Quick fix: on India's Research Development and Innovation scheme
It turns out that a condition for availing funds is that only products that have reached a certain level of development and market potential or, what are called Technology Readiness Level-4 (TRL-4) projects, would be eligible. There are nine TRL levels, a hierarchy that was first conceived by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the 1970s. TRL-1 represents a basic level of research and TRL-9 a state of advanced readiness. TRL-4 appears to be an arbitrary decision to support any promising research that has progressed halfway. Were there such a magic sauce, venture capital industries, premised on the fickleness of predicting the 'next big thing', would not exist. The scheme also seems to forget that technologically advanced countries have become what they are because of their military industrial complexes — where the spectre of war incentivises the development of technology that is risky and expensive but, over time, may prove to be of immense civilian value — examples are the Internet or the Global Positioning System. India continues to haemorrhage scientists to the West due to the lack of opportunities commensurate with their training. Finally, it lacks a deeply skilled manufacturing sector that can make the products that scientists conceive of. Budgetary allowances cannot overnight fix that which requires major surgery.
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