At this modern era, where most of the developed economies have shifted their focus to applied research, we are still concentrating more on the basic research. Slowly we are also moving into a capitalistic society and government can’t afford continuous wealth drain in basic research in the long run. Government-provided funds are widely used in research labs and universities in the public sector focusing primarily on basic research. However, if we compare the outputs, we will find that we have very less number of patents compared to the developed economies, even though a very large number of students complete their fellowship and PhD from premier Indian universities. The government research organizations like DRDO, ICAR have not been able to provide good results, except ISRO which has focused more on the applied research field and with the missions such as Chandrayan, Mangalyan, it has made our country proud and also its commercial wing (Antrix) offers services to other countries for satellite launching and all these bring wealth as well for our country. The point is that the scope of basic research is very limited and it does not contribute directly to the industry until and unless it is applicable. To bring fame as well as wealth, we should look it from the commercial perspectives too. As a responsible citizen, we should also try to contribute towards development of our country and give fewer burdens to our government. But role of basic research also can’t be denied and it should also be run in parallel which can act as a raw material for applied research.
Farhana Sultana JRF, ADP College, Nagaon & PhD Scholar, Dept of Biotechnology Gauhati University
We all know that applied research is a kind of research that seeks to answer a question in the real world and to solve a problem and basic research is a research that fills in the knowledge we don’t have; it tries to learn things that aren’t always directly applicable or useful immediately.
Both applied research or basic research are the parts of a research but as the situation changes day by day, the research should go in tune with the changing direction with good thought and practical work, where the decision, result , principle, aim should be clear. Here, it clearly distinguishes the applied research where basic research is specific to a subject or limited knowledge. So my opinion is to support the decision of government to shift its focus from basic research to applied research as a welcome move.
Rupam Mandal MSc Student Herbal Science and Technology Dept Anandaram Dhekial Phukon College, Nagaon
Pressing problem resulting from global overpopulation, pollution and over use/abuse of natural resources, has necessitated a shift in emphasis away from basic research and towards applied research, which is often thought as targeting solving specific problems from a utilisation point of view. Basic research is sometimes blamed for not giving proper attention to real world problems and criticised as a funding hog & labelled as academic in irony towards research. The current disapproval of basic research studies should be stopped because that hurts the future promises of research studies in both basic and applied research.
Basic research uses experimental research to seek new truth and test hypothesis. Applied research seeks to improve or invert devices, methods and processes so that they have better output. Basic research and applied research are complementary to each other and both are important and essential and there is need to allocate money for both types of research. Basic research provides foundation, tool and raw material for applied research.
Rajesh Dutta MSc Student Herbal Science and Technology Dept Anandaram Dhekial Phukon College, Nagaon
