S&T policy, IPR & innovation ecosystem

The policy architecture

India's commitment to science predates the Republic: Article 51A(h) of the Constitution, inserted by the 42nd Amendment (1976), makes it a Fundamental Duty of every citizen 'to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform.' This is the only constitution in the world to enshrine 'scientific temper' — a phrase coined by Jawaharlal Nehru in The Discovery of India (1946). The Directive in Article 51A is the constitutional anchor for every S&T programme.

The formal policy lineage runs through four landmark statements. The Scientific Policy Resolution (SPR) of 1958, piloted by Nehru, committed the state to cultivate science and acquire self-reliance. The Technology Policy Statement, 1983 emphasised indigenous technology and attainment of technological self-reliance. The Science and Technology Policy, 2003 linked science to wealth generation and raised the R&D investment goal. The Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP) 2013, released at the 100th Indian Science Congress (Kolkata), introduced the slogan 'science, technology and innovation for the people' and set the target of placing India among the world's top five scientific powers.

STIP 2020 and the GERD problem

The draft STIP 2020, prepared by the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser and the Department of Science and Technology, is the fifth and most ambitious statement. It proposes doubling the number of full-time equivalent researchers, doubling private-sector R&D contribution every five years, and an 'Open Science' framework with a national repository. Its central anxiety is India's Gross Expenditure on R&D (GERD), which has stagnated around 0.65–0.7% of GDP — far below China (~2.4%), the US (~3.5%) and Israel/South Korea (>4%). Crucially, in India the government funds roughly 55–60% of R&D while the private sector funds the rest; in advanced economies the private share exceeds 70%. Reversing this imbalance is the recurring theme of every recent policy.

Institutional machinery

The apex advisory body is the Prime Minister's Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC), chaired by the Principal Scientific Adviser (the office created in 1999; held by Ajay Kumar Sood since April 2022). Funding flows through the Department of Science and Technology (DST), the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) and the CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, 38 laboratories). The Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), established by the ANRF Act, 2023, replaces the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) and is designed to channel ₹50,000 crore (2023–28) — significantly with about ₹36,000 crore expected from private and philanthropic sources — to seed, grow and mentor research, especially in state universities where 95% of students enrol but little research occurs. Retain ANRF as the flagship reform: it is governed by a board chaired by the Prime Minister with the Union Ministers of Science & Technology and Education as ex-officio Vice-Presidents.

The patent regime: from process to product

India's intellectual property framework is governed by the Patents Act, 1970, the Trade Marks Act, 1999, the Copyright Act, 1957, the Designs Act, 2000, the Geographical Indications of Goods Act, 1999, the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001 and the Biological Diversity Act, 2002. The 1970 Act famously recognised only process patents (not product patents) for food, drugs and chemicals — a deliberate choice that built India into the 'pharmacy of the world' by allowing reverse-engineering of cheaper generics.

That changed with the TRIPS Agreement (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, 1995) under the WTO. India, as a developing country, used the ten-year transition window and amended the Act three times — in 1999, 2002 and decisively the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005, which introduced product patents in pharmaceuticals, chemicals and food. The 2005 Act retained crucial public-health safeguards: Section 3(d) bars 'evergreening' by denying patents to new forms of known substances lacking enhanced efficacy — upheld by the Supreme Court in Novartis AG v. Union of India (2013), which rejected a patent on the cancer drug Glivec (imatinib mesylate). Section 84 permits compulsory licensing after three years; India's first compulsory licence was granted to Natco Pharma for Bayer's kidney-cancer drug Nexavar (sorafenib) in March 2012.

The IPR Policy and the innovation ecosystem

The National IPR Policy, 2016 ('Creative India; Innovative India') consolidated administration under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and created the Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM). India is a member of the WIPO and a signatory to the Paris and Berne Conventions; it acceded to the WIPO Internet Treaties (WCT and WPPT) in 2018 and the Madrid Protocol in 2013. India is not a party to UPOV, having chosen its sui generis PPV&FR Act to protect farmers' seed-saving rights — a high-yield distinction.

The innovation ecosystem is tracked through the Global Innovation Index (GII), published by WIPO, where India climbed from rank 81 (2015) to rank 39 (2024), the highest among lower-middle-income economies. Enabling schemes include Startup India (2016), the Atal Innovation Mission and Atal Tinkering Labs under NITI Aayog, the National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations (NIDHI), and the India Innovation Index published by NITI Aayog. India now hosts the world's third-largest startup ecosystem with over 100 unicorns. The DPIIT-recognised startup count crossed 1.4 lakh by 2024.

Why this matters for the exam

This lesson serves Prelims GS and, more heavily, Mains GS-3 under 'developments in science and technology' and 'awareness in the fields of IT, space, computers... and issues relating to intellectual property rights.' IPR is one of the few S&T sub-topics explicitly named in the UPSC syllabus, so it is permanently 'live.'

How it is tested

Prelims rewards precise factual recall and the ability to discriminate. Past questions have probed: which conventions India has ratified (Paris, Berne, Madrid — but not UPOV); the difference between a patent, a copyright, a trademark and a geographical indication; and what a Geographical Indication is (UPSC 2018 asked about GIs — remember Darjeeling tea was India's first GI, registered 2004). Expect statement-based questions on Section 3(d), compulsory licensing under Section 84, and TRIPS flexibilities (the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health, 2001).

Mains demands analytical synthesis. The classic PYQ template asks you to evaluate whether India's R&D spending is adequate (the GERD-at-0.7%-of-GDP fact is the spine of any such answer), or whether IPR protection helps or hinders access to medicines. A 2014/2019-style question on 'why India lags in patents filed despite a large scientific workforce' wants you to discuss the private-sector R&D deficit, brain drain, the publish-don't-patent culture, and weak academia–industry linkage. The ANRF Act, 2023 is the freshest reform to cite as a solution.

High-yield facts to retain

• Article 51A(h): scientific temper as a Fundamental Duty (42nd Amendment, 1976).
• Four policy milestones: SPR 1958 → TPS 1983 → STP 2003 → STIP 2013 → draft STIP 2020.
• Patents Act, 1970; product patents introduced by the 2005 Amendment under TRIPS (1995).
• Novartis (2013) upheld Section 3(d); Natco–Bayer Nexavar compulsory licence (March 2012) under Section 84.
• National IPR Policy, 2016; administered by DPIIT/CIPAM.
• India NOT in UPOV; uses sui generis PPV&FR Act, 2001.
• GII 2024 rank 39; GERD ~0.65% of GDP; ANRF Act, 2023 (₹50,000 crore).

Link these to current affairs: any new compulsory-licence demand, GI tag, unicorn milestone, or GERD/budget allocation is examinable the moment it appears.