NCL faces funds crunch, struggles to retain edge

PUNE: Over 250 researchers awaiting their turn to use the only high-resolution electron microscope may appear to be quite a stretch for a premier research institute, but at the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) it is not rare. Counted among the nation's best scientific research facilities, the NCL has also been functioning without a full-time director for the last four months.

The institute that once had stalwarts like C N R Rao use its facilities in the 1960s and head its research council for nine years, is today struggling for funds to buy equipment and repair the existing ones. It is now cutting corners to maintain continuity of research projects.

K Vijayamohanan, director of the Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CECRI), Karaikudi, who has been holding additional charge of NCL since June 1, said, "NCL acts as a nodal agency and there are 8-9 partner research facilities in it. So when there is a fund crunch, we see of say five equipment needed, which are the two indispensable instruments that will help further majority of the researches and then buy it. This time, we needed to buy some instruments but couldn't due to fund crunch. But no project has been put on the back burner."

He further said, "We have a scheduling committee that decides who gets the electron microscope and for how much time so that everybody gets enough time and nobody is left out. But it sometimes happens that there is a delay as more than 250 researchers need it for their research," said K Vijayamohanan who is the director of CSIR- Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CECRI), Karaikudi (about 180 km from Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu) and holds additional charge of CSIR-NCL since June 1.Vijayamohanan comes twice a month to NCL. On dearth of cutting-edge equipment in government-run research labs, he said, "While the initial planning of funds was good, due to bad financial condition, there was a cut in the plan money given to CSIR as a whole, which in turn affected buying of new equipment."

A former NCL director on the condition of anonymity said if the long-term average of 10-15 years is taken, then there has definitely been a rise in the funding to institutes like NCL. "Among all the CISR laboratories, NCL gets one of the highest allocations. Yet, I would say it is not enough for it to compete with a counterpart laboratory in China. Ideally there should be a 15-20% increase in the funding if we want our research institutes to be world class. But here if we check, there has just been a 2-4 % increase after we factor in inflation in the funding," he said.

Scientists at NCL, nevertheless, said that despite poor funding, their research work has been taken up by countries abroad.

And while industry stalwarts like Narayan Murthy publicly rued the "shoddy scientific research in India", scientists pointed out a positive outcome is not possible each time a new thing is attempted. "We cannot compare US and UK with India as grants and industry participation is high there. Research and development labs are being set up by big companies in India, but when it comes to companies funding the University, their participation is nil," said Vijayamohanan, who has 26 patents to his credit.

Saurav Pal, former full time director at NCL said, "Our science is reasonably good in some areas like renewable energy, material chemistry and pharmaceutical sector and we produce some world-class processes in chemistry in these fields. But it is the translation of research into market where NCL should put more effort. There was a project by one of the scientist which helped a Mumbai-based company become one of the world's largest producers of Acrylamido tertiary-butyl sulfonic acid (ATBS)."

Another senior scientist said, "There are times when Indian companies don't give importance to our work. There was a biodiesel project, which was a success but completely ignored by the industry. But an American company came forward to buy it. There is another project on eliminating pests without pesticides, which companies from outside India have shown interest in."

Bureaucratic hurdles are another major problem with NCL, with the old school of thought of some occasions stifling a bright idea of a young scientist. "And then while our scientists are into general research, industry wants specific research," said an official.