Why Pure science in India Lags Behind

                                                 

That here is some confusion about the  definition of 'pure science' was clear when three of the five speakers at the seminar on pure science at the Pravasi Divas event in Kochi on Tuesday addressed either applied science- aka technology,that colourful and utilitarian offshoot of pure science-or sought,among other things,the use of   theology to resolve the subtler questions of material science.The well-meant intention behind the seminar appeared to be to focus on the need for research unburdened by utilitarian interests,since underlying principles need to be understood before they can ber  applied  .Given that most conferences do not focus so much on knowing science as using it,the novel approach was refreshing.But even the best of intentions is not quite enough.

  Thomas Abraham,the moderator for the seminar and the president of Innovative Research and Products,a nanotech firm based in the United States,pointed out some problems in India when he said he had heard that much of the pure science research  done in the country is uncontrolled,irrelevant or concentrated in the hands of a few people atop the totem pole. Abraham requested that the panellists address these claims and the charge that top scientific and engineering institutions have been drifting to finance and management,leaving only mediocre students,who could not bring quality into the institutions.Abraham also pointed out that INSEAD's Global  Innovation Index places India far behind nations such as Mauritius,Saudi Arabia and Guyana.Few Indians based in India show up in top science journals,though a disproportionately large number from the diaspora  do.Three of four Indian Nobel laureates in the pure sciences came from diaspora,he said ,asking why Indians were able to achieve world-class results only when they left their country of origin.