India's science policy is shifting from discovery-driven to outcome-oriented research. Examine the merits and risks of tying R&D to measurable short-term targets.

The closing session of ESTIC 2026 (29 October 2026) called for outcome-oriented science, with measurable targets for the next three years tracked towards Viksit Bharat 2047 [1]. Such targets can make research more accountable. They will only help if they do not squeeze out slow, open-ended basic research.

Merits of measurable short-term targets

• Accountability for public money: DST spent on average 4% less than its Budget Estimates in 2016–20 [2] and 22% less in 2020-21 [3]. Milestones show where funds are stuck.
• Evidence-based policy: The STI Outlook 2026 is updated every year [1]. It can publish each department's target next to what it achieved, so the "theory of change" can be checked.
• Lab-to-market focus: The focus moves from discovery to adoption and deployment. The autonomous-systems roadmap is staged: pilots by 2030, manufacturing by 2035, global competitiveness by 2047 [1].
• Draws in private capital: The private share of GERD rose from 33.8% (2019-20) to 51.8% (2023-24) [4]. Clear milestones suit lenders under the ₹1 lakh crore RDI Scheme [5].

Risks

• Squeezes out basic research: People work towards whatever gets measured. If departments are judged on three-year outputs, they will back near-product projects over long-shot discovery.
• Mismatch with real timelines: NM-ICPS was approved in 2018 as a five-year, ₹3,660 crore mission [6], yet its next phase begins only in January 2028 [1]. Three-year targets can track intermediate steps, not final outcomes.
• Targets without money: GERD is only 0.84% of GDP [4]. NM-ICPS had a BE of just ₹270 crore in 2021-22 [3], against roughly ₹730 crore a year implied by its headline outlay. Underfunded targets become paper goals.
• Bottlenecks and risk aversion: RDI money reaches firms only through fund managers. By early 2026 only TDB and BIRAC had been named [5], and output pressure may push them towards safe projects.

Way forward

• Two tracks: set milestone targets for mission-mode work such as ocean technology, bio-foundries and robotics testbeds, and keep peer review for basic science.
• Link targets to spending: the Parliamentary Standing Committee on S&T could check each target against money actually spent [2].

Measurable targets fix accountability and the slow movement from lab to market, but they cannot replace the patience that discovery needs. A two-track design, backed by steadier funding and annual reporting through the STI Outlook, can make science spending both accountable and ambitious, in line with the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision.