Chemistry is life and life is chemistry: Padma Shri Prof. (Dr.) G. D. Yadav, President, Indian Chemical Society & former Vice Chancellor, ICT, Mumbai

It is not the net zero but net negative technology which is required for achieving the goal

  • January 28, 2025

In an exclusive interview with Pravin Prashant, Executive Editor, Indian Chemical News, Padma Shri Prof. (Dr.) G. D. Yadav, President, Indian Chemical Society & former Vice Chancellor, ICT, Mumbai unveils the idea behind organizing the mega show for celebrating 100 years of Indian chemical industry and his broader vision for growth of chemical industry. 

You have conceptualized a mega conference called ‘Century of Chemistry in India’ in Mumbai on January 28-29, 2025. What is the reason behind organizing this mega conference? 

The title of this conference is 'Chemistry at 100' and many will be wondering whether chemistry was not done before that, of course it was but it became a very nice science for all science graduates after the establishment of Indian Chemical Society (ICS) on May 9, 1924. Among those involved in formation of ICS were big names of that time such as Dr. J. N. Mukerjee, Dr. S. S. Bhatnagar, Dr. J. C. Ghosh, and Dr. Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray. The Society has just completed 100 years and we are celebrating this momentous occasion. 

The founding President of Indian Chemical Society, Dr. Acharya P. C. Ray was not only a very powerful professor but he had this so-called startup company, Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceutical. He also established the Indian Chemical Manufacturers Association, which is now called Indian Chemical Council (ICC) in 1938. So he had a lot of influence on chemistry and the chemical industry in India. Therefore, we chose this theme, Indian Chemistry at 100. We decided that we should have various conferences, our annual conference or convention of chemists. All this should have a theme that is the net zero goal and sustainability and role of chemical sciences in green energy, circular economy and prosperity of India. We also decided that this particular theme should not just be for one year. We started it on 9th of May 2023 and we will extend it till the end of this year so that people become aware of this. 

Why have you chosen this theme and what are the sub themes that you have planned in this conference?  

A lot of people do not have an idea about the chemical industry. They think of it as a polluting industry but that is not the case. The fact is that chemistry is life and life is chemistry and therefore we wanted to bring together all sectors of the economy, particularly related to chemicals and allied industries. For example, right from refinery to inorganic chemicals, inorganic polymers, pigments, dyes, materials, biochemicals, pharmaceuticals, drugs and other related chemical industries.  Since we are also talking about net zero in these, we wanted to have all these things taken together and be presented at the same time annually. 

We decided to create various categories of awards including lifetime achievements awards named after prominent Indian chemists, recognizing outstanding contributions in the field of chemical sciences. The idea behind it is to honor the heroes of chemistry, living in the last 100 years. We have both, who are no more with us and a few who are still among us. Based on the information we collected, we have created profiles in the form of a coffee table book. Since there are a few important names that might have been excluded due to non-receipt of information from respective organizations, we plan to publish another book. We also plan to organize another conference as a sequel to the current event. We can felicitate about 100 industrialists in the conference. 

Our chief guest for the event is West Bengal Governor, Dr. C. V. Ananda Bose. The Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis and our chief patron, Union Minister, Nitin Gadkari will be sharing their video messages. We are also giving chance to young industrialists to make presentations on what they plan to do to make Viksit Bharat by 2047. There are also many researchers who want to do the poster presentation and if they cannot afford it, I will give them free registration but I want them to come and see what is going on. 

How the response and what is the total number of delegates expected to join today's event? 

We expect more than 500 people at the venue which is Nehru Center, Worli in Mumbai. There are a lot of people who are still submitting their abstracts for posters and we are welcoming them because the idea is to promote chemistry and chemical sciences, engineering, and technology. One of the reasons why we are doing it this year is that the enrollment in chemistry courses or for that matter in chemical engineering and technology has gone down across the country and that is not a good sign. These days most of the parents want their kids to choose Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) besides all sorts of things related to computer science and engineering. However, they forget that chemical materials are required for all these industries and unless we grow at 24-25% in the manufacturing sector and 70% in the service sector, we will have no future. We are talking about a 30 trillion dollar economy by 2047 when India's population will be 1.67 billion. We need all sorts of professionals and all sorts of things must be encouraged. This is where the importance of this particular conference lies and I am hopeful that it will create awareness about the industry.   

How do you see India's contribution in the last 100 years with respect to chemistry? 

India has a very glorious history as far as the chemical industry is concerned. We started with bulk inorganic chemicals: soda, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, ammonia and all. While India has done real things, we should have done much more. For example, part production of fertilizers or methanol and importing them from abroad was a big mistake in India. India is looking at the year 2070 for its net zero goal but we should plan for much before that like the rest of the world. I believe it is not the net zero but net negative technology which is required for achieving the goal. We have added a lot of carbon in the atmosphere and therefore we have to worry about this so-called climate change. The chemical industry will help in containing climate change, giving us cheap renewable energy and at the same time, the circular economy. We have to look at it as the feedstock for making something. We need to refuse, repurpose, recycle, and reduce. 

