For most of 2020, India’s scientists had a tough time accessing some critical scientific equipment, such as genome sequencing machines and reagents but as the situation continues to be volatile in Europe, India’s science Ministries say that they don’t, yet, expect such a shortfall at least for laboratory equipment.
India primarily relies on the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Netherlands and China for its research equipment.
Heads of India’s top scientific Ministries say that while flight disruptions could cause delays in procurement, there’s no significant shortage anticipated. There hasn’t yet been any discussion in the Department of Science and Technology (DST), the Department of Biotechnology and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, which together fund most of the country’s research labs and work in the universities.
“So far the Ministry of External Affairs hasn’t asked for an evaluation or even suggested the possibility that we might face shortages due to the war,” S. Chandrashekhar, Secretary, DST, said.
Petition to PM
In April 2021, scientists from labs across the nation had signed a petition and written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, pointing out that the “Atmanirbhar Bharat” policy had made import of scientific equipment and reagents an “extremely tedious and time-consuming process” requiring approval at the level of the Secretaries of Ministries or departments. This reduced their ability to scale up testing by developing new testing platforms and impaired the ability to sequence viral genomes for surveillance rapidly and accurately. This policy forced scientists to procure from local labs but given the nature of scientific research, several were unable to make instruments or provide chemicals that conformed to exacting standards.
Hurdles to accessing equipment due to the ongoing conflict was less of a challenge than budgetary cuts for science, the continuing disruptions to the movement of goods due to the pandemic as well as the restrictions that the Atmanirbhar Bharat policy placed on access to critical equipment, according to Satyajit Mayor, Director, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru, which is funded by the Department of Atomic Energy.
“The supply of research equipment has been affected due to the pandemic but I don’t see any additional challenge from the current crisis. Ukraine isn’t a big supplier of such equipment to us. However, it’s possible that some equipment for medical research, of which Russia is a major supplier, be impacted. Cuts in the Budget, however, make it harder to invest in new projects, and that is a bigger problem, he noted.”
