mr Qureshi argued that funds were not only insufficient but also released too late. He said instead of releasing the promised amounts, the finance department started asking for surrendering the unutilised funds in the last financial quarter.

“There is an entire chapter on R&D in emerging sciences like nano, bio and fuel technologies in the manifesto of the present government but it did not release a single penny for the initiatives,” said Mr Qureshi, explaining how Iran, way ahead in nano-science, showed an interest in assisting but Pakistan did not benefit from the offer.

The meeting learnt that development projects had suffered in all 14 associated departments of the ministry of science like the PCST, Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources (PCRWR), Pakistan Science Foundation and the Pakistan Council for Renewable Energy Technologies (PCRET).

Director General PCRET Dr Suhail Zaki Farooqui told the members how Pakistan would produce six times more energy than the present installed capacity, 150 times more could be produced from solar power, five times more from hydel power and one fourth more from biomass.

“Unfortunately, my office will have no projects after June this year if funds are not released to tap these natural resources,” said Dr Farooqui, explaining how the number of PhD holders had declined from eight to only two, including himself.

Dr Mohammad Ashraf, the director general PCRWR, told meeting how he was struggling to save the jobs of more than 200 professionals, including PhDs, working in nearly two dozen water test labs.

“Besides upgrading six existing labs, 18 new ones have been established that are on the verge of closing down because of the shortage of funds,” said Dr Ashraf.

Projects in the health sector such as fighting diabetes in collaboration with other countries, setting up technology parks, initiatives to provide safe drinking water, developing vaccines, installing labs and developing new technologies such as hydrogen fuel cell and nanotechnology have all suffered due to the shortage of funds.

The members seemed so moved by the concerns of the officials that they were prepared to accompany Chaudhry Tariq Bashir Cheema to the Prime Minister Office immediately after the meeting to explain to him that Pakistan needed to be transformed into a knowledge-based economy by investing in education and scientific disciplines.

“We will write, strongly recommending the Planning Commission and Ministry of Finance to save these projects and release the committed funds on time,” said Mr Cheema.

The ministry has demanded Rs3 billion for 22 ongoing, 10 approved and 54 unapproved projects for 2015-16.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2015

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