In response to the editorial column of The Hindu few weeks back stating the “pathetic condition of Indian Research in Life Sciences and Basic Sciences”, I would like to voice my opinion from my personal experience, so as to make an attempt to raise concerns otherwise it would be too late. India produces hundreds of engineering, medical, and management graduates and post-graduates every year. No doubt, lucrative career looms large over these aspiring candidates, but perhaps at the same time we are neglecting basic sciences to such an extent that we are going to produce a void in our knowledge bank that would be hard to fill up. This will be a self-inflicting damage.
To add to these problems, people who do aspire to build up their career in basic sciences and applied life sciences are in a state of dilemma as the factors leading to healthy research are not conducive at the present moment. The lack of proper communication and understanding between the guide and the students, lack of basic infrastructures compared with sky high expectations, lack of insufficient funds from the government and industries, biased politics creeping into the research backbone are some of the growing problems that are eating out the foundation of Indian research basics that was once built upon the dreams of Aryabhatta and many others. If the root of this problem is not stemmed at the earliest, we will be surely putting in place the final nail in the coffin for the Indian Research scenario. Statistics too suggest the same as India is said to contribute a mere 2.1% in the world’s scholarly publications from 1996 till date closely followed on its heels by China with 2.6%. It is high time that we work towards fixing the problem, otherwise it would be too late.
By Arunava Das
Friday, May 16, 2008
Indian Research Scenario: A Sick Unit - Myth or Truth?
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5 comments:
Exactly true. I totally agree with you, Anurnava, apart from the basic infrastructure, funds, biased politics; what we need at this moment are guides who can inspire students to dig into the amazing world of research. Look at the old 70's, 80's and 90's, it created many gemstones in the field of pure research. One of my lecturers was an excellent orator; he imbibed the seeds of questioning in many of us. What amazes me is that this person himself was inspired by his Professor, none other than the humble H. Narasimhaih. For that matter-of-fact Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam himself would have inspired many a young heart to excel in research. It’s sad to see that lucrative careers have become a noose to hang research by its neck. No wonder India’s quantity and quality of research has gone down. Hope we find a solution soon.
That being said, I would like to offer a different perspective. Media has played a huge role in hyping up the latest entries into the life sciences field. This has led to a huge misconception that you complete the course and a job falls on to your lap. The fact that 87% of applicants fail to clear the National Eligibility Test which opens up the door to advanced research speaks for itself. The quality of education being imparted has gone down and education sector has become a huge business. There is no substitute for hard work and the students have failed to recognize it due to Media Hype.
pros
-there cool
-more efficient than people
-cheaper than labor
cons
-people will lose jobs probably
-the 'realistic' ones are creepy
-they could come back in time and kill john connor (lol)
guyz robots dont require a paycheck at the end of the month! ;)
Hey Arunava Das, Its really amazing to see such topic emerge at this point of time when all Professional studies are on the back foot around the globe, and there is a dent in the basic science field, where particularly Indians are found to be at the south end of a north facing ladder..
Yes, its time for us to rethink our strategy, the problem stems up from parents who are greedy to make easy and fast bucks, until and unless people change, this would be the scenerio.
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