Yesterday while having dinner with my family I was watching the movie Tare Zameen Par.. Its strange how a visual depiction of a prevalent problem in our society drives irresponsible citizens like me to start thinking, speaking and then asserting ideologies which could indeed solve the problem. But, in the end, the reality is that parasites like me do absolutely nothing.
Nevertheless, the movie did strick something in my mind. According to a common belief, which I’m sure many in our civilized world would agree to, Indians are considered to be “one of the” (not demeaning Chinese and others) smartest and the most intelligent people on this planet. Our education systems is so robust and extensive that children coming out of our schools can over smart many other kids. We go through subjects and theories in Mathematics, Science and Social Sciences in such depths and details that Master.XYZ would sound like a presidential candidate for the “termed strongest nation” in this world.
However, if that is so true to be believed, then why is that even after such thorough knowledge, major ground breaking research takes birth somewhere in the far north western part of the planet. Where does all the intelligence and practice drains? And for no obvious reasons, the term “Brain Drain” is not what I would be looking at.
The education machinery of our country is so strong that the production rate of “White Collar ‘Babus'” from our institutions increases every year. Whether they are Engineers or MBAs or Doctors or for that matter Civil Servants. If numbers are to be believed, we would out perform our nearest competing neighbor. But then it is also true that they have much stronger growing economy.
The reason that I think and believe behind this irony is that we fail to provide a fertile land for these saplings that come out of our schools, where they could grow into greener trees providing a better ecosystem. Our people spend their lives in collecting resources for survival and existence. You cannot expect a human to invent a new generation of nuclear fuel when he has to stand in a queue for 3 hours to pay his electricity bill for a service that he gets for a mere 8 hours a day. You cannot expect a human to design a 5th Generation fighter aircraft when his pension plan is governed by the volatility of the crude prices. You cannot expect our society to give us another Sachin Tendulkar or A.R.Rehman or APJ Abdul Kalam when parents look for a good salary package that the child would bring back home 20yrs from now.
We are killing the future of this country by becoming “service providers” to all facilities that run across the world. In a matter of another 10yrs we would be nothing more than “elevated electrician” who help a US national run his microwave over the phone. India needs to revise,revamp and redefine the horizon where it is leading to. We do not need Computer Application Designers but we need people who make the next High Level Language that would make softwares in the coming years. We do need Chinese generators for our Hydro Power Plants, but we need more efficient generators made in out own country. And last but not the least, we do not need to import nuclear fuel from Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) (and let “them” and Mrs.Sonia Gandhi gobble benefits) but to start believing that out own research and resources of Thorium powered nuclear power plants can help us meet our demands.
GE Corporation is not the solution – NTPC is. Siemens is not the solution – Indian Railways is. Shell is not the solution – ONGC is. Lockheed Martin is not the solution – HAL is………. and the list goes on………..
Anugraha Sinha
Anugraha Sinha 
Any Develop nation have manufacturing sector on top rather than service sector. So no doubt what is expressed above is an alarming situation.
I appreciate your opinion. I would like to add just one more thing to the manufacturing sector, support and belief in innovation and the people of this country to innovate.
What we, in the Indian education system, nurture over the years is person who can follow orders well, what with the fixed syllabus (and not the option to study what you want to study) not only in high school but well throughout undergrad and grad school. That is why we are highly sought after (as white collar work force) in all big places, we are best value for money, we don’t complain, take orders well and we over-work.
But when it comes to research (which generally happens half way across the world)..all of what we are taught (technology and ideology alike) is inadequate. We do not need full grown people to realize the potential of what they can dream into existence, we need little children to grow up believing that its okay to have an imagination….and its okay if you don’t study Computer Science and top it off with an MBA you can still be quite the success you want to be!
Your expressions are something that I have always respected. And the streak continues……
If we really look behind in time, innovation has been the key towards the evolution of mankind. Whether that was the wheel or for that matter the steam engine. History has proven this fact time and again that societies and civilizations where innovation has been hampered or discouraged have perished.
At one place we are shown “India Shinning”, but I guess the reality still remains that this country is functioning day in day out by shear coincidence. Everything is so fragile that it is somehow sticking together and the wheel keeps moving. The moment there is a crisis the country would fall apart and what we resort to is damage control. Disaster management. India may be shinning today, but then there is no surety for a dawn tomorrow. It might just be there and nobody guarantees that.