Publicado em 15/07/2022 - 08:30 / Clipado em 18/07/2022 - 08:30
Opinion – Sou Ciência: Diversion of FNDCT resources is an assault on our future
The Panel on Financing Science and Technology and Public Higher Education, recently launched by Sou Ciência, was created with two purposes: to understand how science is financed in order to identify the directions that Brazil has taken, especially in the last 5 years, as well as and to identify and prepare solutions for the reconstruction of the country. The interactive panel, developed with the support of the Serrapilheira Institute, clearly presents the diagnosis of the dismantling of Brazilian research structures.
Even more surprising was the realization not only of the brutal blockade of resources from the National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development (FNDCT), but also the removal of an accumulated amount of almost R$35 billion (of the R$64 billion collected) that had been diverted for other purposes. It is important to point out that the resources of this Fund, existing since 1967, have as their sources fees and taxes that were collected with the specific purpose of application in Science and Technology.
As our graphs show, these funds had been blocked in recent years, with the balance parked in the National Treasury account, a situation that lasted until January 2021, when a Complementary Law (177/2021) prohibited the contingency of the FNDCT. However, in March of the same year, Constitutional Amendment 109 was approved, which allowed the federal government to use the balances of all public funds to amortize the public debt. There were maneuvers and mechanisms applied, altering the Constitution, so that the FNDCT would no longer be applied in Science. That is, even with the legal support of January 2021, the Fund was “confiscated”.
How many things could we have done for the country if the R$ 35 billion were actually applied to its purpose? They would be resources for research in several areas: agriculture, new forms of cultivation, sustainable energies, studies focused on the preservation of the Amazon and the environment, on curing diseases, on the development of vaccines against Covid-19 and other pathogens, research in economics and sociology, in scientific and technological development for the development of national industry. And, of course, for improvements in Education.
These are factors that weigh in a nation that needs and wants to be self-sufficient, depending less and less on imports of raw materials instead of exporting commodities. In addition, the R$ 35 billion would be fundamental for the preservation and recovery of universities and research institutes, which are currently deteriorated, in addition to encouraging the industry that operates in the area of product development. Much could have been done, but once again Education, Science and Technology were harmed to the detriment of other interests.
Fortunately, the scientific community managed to prevent a new diversion of another R$ 2.5 billion from the FNDCT that were contingencies, as proposed by PLN nº 17/2022, authored by the federal government, defeated last Tuesday (12) in Congress National. This shows how mobilized the scientific community is. Researchers, together with society, universities and research institutes, are articulated so that Science resources are effectively destined to it!
The current government’s proposals for the area are not only an affront to democracy and the use of public money, but also go completely against the guidelines of the Open Government Policy, an international movement of which Brazil was one of the signatories and founders in 2011. It is an international initiative to disseminate and encourage government practices related to government transparency, access to public information and social participation.
We cannot remain unscathed, unaffected, by seeing this embezzlement of public money and such a lack of transparency. On the other hand, we see that Education, Science and Technology resources are being cut and diverted, while amendments are secretly released.
It is urgent to call society’s attention to recover the stolen budget, but also to show the importance of significantly increasing it. Soon, SoU_Ciência will bring new information about sources of resources that could be directed to the development of Science, resulting in the generation of jobs, wealth and advances for the country.
Science, at a world level, historically shows its role and power. This has intensified even further during the pandemic. May there be a vivid and transparent budget for Science and Education in Brazil!
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