Brain Drain of Research Talent in India

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India is facing a tremendous shortage of talent when it comes to technical Innovation especially talents in the fields of science, engineering and technology. The primary reason for this being Brain Drain.

When we say brain drain, the first thought that comes to our mind is of individuals migrating to developed countries like US and UK, in search of more lucrative jobs. This is true to a very large extent. However, this is not the only truth.

India is now facing a phenomenon which I would like to term as 'Internal Brain Drain'. Out of the 300,000 graduates coming out of educational institutions, only a handful of not more than 5000 actually go for higher studies and PhD. The loss of talent in this case for mainstream R&D activities is tremendous.

One also needs to take into account cases where many young engineers from non IT background are taking up jobs in BPOs and IT companies. It is estimated 78% of Indian engineers from mechanical, Electrical, Electronics, Civil, Instrumentation, Chemical and Biomedical engineering leave their field after graduation and work for BPOs and IT companies like Patni, TCS, Infosys etc.

Also due to the dismal state of R&D facilities provided by most of the educational institutions in India, many students even though interested in research, would prefer to take up jobs in multinationals, who provide a much better infrastructure and mentoring to individuals. The IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) thus generated is owned by these comapnies and the revenue generated from the products created get funnelled out to countries where these multinationals belong.

India not only needs to conserve its talent pool, but also needs to ensure that individual talents get utilised in a proper and efficient manner.

Indian R&D Scenario; A comprehensive coverage

The Potential:
By 2008, forecasts McKinsey, IT services and back-office work in India will swell fivefold, to a $57 billion annual export industry employing 4 million people and accounting for 7% of India's gross domestic product. That growth is inspiring more of the best and brightest to stay home rather than migrate. What India requires today is to analyse the amazing growths achived by countries like China, Vietnam etc and use the huge manpower resources effectively.
(I have given an idea to achieve this utilisation here)

Facts:
For all its R&D labs, India remains visibly Third World. IT service exports employ less than 1% of the workforce. Per-capita income is just $460, and 300 million Indians subsist on $1 a day or less. Lethargic courts can take 20 years to resolve contract disputes. And what pass for highways in Bombay are choked, crumbling roads lined with slums, garbage heaps, and homeless migrants sleeping on bare pavement. More than a third of India's 1 billion citizens are illiterate, and just 60% of homes have electricity. Most bureaucracies are bloated, corrupt, and dysfunctional. The government's 10% budget deficit is alarming. Tensions between Hindus and Muslims always seem poised to explode, and the risk of war with nuclear-armed Pakistan is ever-present.
So it's little wonder that, compared to China with its modern infrastructure and disciplined workforce, India is far behind in exports and as a magnet for foreign investment. While China began reforming in 1979, India only started to emerge from self-imposed economic isolation after a harrowing financial crisis in 1991. China has seen annual growth often exceeding 10%, far better than India's decade-long average of 6%.

Strengths and Weaknesses (India-China):
Still, this deep source of low-cost, high-IQ, English-speaking brainpower may soon have a more far-reaching impact on the U.S. than China. Manufacturing -- China's strength -- accounts for just 14% of U.S. output and 11% of jobs. India's forte is services -- which make up 60% of the U.S. economy and employ two-thirds of its workers. And Indian knowledge workers are making their way up the New Economy food chain, mastering tasks requiring analysis, marketing acumen, and creativity.

Future Vision:
India also is working to assure that it will be able to meet future demand for knowledge workers at home and abroad. India produces 3.1 million college graduates a year, but that's expected to double by 2010. The number of engineering colleges is slated to grow 50%, to nearly 1,600, in four years. Of course, not all are good enough to produce the world-class grads of elite schools like the IITs, which accepted just 3,500 of 178,000 applicants last year. So there's a growing movement to boost faculty salaries and reach more students nationwide through broadcasts. India's rich diaspora population is chipping in, too. Prominent Indian Americans helped found the new Indian School of Business, a tie-up with Wharton School and Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management that lured most of its faculty from the U.S. Meanwhile, the six IIT campuses are tapping alumni for donations and research links with Stanford, Purdue, and other top science universities. "Our mission is to become one of the leading science institutions in the world," says director Ashok Mishra of IIT-Bombay, which has raised $16 million from alumni in the past five years.

