“President Trump has a very short-term view of the country’s growth, which does not include science and enough money is not being spent in the US on infrastructure to promote science and research. Modi is an intelligent Prime Minister. That is what I felt after meeting him today. All politicians say and claim that they understand the importance of research and make promises, but the point is what you actually do. It is about fulfilling those promises and taking action. Currently, as far as the US is concerned, enough money is not being spent to build infrastructure, not only to promote science and research, but overall. Trump simply does not understand the importance of science for a country. His vision for country’ growth does not go beyond the economic growth. He lacks long-term vision to foster good research,In a country like India, there is a always an overwhelming temptation to run behind new technologies, but running behind those technologies without quality research is foolishness. It is never going to work. This is what I feel. After meeting the Indian PM, I observed that he has dedication and intelligence to understand the importance of research and science. Before coming here, I had read about Modi in a British journal and his success story as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, but now as a PM he is facing his own set of challenges,having a great number of publications and research papers is never a parameter to judge good research work. Young scientists should focus on content of their work. It is a bad tendency to run after the number of publications. There is a simple formula that one research paper, which has quality work, can be way more important than 10. This rat race to publish more research papers in never fair.“
German-American Thomas C Sudhof, who was given the Nobel Prize in 2013 in physiology and medicine, said that the Trump-led government in the US is not spending enough to promote science and research, whereas Modi’s approach in this regard looks promising
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In ConversationJuly 26, 2024India-Italy defence collaboration can extend to third countries: Anil Wadhwa
