In search of Indian research

Updated on: Monday, July 06, 2009

While the world seems to be running after lucrative degrees such as MBAs and MCAs, the Ph.D. still remains the one with the maximum years of education, concentration, specialisation and respect. If you are keen, those strenuous years of getting a research degree could certainly take you places. For instance, if you consider the figures mapping the potential of corporate research in India in a sector like pharma, it is estimated that about US$70 billion worth of globally branded drug patents are set to expire in three years. The demand has pushed pharma companies to look at generics as a crucial business, with countries like India and China considered big (read economical) for contract research and manufacturing services. However, the current research scenario in India is not as promising as it is made out to be. A lot of this is due to students being materialistic — looking at courses that have a faster return on their investment, say observers.

Says Dr. Vibha Dhawan, Executive Director, Advanced Biotechnology, TERI, “The fact that research has such few takers today is a danger to our future. No society, despite it being rich with zillions of managers, can afford its research to come to a standstill.”

Though Dhawan has been witnessing cases of students leaving the country for better research pastures, growth prospects and infrastructure, she doesn’t find anything wrong in this. The reason that India is devoid of major research drivers is the lack of a challenging environment, funds, industry participation and apathetic faculty. “For research to take off, it requires the system to have inter-disciplinary education, which is absolutely lacking in the water-tight system of Indian education,” says another academician and former VC-GGSIPU, Professor KK Aggarwal, who otherwise doesn’t agree that research in India is in a complete shambles. “We have two major areas — space research and atomic energy — doing well in India. The prime reason behind their success is the special bureaucratic system laid down for the streams that ensures their global success. This should be replicated in other streams too.”

Though government funds about 95 per cent of the research work in India, experts demand that industry — the ultimate user of research results — share the financial burden.

Besides, as Dhawan questions, “A professor who teaches a subject for over 30 years is not been through training over that period. So how would they know what’s happening outside the well?”

Being a professor in genetics, Deepak Pental, Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi agrees. India, a country with massive livestock, is lagging behind in the kind of research happening in livestock across the globe, he feels. “To get there, the only way is through our laboratories. This new session, Delhi University too has plans for its labs and practical classes. We are also aligning with global knowledge centres — in France, Germany and Japan to name a few — where our students could upgrade their research skills,” he says, adding, “we are also planning to send our professors for other Masters degrees that complement their existing specialisations and thus sharpen their pedagogical tools.”

The University Grants Commission too is making research interesting for students through its fellowships and good pay scales for faculty. The Commission is also examining the industry-academia interface to help research get more student numbers, jobs and funds, says Sukhadeo Thorat, Chairman, UGC. Still, what research needs most is a mindset shift where society recognises it as a ‘mission’ towards improvement and development.

“Since research is an utterly global issue, one must open up to go collaborative with other countries and industry to develop and upgrade the works commercially,” concludes Aggarwal.

In search of Indian research

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