Indians are weak in Science and Innovation
The Prime Minister of India (Manmohan Singh) was in Pune this past week to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of the famed National Chemical Laboratory (NCL). During his speech he expressed his concern at the number of students taking up science after the 10+2 stage (after high school). He said “It is important to bring our bright young men and women into the fold of exciting and stimulating research environment of colleges and universities”.
He added “Our competitive advantage in the R and D sector may be lost unless we ensure that the country produces on a continuing basis an adequate number of competent and motivated young people who could lead our national laboratories, science agencies and knowledge based industries”. I disagree with the Prime Minister regarding the competitive advantage that we have in research and development. We may have an edge over Sri Lanka, Pakistan or Bangladesh but not against any country that matters including China.
The government of India declared 2010 to 2020 as the “Decade of Innovations”. Lack of innovation is a major problem facing modern India (very few countries have mastered the art of Innovation). Indians like the Chinese are very good at duplicating, deconstructing and recreating but fall short when it comes to creative thinking and problem solving. This is one area where I feel that the Americans are very far ahead of both India and China.
Why is India weak in science? Actually many Indians would not agree that we are weak in science. Most of us by default equate science with information technology which is something that we are very good at. But IT forms a small component of the overall field of science. Science is not just a sum of different scientific fields like Biology, Chemistry or Physics. It is about being inquisitive and is also a way of thinking, analyzing and problem solving.
India is a developing nation. Once we go to school we are programmed to take courses that will eventually help us find a job. Our natural instincts and talents are secondary. This is one of the reasons why we were able to produce so many doctors and engineers in the 70’s and 80’s and software professionals in the past few decades. We focus on a particular field because we have to and not because we want to. This makes a big difference in our commitment to that field and our overall output.
Why do we not innovate? This is partly due to the reasons that I mentioned above. In addition we as a society do not tolerate failure or those who have lost. Learning from loses is a key aspect of life. But in India we are told that we have to be successful in life (whatever that means). We have to travel the well beaten path. This is a low risk but low reward strategy. A well beaten path is not the path that innovators take.
In the United States (a country that I believe is very good at pushing the limits of science and technology) we always hear about second chances. Failure is tolerated and understood to be a part of life just like brushing your teeth. People are not ashamed of themselves or others if they fail in their education, business, project or career. They just clean up the mess and move on to their next adventure.
I am not sure how we can become a country of innovators suddenly when we do not have the type of social fabric or the educational system necessary to do so. Meanwhile we will continue to churn out hundreds of thousands of “engineers” every year most of whom cannot change their car tire even if their life depended on it!!
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- Myth or Reality: India is prospering but not Indians?
- United States in an Education Arms Race with India
Category: Culture & Religion