Financial woes have India’s scientists worried despite budget funding pledges

India’s new budget, unveiled earlier this month, offers good news for science at first glance, but the state of the country’s economy has many in the science community worried.

This year, the budget for the science and technology department, India’s key science funding agency, received a 15% boost, the biotechnology department 17% and the scientific and industrial research department 10%, compared with last year’s projected expenditure. Earth science received a 14% rise and health research 8%. However, atomic energy and space – the departments that traditionally attract the most money – only received a 4.61% and 0.25% rise, respectively.