PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN SCIENTIFIC INNOVATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: CASE STUDY OF SOLAR ENERGY IN INDIA

Scientific advances and technological changes are new key partners of economic growth and development. Scientific innovation has become a new source of wealth creation, improvement in quality of life and social wellbeing. India as a developing nation is facing many economic growth and development challenges like unemployment, poverty, hunger, scarcity of resources, etc. To overcome these problems, new scientific innovations in the field of renewable energy can provide useful solutions. In the above context, economic analysis of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (NSM) launched in 2010 by GOI is quite relevant. The NSM provide cheap and clean source of energy and job opportunities in India. The aim of this paper is to analysis NSM and other solar projects from various aspects of economic growth and to explore areas of investment for scientific innovation in such type of projects. This study is explanatory in nature. This study concludes positively that the development of solar energy can give solutions to many economic problems of rural electrification, unemployment, climate change, regional development, etc. Thus, India with its increasing population and limited natural resources needs to use solar energy innovatively to achieve all round development.