General scenario not very inspiring

It is very difficult to generalise on this as well as any other such issue in India. Whether the environment is conducive or otherwise for Indian scientists and researchers to undertake world-class research is something on which a uniform opinion would not be valid. We do have pockets of excellence where outstanding work is being done, in several fields of science and technology.

But these are rare examples and the general scenario is certainly not very inspiring. Two important facts need to be highlighted in this context. Firstly, as the Indian economy develops and has to face increasing competition from other parts of the world, Indian science and research have to attain world-class standards. At the same time, there is a parallel challenge of ensuring that institutions that in the past were considered well above average do not decline further in the coming years.

Unfortunately, in recent times the trend has been towards some institutions of high repute from yesteryears declining perceptibly to a level of mediocrity or worse. Perhaps mentioning names is not desirable, but an institution like Allahabad University stands out as a sorry example - an institution that produced some of the best minds in the country, now at a stage without any intellectual innovation or success in research!

There are some essential factors that create an environment conducive for world-class research. Firstly, today's challenges require first-class scientific infrastructure, not merely in the equipment and instrumentation of the latest variety, but also in all the support services for their proper operation and use. Our compensation systems and personnel policies for promotion are generally rigid and excessively bureaucratic. The result is that brilliance and high-class performance is certainly not at a premium. It is a pity that the bureaucratic culture of government has percolated heavily through most of our scientific establishments as well. Till quite recently, for instance, a senior scientist in a CSIR lab was permitted to participate in a conference overseas only through permission being granted by CSIR headquarters.

This takes us to the heart of the question. In the days of reverence for centralised socialist policies, systems such as the CSIR and ICAR were seen as the main foundations for scientific research activity in the country. Inevitably, government policy only saw great merit in supporting research in these centralised systems, and combined with bureaucratisation of personnel policy in our universities, research became a heavy casualty overall. This in turn affected the quality of higher education, devoid of the freshness and innovation normally provided by scientific research. We provide a large number of PhDs, but their quality is questionable. Another serious shortfall in most of our scientific institutions is the poor level of compensation and salaries that professional staff receive. Teaching and research are, therefore, not seen as attractive careers, particularly in relation to so many other professional opportunities that have arisen as a consequence of economic growth in almost every sector of the Indian economy.

If India has to reach its due place on the global stage, the current malaise needs urgent attention, for which not only do we need much greater autonomy for our university system, a total revamp of the CSIR and ICAR structures, and a National Science Foundation type funding organisation which can support university research on the basis of peer-reviewed proposals, which reward merit through appropriate funding of scientific research activities.

Turf issues come in the way of improvement and replication of those centres that are performing well. The drive for bringing about change, therefore, has to come from the Union Cabinet and the Prime Minister. Fortunately, we have a Prime Minister who understands the dimensions of this challenge and the importance of India reaching close to its potential in the scientific field. He now has to bring about change with a sense of urgency, so that India does not lag behind China, South Korea, Brazil and several other developing countries. It is only then that we can even dream of reaching the levels of the developed countries.