If India manages growth well, its huge population could prove an asset. By 2020, 47% of Indians will be between 15 and 59, compared with 35% now. The working-age populations of the U.S. and China are projected to shrink. So India is destined to have the world's largest population of workers and consumers. That's a big reason why Goldman, Sachs & Co. (GS ) thinks India will be able to sustain 7.5% annual growth after 2005.


Source: Businessweek Dec 8,2003

Analysing patenting activity and investment in Science

Analysing patenting activity and investment in Science

Abstract: India has stressed development in Science and Technology (S&T) from the
very beginning of the plan period. The paper highlights the S&T
investment in the country since independence in comparison with a
declining trend in patents obtained by Indians over the period. The paper
analyses this disturbing statistics. It tries to find out the reasons behind
such performance in the Research and Development (R&D) front in spite
of hefty investment. Finally there are some suggestions for formulating a
concrete policy boosting R&D to obtain competitive advantage through
patenting.

-Sabuj Kumar Chaudhuri
Junior Research Fellow (UGC), Department of Library and Information
Science, Jadavpur University, Kolkata-32
E-mail: sabuj_c@yahoo.co.uk
Barnali Sengupta
Revenue Officer (WBCS), Block Land & Land Reforms Office, English
Bazar, Malda-732101
E-mail: barnachaudhuri@yahoo.co.in

Link to the complete research paper

India will take 163 years to match China's R&D

12 Feb 2007, 1216 hrs IST,PTINEW DELHI: India will take 163 years to match the scientific workforce of China if it continues to add researchers at the current rate, a mathematician has claimed. According to the 2002-03 figures, China had 8.5 lakh workers in the research and development sector as against 1.15 lakh in India. "Just to catch up with what China is today: 7,35,000 scientists to be added at 4,500 per year, it will take us 163 years," Gangan Prathap, scientist-in-charge of the Centre for Mathematical Modelling and Computer Simulation, Bangalore said in the latest issue of journal Current Science . The statistics state that India annually produces some 4,500 doctorates as against 40,000 PhDs in China every year. Prathap said his calculations were on the assumption that China does not add any scientists to its R&D workforce and India continues to add at the rate of 4,500 a year. India spent $3.7 billion on science as against China's $15.5 billion R&D budget for 2002-03. Chinese scientists produced 50,000 research papers that were cited by peers in their studies as against 19,500 by India. The Ministry of Science and Technology is seeking a five-fold increase in budget allocation in the 11th Five Year Plan. It has also unveiled a Rs 1,350-crore plan to attract students to science.

read more | digg story

Need of more R&D (Research and Development ) Activities in India

The article states the present condition of Student Research Activities in India and compares them to that of other countries. It also delves into the growing concerns over the dismal state of higher education in educational institutions and strives to provide some workable and permanent solution.

read more | digg story

A Controlled and Effective Education System for a country

The future of a country depends on the abilities of the young generation and it is the responsibility of the country to identify and enhance skills of every individual to gain optimum output from every citizen.
Further, the economic growth of a country is depicted by the amount of foreign exchange it owns and one sure fire way of ensuring a continuous flow of foreign exchange is to create a big patent base. For this we need to generate more and more research and generate ideas which could be transformed into products that generates long term benefits.
A child starting his education needs to be continuously tested for the abilities displayed by him/her and guided accordingly throughout his training stage to enable him to reach the goals desired by him and to use his capabilities to achieve the actualization of self and betterment of the society.
For the first few years when his mental and capabilities have just started developing, we need to ensure that he/she gets a conducive environment where we develop a strong morality, an open mind and a healthy body. For this from the age of 3 to the age of 5(The formative years), the education should majorly focus on making the child understand the basics of morality, discipline and 'the general meaning on good'. It should also include healthy sports and games that are aimed at instilling qualities of leadership and innovativeness at the same time providing entertainment and adequate exercise of physical and mental capabilities.
After this from the age of 5 to 10, the education should focus on teaching him about his/her culture, introducing concepts of religion, history,geography,language etc of the country. Also it is required to impart knowledge about the basics of science and mathematics.
At the end of the year, an aptitude test needs to be held to test the physical and mental capabilities of the child and a comparison needs to be made to the ambitions of the child to decide the future of the education. Based on the evaluation, the further course structures should be made such that they enhance the capabilities of the child towards achieving the desired ambition. e.g if the child wants to go into defence services, the course should emphasize on developing physical capabilities, leadership qualities, scientific skills and most importantly discipline. Whereas if the child wants to be an athlete, development of physical capabilities should be given more importance. If the child wants to a scientist, development of physical capabilities should not be given lower priority to development of scientific skills. In short from now on the education structure needs to be more flexible and more moulded keeping in mind individual aptitude and capabilities and thus more personalised. This should exist from the age of 11 to 18.
During this time tests should be taken to check whether the child is correctly responding to the course properly and is actually gaining from it and make changes as necessary.
After 18 a test needs to undertaken to check what are the ranges of profession the person is suited for and guide him/her to a graduate course for the same. At the final year, the person needs to be tested for various things like, what are the specialisations that need to be introduced to create a trained individual with special skills better suited for a job set, whether he is more suited to corporate environment or he needs to be put in the government enterprises and whether he/she is suited for further education. e.g if a person is graduating in computers, he may be suited for specialising in databases and is eligible for having further education in distributed databases. A person who is more suited to be a politician, needs more emphasis on developing better people skills, culture and morality exposures, management and financial skills with leadership quality development and philosophy.
At this time, it is important for non government organisations like IEEE, ACM, CSI, SIAM, IET, IAENG etc provide mentorship facilties and facilitate industrial trainings, internships etc for enhancing the scope of education through combining practical knowledge with theoretical knowledge. This will also help identify individuals who are better suited to Research and Development activities and can be separately trained into more effective product and idea generators.

