India Sri Lanka: 5th Joint Committee on S&T Cooperation

The 5th joint committee meeting was conducted online on 20 th of January 2022.

The meeting increased the tenure of the Scientific and Technological cooperation further by 3 years. In the extended cooperation, certain core areas that were focused on were Artificial intelligence, wastewater Technology, big data, sustainable agriculture and biotech.

History of India – Sri Lanka relations

The relations between India and Sri Lanka date back to 2500 years. The engagement between the two nations is religious, cultural and intellectual. During the time of Ashoka his daughter went to Sri Lanka to spread the concept of Buddhism. Sri Lanka also has Hindu deities shrines. Further during the colonial period the labourers were taken to Sri Lanka to work as plantation workers.

Further after the independence of India had a prominent impact on the island nation.

S&t cooperation  full form

S & T stands for Scientific and technological cooperation. The department of science and technology has the authority and responsibility of on Concluding and negotiating the terms of STI agreement – that means science, technology and innovation.

Also the department can intervene in such matters in various international forums.

International scientific and technical cooperation is formed through – bilateral cooperation, multilateral cooperation among developed and developing countries and thematic Cooperation

Talking about the bilateral STI agreements, India has agreements with 83 countries. Further prowess of S&T can give an upper hand or leverage in engaging with the other countries.

Importance of S&T cooperation

• S&T cooperation is a driving force of socio-economic and sustainable development. Hence the S&T cooperation is a step toward coming close to the agenda of sustainable development in 2030.
• They help in the development of science based industries.
• Attracts investment in the natural science infrastructure sector
• Promotes education and application of the standards.

NITI Aayog, RMI report (2022)

The Indian think tank NITI Aayog has released a report on Electric vehicle’s importance. The report highlights the importance of their inclusion in the priority sector. The report was released in January 2022. 

NITI Aayog had partnered with Rocky Mountain Institute to make the report.

The title of the report is ‘ Banking on Electric vehicles ‘.

Some of the highlights of the report are as follows -:

• Inclusion of electric vehicles in priority sector lending. In this 2-wheelers, 3-wheelers and commercial vehicles find a mention.
• The report recommends that electric vehicles should be made a separate reporting category in the central bank of the country.
• It also wants EVs to be made. Subsector in infrastructure under the FM.
• The report also says that a capital investment of $ 266 billion is required for a transition to Electric vehicles.

NITI Aayog and RMI report ( 2019)

This report was released in 2019. The key areas of focus are listed as follows – 

• The need for industrial push or support for the growth of the Electric vehicles sector and for electric mobility.
• Analysing the overall Electric vehicles trend as part of the FAME scheme.
• The impact of the FAME II scheme on emissions and the environment and the acceptability and adoption of electric vehicles.
• Steps that the government can take to help in faster manufacturing of Electric vehicles.
• Steps for faster deployment of electric vehicles.

Conclusion

On 20 th January India and Sri Lanka had the 5 th Joint committee meeting on Scientific and technological cooperation. The meeting was held online and was a landmark for both the countries to enhance the cooperation in the Scientific and technological cooperation sector. Further it has been found that the scientific and technological cooperation was extended further to 3 years. The agenda of the meeting focused on the key sectors that will be made a part of the cooperation. Among the sectors that were included are -: Artificial intelligence, Sustainable agriculture, robotics, big data analytics, Wastewater technologies, aerospace engineering and industrial collaborations.

NITI aayog along with Rocky India mountain has published a report regarding the inclusion of Electric vehicles in the priority sector lending category. The report titled ‘ Banking on electric vehicles ‘ was released in January this year. The aim of the report is the Inclusion of electric vehicles in priority sector lending. In this 2-wheelers, 3-wheelers and commercial vehicles are mentioned. The report recommends that electric vehicles should be made a separate reporting category in the central bank if the country.It also wants that the EVs be made a. Sub-sector in infrastructure under the FM.