Status of research in India

In his personal blog, Research Co-op member D. V. Mane has posted an interesting comment on the status of research in India. Members of this group might like to respond. I have already added a response, based on the situation in New Zealand.

Related to this, I would like to raise here a question about the production of 'extension literature'. How can this be most effectively produced, distributed and used to improve the general social usefulness of research?

Extension literature is typically produced by medical and agricultural research organisations in many countries, but is often limited in distribution and availability over time. Extension literature is almost invariably 'gray literature' - meaning of obscure origin, authorship and availability.

If online archives of such literature could be made searchable and widely accessible, they could have much wider value as (1) examples of communication between research organisations, industries, and local communities, (2) sources of still-useful practical information.