'Research should focus on food here' :Professor Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

Nobel laureate in Chemistry, and president of the Royal Society, Professor Venkatraman Ramakrishnan aka Venky, on Monday urged Indian scientists, especially the young ones, to focus research on developing food crops that can endure droughts, are more nutritive and more tolerant to salinity and pests. Venky, was delivering the 38th Vikram Sarabhai lecture at the Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA).
The Indian-origin structural biologist said India underinvests in science.“Private research and development in India is very low. In most countries, the ratio of private to public R and D is 2:1. In India, there should be high-quality peer reviews to select the best scientific proposals in a transparent manner and stable long-term funding for quality research. I believe that freedom should be given to, especially to young investigators,“ says professor Ramakrishnan.
He also said that though India is known for being a generic drug manufacturer, its scientists should be involved in developing cheap diagnostic kits and monoclonal an tibodies for Indian diseases.“There are a few efforts in India to develop drugs to address diseases specific to the country. I think there should be more efforts on that front.“
While replying to a question, the Nobel laureate said that he wishes for an India that has rid itself of corruption, pays greater emphasis to sanitation and concentrates on building infrastructure.Explaining why a country like India should invest in basic sciences, rather than use discoveries made elsewhere, Venky said, “Scientific understanding is the basis of more applied fileds like engineering and medicine.“