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‘Theoretically, the money is there, but it is squandered because its expenditure is predetermined by archaic rules that the bureaucracy has little incentive to change’
| Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto
Whenever concerns are raised about the lack of funding for Indian science, a solution often put forward is to tax “unintellectual” industries such as cinema, tourism, apparel, and perfumes. For example, only recently, an academic from one of India’s leading research institutes suggested taxing the Indian Premier League (IPL), which, he argued, would magically generate “₹15 billion” for scientific pursuits; the “stroke of genius” was duly fawned over.
This reflects a common instinct: it is naturally hard not to want a share of the cake for a ‘nobler’ cause, when a ‘frivolous’ business makes profit in plain view.
It is equally easy to overlook the economic cascade effects of such frivolities. Organised sport, for example, generates employment across a multitude of allied industries: merchandise, food and beverage, broadcasting, physiotherapy and rehabilitation (sports science is a science too). This investment has undeniable trickle-down benefits, across more sports than one and beyond major cities.
Though well-intentioned, the myopic and fallacious “tax-this-to-fund-that” proposition needs to be dispelled immediately.