What role did Indian Chemical Society play in it and your plans for the future? 

As an organization, Indian Chemical Society is one of the oldest in the country with a lot of powerful members across the institutions globally. We will felicitate our role models and then we will have industry awards. We have global fellowships, with five fellows from each of the leading countries. I must tell you that our journal, the Journal of Indian chemical society, is now published by Elsevier. In 2021, I signed an agreement with them and at that time our impact factor was 0.26. Now, it is 3.2 which is the highest among all Indian journals and it is not open access. It is subscription mode and this is another coincidence. 

I am proud to mention that Dr. Acharya P. C. Ray was the founding president and also Editor of the journal of Indian Chemical Society. 100 years later I am its 47th President and also Editor. Interestingly, I was recently awarded the Bhatnagar Fellowship and Dr. S. S. Bhatnagar was a founding member of this society. It is all a co-incident and that makes me a lucky person. We will have at least 100 college chapters and increase the industry fellowship because there are a lot of good chemists in industry. Our chemical engineers would like to have chapters in all IITs and Central funded Institutions. My biggest project is to establish a building for the Indian chemical society with the help of industry under corporate social responsibility, maybe over three years. It is my dream that will require Rs. 10 crore. 

In terms of the next 100 years, what are the 10 things that India should take up in a big way and leave a mark for the global chemical society? 

India should be a leader in energy, especially renewable energy as most of the industries require it. India's plan is that by 2030 it will reduce 45% of the carbon dioxide and have about 500 gigawatt. I believe we should produce more than that. The prediction is that by 2050, the world as a whole will require 49,000 terabyte hours of energy. I believe India should produce 20% of this and become an energy exporting nation. For that we should have a lot of incentive for industries whether it is solar panel, wind panel, or composites. All these industries require a PLI scheme that should be extended to this industry. Since we are talking about carbon negative, none of our energy sources should be from carbon based fuel. We can use thermal, nuclear, solar, wind or hydrogen. 

By 2054, we will not have any crude oil either due to high cost, maybe 200 dollars a barrel or other bio based technologies. We are talking about bio-economy which means having bio based feedstock from trees or purposefully grown plants. The green energy will be hydrogen because it is required everywhere. India has planned to have five million tons of hydrogen by 2030. I think we should target 7 million tonnes by 2030 and 10 million tonnes by 2035. The world as a whole in 2050, the hydrogen requirement will be anywhere between 540-830 million metric tonnes and India needs to be a leader in the hydrogen economy. 

The chemical vertical contributes 7% of India's GDP whereas it is 25% in some countries. How can we increase chemical contribution? 

There are a lot of definitions of chemical industries but we must also take the allied industries into consideration. Therefore, the contribution of the chemical industry in India is not less than 15%. Since chemicals are used in all sectors, we need to encourage greener production technologies and the special zones through government policy which must be to create a hub of the chemical industry. The Indian industry must spend a lot of money on R&D and it is the only way. In terms of CSR spending on higher education by the industry, the contribution should be 3% and not 2% on research, innovation, and technology development. Our higher academic institutions, be it private, government or elite institutions, should develop technology and share that Intellectual Property Right (IPR) with funding bodies who can use the technology.  

Also, the talk about banning single use plastic use is not a good idea because it is not the plastic that is polluting but humans who throw it away. If the plastic is de-polymerized and converted back into monomers or some other chemical, it is useful. Our policy should be having a refundable deposit. Whether it is a straw or milk pouch or anything else, all these should be refundable. Rather than banning, we can make the people responsible so that it is not going to the environment and block our gutters. Just like we sell old newspapers, there could be scrap-dealers for plastic to collect it. Interestingly, hydrogen becomes very important here because once you have mixed plastic, hydrogenation or hydrogenolysis can handle all these. One does not have to segregate plastic as any kind of it can be converted by using hydrogenolysis. I think India should take a lead by making favourable policies. We have to encourage our people as they are very innovative. There are about 180 unicorns in India, having a 365 billion dollar business. That means we have to have more unicorns in chemicals and that's when I believe we will have a 25% to 100% contribution to the GDP. 

How do we attract talent in Chemical engineering and Chemistry? 

We have to understand that whether it is mobile phone, laptop or TV, these all are made of products based on chemical materials and metals. There is a lot of talk about 5G and 6G but nobody is recognizing the fact that it is based on materials and those are produced by chemical synthesis and all. Whether it is a super-fast plane or the optical fibers, these are produced by the chemical industry. In this context, I have been advising my colleagues in all these higher educational institutes that the head of the department must love that profession and build awareness among students. Our educators must take up on themselves to tell the student that chemical engineering has a great future. The chemical engineering is actually the recycle engineering as everything has to be recycled otherwise we will require three more earths to survive. We need to have a circular economy which means everything becomes a feedstock and nothing is a waste.

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