Eureka? Please???

This has been an interesting week for a news junkie.

First, Pakistan almost lost an air base to a bunch of suicidal maniacs who crawled in through the sewer pipes, proving the point I have always made -- the Pakistanis should eat more fiber and less meat. It keeps the sewage pipes busy, and keeps the terrorists out of air bases. I am pretty sure that our news industry, given its deep infatuation with things that exit the gastrointestinal tract, was going to spend more time on this story.

But suddenly, there was talk. All over the ether. About a critical comment made by Mr. Jairam Ramesh, India's environment minister, about the sorry state of research conducted at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs).

In case you want to know the specifics, read on. Mr. Ramesh was speaking to a bunch of journalists, on why the government institutions in India have a very bad track record of succeeding at anything they do. And, why the IITs and IIMs are miserably ranked, compared to many other institutions elsewhere, as far as research goes. Mr. Ramesh, being a graduate of one such IIT, is apparently better suited to make such a remark. But, if you look at the graph below, you will see that you don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure out where India's top institutes are, in terms of research. (You can read more of this story, published in The Telegraph, here)

I found something even stranger. The erudite faculty members of the IITs, suddenly started shouting from the rooftops on why Mr. Ramesh should mind his own business. But, most people, who have studied at these institutions, have actually come out and supported Mr. Ramesh for calling a spade a spade.  Mr. Ramesh and I share a common bond. We both have been forever scarred by the IIT system as undergraduates. We both expected much more of our professors, when we studied there.  And we both got very little, specially, in terms of the motivation one needs, to be a researcher, in a country such as ours. It goes without saying, that we both decided to pursue our graduate studies elsewhere.

Many years have passed since I wore that diploma-hat, but I don't think the educational standards in the IITs have changed much. Indian scientists and academics have debated a lot on why the IITs have not ended up as world class research institutes. I have heard various reasons, such as, the low pay that the faculty members make compared to what they can make in the private sector, the lack of independence, and plain old-fashioned lethargy, that kicks in around the first week of May, and continues till the last week of April. Every year. A famous Indian scientist, Dr. Mashelkar, even attributed the poor quality of research to Indian scientists being too reverential -- supposedly, it is a cultural thing we Indians have!

I have always wondered if it is possible to take one technical institution in India, and make it "world class".  Just one would be fine. You don't need to call it an IIT, call it anything you wish. For example, you could call it the "Desi Babu Institute of Advanced Technical Research".  Give it the freedom to choose its research agenda, do not impose the "quota system" in admissions, hire the best academics from all over the world -- and pay them market wages, comparable to what they would make elsewhere. In short, give this institute all the ingredients of success, and watch what happens.

Is the government willing to do such a thing? Maybe! Is the government able to do such a thing? No! 
 
Any popularly elected government in any democracy has certain constraints it has to work with. In India, these constraints are --  reservation quotas for student admissions, low pay for professors decided by bureaucrats and  hiring unionized workers with terrible work culture as administrative staff. Plus, most IITs have now become political tools for politicians. In the old days, the emperor in Delhi used to hand out bushels of grain and herds of cows as reward for loyalty. Unfortunately, nowadays, a local politician gets rewarded with an IIT in his state. And hence, new IITs end up being located between the mustard fields of Sukhwinder and the wheat fields of Rajwinder. "Out in the sticks" is really a superlative expression for such choice locations for the new IITs. 

So, Mr. Ramesh made a very simple statement. He said that excellence cannot be achieved in a government setup. So, perhaps, it is time that we established world-class institutes, outside the sphere of influence of the government.

And, all hell broke loose.  He was called a self serving loudmouth. He was called a loony libertarian. And, many academics at the IITs called him extremely unreasonable.

The famous Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw is known to have made many a witty remark. One, that has always appealed to me as a scientist and an engineer goes like this -- "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."

I think we just need a few more unreasonable men like Mr. Ramesh. And, we will do just fine.