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The rapidly growing solar and wind energy programmes in India have created a techno-economic opportunity in the energy market. Apart from the possibility of providing the much-needed energy solution to our citizens, the promise to young academicians and workforce is significant in the new clean energy sector. All these have happened in the last four to five years and, if the country were to take the National Solar Mission initiative forward, developments in solar photovoltaic power generation are likely to realize grid parity within the next few years and mitigate the energy deficiency to a great extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There exists great demand for a skilled workforce, especially in the context of globalization and when Indian economy is growing at an unprecedented rate. Availability of such skilled workforce is closely associated with the kind of vocational education and training system existing in the country. This article maps the various government initiatives towards skill development by reviewing and analysing the prevailing programmes/schemes under various institutional arrangements, to promote a meaningful and employable skill development system. In doing so, it is found that skill deficiency is present across all levels despite new institutional arrangements from the government and several ongoing schemes and programmes operating in the country. Finally, the article makes an attempt to identify the limitations in the above-mentioned context and suggests some mechanism to fill the existing gaps in the skill development area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the new emerging trend of internationalization of R&D, MNCs are targeting developing countries in Asia for setting up their dedicated R&D centres. The resource scarcity in developed countries, due to escalating demand on S&T infrastructure and the prohibitive cost of highly skilled manpower has brought in this new trend. The skilled manpower and the reasonably developed S&T infrastructure have been drawing MNCs to the shores of India for setting up their dedicated R&D centres. Presence of foreign R&D will have some impact on the host country; it could be negative or positive. As more and more R&D centres are being allowed to operate in India, we presume that foreign R&D has been allowed here expecting some positive impact (or benefits) on our innovation system. The benefits to India, however, is the grey area. The available literature suggests that the presence of foreign R&D centres can trigger the spillover effect onto the host country's innovation system depending on the ability, preparedness and conducive policy package of the host country. This article proposes the need for a detailed investigation into the dynamics of interaction between foreign R&D centres and the Indian production and R&D system, to understand the positive impact. This would help in developing a conducive policy package for maximizing the benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the increasing number of start-ups in the biotech sector of India. Topics discussed include role of Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) of the Government of India (GoI) with initiatives such as the Biotechnology Ignition Grant (BIG) in this sector; contribution of entrepreneurs in making the Indian economy more innovation-driven; and challenges faced by the start-ups due to inadequate funding, insufficiently trained manpower, and others.

The article discusses the new disciplines emerged in the field of biology. It informs about the fields of biology such as protein structure that had increased in demand due to the need of research. It presents concern over the quality of manpower in biological science that may become worse if attention is not provided along with the proper education system in India which needs to retain exposure to the basic chemistry, physics and mathematics.

The article offers the author's view regarding the effects of budget cuts to the research and development (R&D) of the science and technology sector in India. The author states the manpower retrenchment, roll-back of plan objectives, and restrictions on new employees. The author notes that institutions without buffers such as financial cushions, organizational strengths, and cash flows are the worst affected by the budget cuts. The author mentions that the quality of the R&D will be affected.

The article focuses on the number of scientific researches that are taking place around the world. It includes information on the number of science and engineering (S&E) articles published from 1995 to 2009 along with information on a comparative report of the factors related to the publication of articles among various countries. The article urges the need of expenditure in research and development and quality S&E manpower in India to emerge as a knowledge-base economy of the world.