India, June 2 -- Liberalisation of the Indian economy, 35 years back, was a forced choice. Is it high time that imagination was also liberalised, but voluntarily and not by force?

Once upon a time, India gave the world zero, plastic surgery, astronomy, Yoga, Ayurveda, and the list goes on. However, it is now a nation that consumes innovation far more than it creates. While celebrating start-ups, unicorns, and IPOs, we have mastered the art of innovating peripherally but importing the crux.

The numbers do not lie. India spends only around 0.7 per cent of its GDP on Research and Development (R&D), a number that has remained almost the same over time, whereas developed nations like Israel and South Korea spend over 5 per cent. Even the USA...