The EconomistSeptember 14th 2019 Asia 55O
n september 7 thmission control in
Bengaluru lost contact with an Indi-
an-designed and -built lunar probe mere
seconds before it was supposed to land.
Some Indians were consoled by the fact
that their country had nearly pulled off
an extraordinarily complex mission on a
shoestring budget. But others asked why
the budget was quite so pinched.
As a proportion ofgdp—0.6%—
public spending on research and devel-
opment has not budged in 20 years. That
is one of the lowest figures among big
economies. Since 2015 the largest state
funding agency, the Council of Scientific
and Industrial Research, has seen its
budget decline in real terms. The govern-
ment wants it to attract private money.
Yet firms are even stingier: India’s top
companies spend barely half a percent of
their income onr&d.
Scientists complain, too, that state
funding bodies seem increasingly driven
by ideology. A particular focus, since the
Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party
(bjp) took power in 2014, has been on
promoting ancient Indian science and
medicine. One recent three-year, govern-
ment-funded hospital study explored the
effects of Vedic chants on brain-trauma
victims. This included consultation with
an authority on “medical astrology” who
incorporated horoscope data in the
chants, undertook purification rituals
with holy Ganges water and performedspecial prayers. The results of the study
have yet to be published.
Scientists also describe mounting
pressure to propose work ongomutra
(cows’ urine) orpanchagavya(a mixture
of milk, yogurt, clarified butter, urine
and dung), so as to win funding from a
recently created government board
tasked with “validating” the beneficial
qualities of all things bovine. “These
ideas are based on absolutely unscientif-
ic mythology and scripture,” complains a
researcher who declined to be named,
fearing funding cuts. “But my depart-
ment needs equipment and lab facilities
for our real research, and we can’t get
funds without doing this stuff.” A newly
created National Cow Commission has
pledged to fund up to 60% of startup
capital for businesses that commercial-
isepanchagavya.
A recently electedbjp mpinsists that
it was drinking cow urine that cured her
breast cancer, not the three operations
she had. The Cow Urine Therapy and
Research Institute of Indore claims to
have cured dozens of patients, while
Junagadh Agricultural University says its
researchers have not only destroyed
cancer cells in vitro withgomutra, but
discovered gold in the miraculous liquid.
Online retailers happily flog dung-based
soaps and urine-based medicines pro-
mising to cure cancer. The benefits of the
lunar mission are less clear.Lunacy
Scientific research in IndiaDELHI
When it comes to government funding, cows have jumped over the moonU
ntil hisdramatic mea culpain June,
Junnosuke Taguchi was just another
pop star-turned-minor actor. Dressed in
funereal black, Mr Taguchi (pictured) pros-
trated himself in contrition before a scrum
of reporters after his release on bail for
drugs charges. A police raid on his apart-
ment in Tokyo had uncovered rolling pa-
pers, a seed-grinder and 2.2 grams of mari-
juana (enough to roll a couple of joints).
While other countries legalise marijua-
na or instruct the police to turn a blind eye
to casual use, Japan maintains strict prohi-
bition. Possession is punishable by up to
five years in prison—seven if the intent is
to profit from distribution. Teams of detec-
tives are dispatched to raid the homes of
pot-smokers in remote rural areas. Every
summer police comb the cooler northern
countryside for wild cannabis, methodi-
cally pulling up millions of plants and in-
cinerating them in bonfires.
Strict enforcement of the Cannabis
Control Act leaves most young people with
little exposure to the sort of drug-taking
that is commonplace elsewhere, says an of-
ficial with the justice ministry, and so nar-
rows the “gateway” to harder substances.
Hard drugs are indeed vanishingly rare: po-
lice reported only 14 heroin-related crimes
last year. But the anti-cannabis regime is
not purely punitive. Nearly half of offences
go unprosecuted, and even those that are
often end in suspended sentences. The em-
phasis, at least for young, first-time of-fenders, is on rehabilitation.
Worse than the official penalties, in
most cases, is the stigma that comes from
getting caught with drugs of any kind. Mr
Taguchi’s career will be lucky to survive.
Pierre Taki, an actor and musician, has dis-
appeared from public view since his con-
viction in June for taking cocaine. nhk, the
country’s largest broadcaster, scrubbed his
scenes from a tvseries, including some
that had already aired. Mr Taki’s father felt
obliged to offer a public apology for the
misconduct of his son, who is 52.
Japan’s relative social cohesion helps to
curb its appetite for drugs, says Yuko Kawa-
nishi, a sociologist of mental health. But
social norms are not entirely consistent,
she argues. In the absence of alternatives,
many Japanese self-medicate with booze,
she points out: “A lot of drinking consid-
ered normal in Japan would be labelled al-
coholic elsewhere.” To the extent that any
drug is common, it is methamphetamines,
often taken to help users with punishingwork schedules. An official was recently
dismissed from the education ministry
after being caught using stimulants, traces
of which were found at his office.
Once addicted, many people stay that
way because there is little help for abusers,
says Yasuhiro Maruyama of Rissho Univer-
sity. Few in Japan see much distinction be-
tween soft and hard drugs, he says. To
most, “cannabis means all illegal drugs.”
Mr Maruyama is one of many who won-
der whether Japan can keep the world at
bay. The taboo on pot appears to be easing
among the young. Last year over 3,500 peo-
ple were arrested on cannabis-related
charges—a record, but still far below the
levels that prevail in other rich countries.
With Tokyo bracing for the arrival of mil-
lions of tourists for the Olympic Games
next year, the organisers have warned them
to leave their stashes at home.The line on
cannabis may be softening elsewhere, says
the justice ministry official, but such talk
has no place in Japan. 7TOKYO
The law and social mores still treat
users of soft drugs severelyNarcotics in JapanGoing for pot
He has since seen the light