The status of various scientific issues was reported to the Indian Parliament, Lok Sabha, in August by the Union Minister of State for Science and Technology and Ministry of Earth Sciences, Jitendra Singh. The number of highly cited papers from India has increased by 81% in the 2006–2010 time frame as compared to the 2001–2005 time period. According to the Scopus International database, India reached the ninth position in 2010. “India today is placed 3rd in the world in terms of scientific publications in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology and figures among the top ten countries in terms of h-index,” Singh reported.

In the areas of materials and energy, Singh reported that three bioenergy centers have been established to conduct research on synthetic biofuels as well as a systems approach for novel biofuel production. Singh reported that specific support has been given for biohydrogen, biobutanol, and biofuels. He also reported on an initiative to produce fuel from plastic waste. The CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP) in Dehradun has developed such technology after a decade of research. “Gas Authority of India Ltd. has sponsored the entire project for developing a combination of catalyst which can convert plastic either into gasoline or diesel or aromatics along with LPG as a common byproduct,” Singh reported. IIP is now developing the technology to make it economically viable. Numerous countries are working on similar technology including the United States, Germany, Japan, Australia, and the United Kingdom. □