MANGALORE FEB 15: National research professor and renowned scientist C.N.R. Rao on Sunday expressed concern over lack of innovation in Indian science and said rapid commercialisation and particularly, the information technology industry, contributed to this decline.

“IT has destroyed Indian science as much as it has contributed to its economy,” he told presspersons on the sidelines of a two-day international conference on “Recent trends in materials and characterisation” at the National Institute of Technology-Karnataka, Surathkal. The IT sector might have contributed to the country’s GDP, but it had done little for its development, he said.

He said that there was a growing trend of “internal brain drain” in the country, where students succumbed to temptations and took up jobs that had nothing to do with scientific innovation. “Why does one need to study engineering if the ultimate aim is to do an MBA and sell soap?”

Advising the NIT-K management to form a top-notch team of scientists from various disciplines to research material science, Mr. Rao said that the entire programme should not cost more than Rs. 15 crore. “Funds for research are available from the Government, but there are few takers and so a few quality project proposals,” he added.

The problem with research was that it started only at the postgraduate-level and most institutes had little undergraduate research programmes.

“Even the IITs have not paid enough attention to undergraduate research,” he said.

Mr. Rao said that the International Centre for Materials Science at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research in Bangalore was fast gaining a reputation for nurturing research. “We will be happy to admit bright students on fellowships of two to three months,” he told the NIT-K administrators.

Hindu