India's flip flop scientific Temper

Ancient India produced a lot of good science. Theorems attributed to Pythagoras are described in Indian texts that predate the Greeks. Foreign subjugation for around 1,000 years has discredited India’s ancient texts including the Vedas which contained many stanzas which were really ‘more advanced than the modern Science’. Since these texts were written in Sanskrit, and the statements were concise that it was difficult to expand the verses. Even as Indian economy continues to grow at a fast clip, several other statistics indicate that there are many challenges that will need to be taken in stride if the growth is to be sustained. Of them, arguably, one of the biggest challenges is the fact that India has the world’s largest number of uneducated children. These children can be India’s scientists, astronauts, doctors, engineers, economists, journalists and even politicians. Our educational system continues to be lacking in spirit. We lack continuity. The amount government earmarks for higher education, Research, etc is inadequate. All that the Government Research bodies do is present papers at international fora. None of their models have been tested on the ground for successful results. None of their suggested outcomes have come true. There are fundamental flaws in our approach to Research and Development. Statistical data released by these experts are found to be fallacious resulting in our continuing with the same Policy though it required a change. Wrong predictions result in wrong diagnosis which again fails the Policy, however, well intended it may be. Scientists are at a superficial level, equipped with knowledge but not in terms of feeling. The depth in scientific temper is found wanting. India does not attach importance in nanotechnology, information technology, biotechnology, space technology, cosmology, astrophysics and astronomy, etc. It is a sad fact that we have allowed our universities to degenerate. Most of the money goes to special centres, which have high connections. Research centres like agricultural research, economic research, product development, packaging and design technology which are the monopoly of the highly influential get government grants running into tens and thousand crores of Rupees. But the outcome is not visible as we see studded growth everywhere. If you want to excite young students to do research they should see research being done in an environment where they are studying. Only a handful is doing research in universities. In Institutes where there is reasonable amount of research being done, they are very few students. If the research institutes were on university campuses, then things might have been different. We should try to link university students and teachers with research institutes more closely and intimately. Indian universities lack scientific temperament. Experimenting is not their forte. Scientists get a spiritual high from science; they feel connected to the universe; and intellectual challenge is often their goal.