On June 2, 2020,The Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India (GoI) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST) have jointly started the process of consultation for the new & 5th national Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP 2020)& it will last long for 6 months.
5th STIP of India:
i.It has been initiated after Scientific Policy Resolution 1958; Technology Policy Statement 1983; Science and Technology Policy 2003; Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2013 & is being formulated by the Government at a time when the whole world is facing the crisis of coronavirus (COVID-19 ) epidemic.
ii.It is worth mentioning that this policy integrates the lessons from COVID-19 for a new India, as well as the opportunity for a Atmanirbhar Bharat (self- reliant) India by taking advantage of the opportunity of demographic dividend in the fields of R&D ( research and development,), design, etc. through science, technology and innovation.
Four important tracks have been included in the formulation process of this 6-month long new policy:
- Track 1:- Under this track, a comprehensive public and expert consultation process has been laid out through the ‘Science Policy Forum’. It is a dedicated platform to receive input from large public and expert pools during and after the drafting process.
- Track 2: – This track includes thematic consultations of experts to accept evidence based recommendations. For this, 21 main thematic groups (TGs) have been formed.
- Track 3: – The track includes consultation process with various central ministries and states.Nodal officers are being nominated in States and in Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government of India for extensive intra-state and intra-department consultation
- Track 4: – The track provides consultations with various stakeholders at the top level & consultation with institutional leadership, industry bodies, global partners and inter-ministerial and inter-state consultations represented at the highest levels are being carried out.
About Ministry of Science & Technology:
Headquarters– New Delhi
Union Minister– Harsh Vardhan
The Present PSA – K VijayRaghavan.
