Jammu, Feb 3: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday said that the country should increase its annual expenditure on science and technology.

“We must increase our annual expenditure on science and technology to at least 2 % of the gross domestic product (GDP),” Manmohan Singh in his speech at the one hundred and first Indian Science Congress here.

“To do science, somebody should pay for it,” he added.

The prime minister also someone that this should be a combined initiative of government and the business.

“In countries like South Korea, wherever a high proportion of GDP goes to science, the contribution of business is important,” Manmohan Singh said.

He appealed to the corporate sector to join hands with the govt in “realising the goals set for the nation”.

“I am happy that our department of biotechnology has activated private public partnerships in research and development,” he said.