Research? In Government controlled institutes? - wonders The Times of India.
From the editorial published on June 16, 2007:
Government-controlled research institutes in India are generally in bad shape. Crippled by bureaucracy and cashstrapped, they stifle rather than nurture talent. This is true not just of smaller organisations but premier institutes such as the much-vaunted Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). IISc, for instance, attracts some of the brightest brains and is endowed with substantial funds. However, research fellows are paid a pittance and the labs are woefully ill-equipped to facilitate projects. Often, unable to complete their work, fellows leave mid-way to seek greener pastures in laboratories abroad.The story is not different at various central universities or in the IITs. There is very little original work that comes out which is recognised by peers globally. The number of papers published in widely respected journals and patents received by professors and research fellows in these institutes are negligible in comparison to the credits earned by their counterparts abroad. The truth is that IITs merely nurture professionals to feed the needs of industry elsewhere. The glory story begins and ends with the hoopla over hefty pay packets that graduates are offered during campus placements.India’s claim to being a big player in the global economy rests heavily on its ability to come good in the knowledge and services sector.
And the editorial cites two sectors of importance - Information Technology and Biotechnology!!
3 comments:
How true!
What's more, there is very little teaching that happens in either of the premier institutes that you mentioned. Most of the faculty have very little time for their students. I can't see even one laboratory that works as a group focussed on one objective - there's no end in sight for the research! Blue Sky research works fine when the researcher - note the singular - is someone with great insight. In most other cases, the research will be pointless if the researchers in question do not have discipline.
The other thing is that the inflow of funds is regulated to a certain extent by mutual back-scratching between the beneficiaries and the people who hold the purse-strings. Add to this the fact that there is very little accountability for these funds, and there is no wonder that the quality of the research that comes out of these places is abysmal. Never mind that there are many papers that are published in respected Transactions and Annals... how many other researchers actually cite these papers?
Of course, there are a few exceptions to the rule that a paper's value is as good as the number of citations it has. However, I don't think that all the papers that come out of our esteemed research institutes can be exceptions.
I had better stop here, otherwise this "small" comment will end up as a post in itself.
It seems that as a Nation, we're accustomed to making a big hue and cry for small, unimportant things. Yet another leftover from Nehruvian socialism, I might add ;)
It is a kind of Pandora's box.
People, who are not good, hide behind ideas that come from people who are good.
What is the way out? Whatever it is, it is not going to be easy. It needs lot of deliberation, sincerity, and focussed actions.
Thanks Kovai, for dropping comments after a long long time!!! Hope you will get enough time and energy for blogging too.
Here is the link to the editorial:
Basic Blunder
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