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15 Jul 2026SOCIETY & SOCIAL ISSUES3 questions

0.024% of GDP: India Proposes to Sextuple Health Research Spending by 2047

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Article summary

The Department of Health Research has released the Draft National Health Research Policy, 2026 for public comment until 27 July, proposing the first unified national framework covering all areas of health research. Its headline commitment is fiscal: India currently spends about 0.024 per cent of GDP on health research, against an average of roughly 0.27 per cent in high-income countries, and the draft proposes raising this to 0.072 per cent by 2037 and 0.15 per cent by 2047 — a roughly six-fold increase in government research funding over two decades. It identifies priority areas including tuberculosis, antimicrobial resistance, vector-borne diseases, cancer, non-communicable diseases, mental health, anaemia, child malnutrition, women's health, maternal and neonatal mortality, primary healthcare and emergency care. Governance is proposed through a National Health Research Stewardship Committee for strategic coordination, with the Department of Health Research as nodal implementing agency and the Indian Council of Medical Research as scientific and technical lead. The more consequential shift is in evaluation: the draft would expand use of the ICMR Impact of Research and Innovation Scale, introduced in 2025, assessing researchers on whether their work changed clinical guidelines, public health programmes and policy — not on publication counts.

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recallTests whether you read the article and retained key facts.
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applicationTests whether you can apply the concept to a new scenario.
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analysisTests whether you can reason across multiple related facts.
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SOCIETY & SOCIAL ISSUESRecallEasy

Q1. With reference to the Draft National Health Research Policy, 2026, which one of the following statements is correct?

AIt was released by the Indian Council of Medical Research, which the draft designates as the nodal implementing agency.
BIt targets health research spending of 0.27 per cent of GDP by 2047, matching the current average of high-income countries.
CIt proposes to raise health research spending from about 0.024 per cent of GDP to 0.072 per cent by 2037 and 0.15 per cent by 2047.
DIt retains publication counts as the principal measure by which research performance is to be assessed.
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SOCIETY & SOCIAL ISSUESApplicationMedium

Q2. A commentator observes that even if the draft's 2047 target were fully achieved, India would not have caught up with high-income countries. Which one of the following best supports that observation?

AThe 2047 target of 0.15 per cent is lower than India's present spending of 0.24 per cent of GDP.
BThe 2047 target of 0.15 per cent remains below the 0.27 per cent those countries already spend today, and that benchmark is itself not static.
CThe target is expressed as a share of GDP rather than in absolute terms, so no international comparison is possible.
DHigh-income countries measure health research spending on a basis that excludes government funding altogether.
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SOCIETY & SOCIAL ISSUESAnalysisHard

Q3. Consider the following statements regarding the Draft National Health Research Policy, 2026: 1. The Department of Health Research is the nodal implementing agency, the Indian Council of Medical Research the scientific and technical lead, and a National Health Research Stewardship Committee provides strategic coordination. 2. The ICMR Impact of Research and Innovation Scale, introduced in 2025, assesses whether research contributed to clinical guidelines, public health programmes and policymaking, rather than counting publications. 3. Antimicrobial resistance has been excluded from the draft's priority areas on the ground that it is addressed under a separate national action plan. Which of the statements given above are correct?

A1 only
B1 and 3 only
C1 and 2 only
D1, 2 and 3
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