Research blindspot in India's Own Science System

Gist The U.S. government recently released a policy document advocating for the evidence-based evaluation of scientific research funding mechanisms. This development highlights a critical blindspot in India's governance framework: the absence of 'metascience', or the systematic study of how the science ecosystem itself functions. For civil services aspirants, this highlights a necessary policy shift in science governance, demonstrating why India must transition from relying solely on the personal experience of eminent scientists to establishing institutional mechanisms that evaluate funding models, balance curiosity-driven and mission-oriented research, and build lasting institutional memory. Background Metascience , often called the "science-of-science", is a multi-disciplinary field that uses economics, sociology, and public policy to evaluate how research systems function, how funding priorities are set, and how peer-review and incentives affect scientists. The modern global research system was profoundly influenced by the American inventor Vannevar Bush's 1945 report , 'Science: The Endless Frontier' , which laid the groundwork for state-funded post-war research. In India, science administration has traditionally been guided by the personal judgment and experience of eminent scientists rather than systematic, data-driven policy analysis. As…