Lack of motivated students in science

The lack of young and talented students in science has often been bemoaned in this column and recent editorials (Curr. Sci., 2002, 82, 241–242; 903). It is paradoxical that on one hand, good students are unavailable for filling research and faculty positions in basic and applied sciences, while on the other, a large number of science graduates and postgraduates languish among the ranks of unemployed. The various schemes like national science talent search scholarships,
etc. unfortunately may have an inherent shortcoming. The highly competitive nature and process that these selections entail, ensure that only the most ‘academically’ brilliant students
make it through. Unfortunately, science as a career offers poor rewards for those talented people, whom the greener pastures of engineering, medicine, bureaucracy or business claim at the first opportunity. But how far do these various schemes and selection procedures attract or select young, competent people who love doing science and research, but are less gifted
than their more brilliant peers? Is academic brilliance, often the result of superior memorization capability, to be the main or only yardstick for selection? Do originality in thought, innovative ability and passion for hands-on science despite meagre rewards, count for naught? The
selection processes may perhaps be discounting these very qualities, which many gifted scientists of this century possessed, while not exactly being stars of the academia. Science and research should no doubt ensure a decent standard of living for its practitioners, but in the
final analysis are better done by those for whom it is a passion, not just a profession.

M. R. RAGHUNATH
Peninsular Aquaculture Division of
Central Institute of Freshwater
Aquaculture,
Hessarghatta Lake PO,
Bangalore 560 089, India
e-mail: raghumr@vsnl.in

Research is a delicate intellectual activity which requires a sensitive human interaction between the scholar and the guide. A thorough understanding between the two individuals, one aspiring to do something creative and another inspiring the activity, is needed. But nobility has become a
rare virtue in our milieu. Irresponsibility, jealousy, arrogance and even coldvillainy have become common traits of persons even in the institutes of learning and research. It is human to err. Unless the guide takes it lightly, even a small mistake of the research student shall be deemed unpardonable. Any slight displeasure that crops up due to social, cultural or academic reasons, between the guide and the research student is surely to the disadvantage of the latter. In an
atmosphere where research guides (more so in universities) are influenced by extraneous
feelings like caste, community and group, the student is a helpless partner at the mercy of the teacher-guide. Very few guidelines exist to correct the situation, to do justice and to save the
young soul when the mutual relation goes astray. Higher academic authorities feel embarrassed to come openly to protect the weak and help the guide to guide the student with a human face. The student also can err and misbehave, but the system has a structure to punish the
guilty very easily. The problem becomes confounded if either of the two belongs to the opposite sex. The percentage fallout of students from research is around fifty in universities (slightly less in research institutes), which is more often than not due to hostile treatment meted out to the young scientists. As the cynical attitude in supervisors cannot be eroded by a simple rule or regulation, the issue has to be discussed at higher fora of scientific administration of the country to develop a self-corrective mechanism, ensuring smooth research activity with a human face.


CHANDU SUBBA RAO
Department of Geophysics,
Andhra University,
Visakhapatnam 530 003, India
e-mail: ahivisakha@hotmail.com

CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 82, NO. 12, 25 JUNE 2002