Thursday 7 May 2015

IITs: TIME TO REDEFINE OBJECTIVES AND ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ACHIEVING SELF RELIANCE

IITs: TIME TO REDEFINE OBJECTIVES AND ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ACHIEVING SELF RELIANCE

(Step towards regaining the lost glory)




Vision behind starting IITs
The concept of the IITs originated even before India gained independence in 1947. After the end of the Second World War and before India got independence, Sir Ardeshir Dalal from the Viceroy's Executive Council foresaw that the future prosperity of India would depend not so much on capital as on technology. He, therefore, proposed the setting up of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. To man those laboratories, he persuaded the US government to offer hundreds of doctoral fellowships under the Technology Cooperation Mission (TCM) program. However realizing that such steps can’t help in the long run for the development of India after it gains independence, he conceptualized institutes that would train such work forces in the country itself. This is believed to be the first conceptualization of IITs.

Objectives
A country of India’s size, on a rapid economic growth path (not the industrial), would require in today’s context a significant emphasis on large-scale research at the highest levels of excellence. This is necessary to push the frontiers of knowledge and create new cutting edge technologies and thereby sustain India’s progress as a leading country in today’s competitive global environment.

Need of the hour
Development of such technologies should be linked to our industry to make them global leaders and to address the needs of markets both in India and the rest of the world.

Have IITs served the purpose?
Lot of water has flown ever since the first IIT was started on 18th August, 1951 (IIT Kharagpur). The natural questions which come to mind are:
  1. Have IITs succeeded in delivering as desired?
  2. Has any neutral / independent agency determined the “Performance Index” of individual IITs?
  3. Has MHRD made public the procedure adopted to determine the “Performance Index” of each IIT since these Institutes carry a tag of National importance and funded through the tax payer’s money?
  4. What is the “Impact Index” of IITs for sustaining / nurturing Indian industries?
  5. What is the content (%) of “Innovative / Original” technology developed by IITs that is contributing to “Make in India”?
  6. What is the ratio of valuable foreign exchange saved to foreign exchange spent for importing equipment, instrumentation, software, hardware, consumables, manpower, training, foreign visits etc. in maintaining and sustaining IITs from inception to date?
  7. Can the use of imported equipment & software and training mind for near replication be projected as research?
  8. Can the nation really develop with this definition?
  9. Can the Nation become a shareholder in developing / launching new technologies on Global basis?
  10. Why is that none of the IITs is carrying a tag of “World Class University”?
  11. In case the answer is positive then who all should be complimented?
  12. In case the answer is overall negative then who all should be held accountable since tax payer's precious money is involved?
It seems, the exercise hasn’t been done in a real transparent manner. Why are we trying to live in a fool’s paradise? We are answerable to the public for massive investments which are made to sustain IIT system. The purpose is not to criticize but to do brain storming on this important issue to be able to redefine the education and research objectives not only for IITs but for all Technical Institutes in the country.

2 comments:

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