Research in India declining: NRN

BANGALORE : Interest in research in India has been on the wane in the past few decades despite outstanding overall economic growth. In the 1980s, India was among the top 10 countries in the world producing original research, slipping to no. 12 in the 1990s. And in the first decade of the new millennium, its position further slipped, alarmingly, to below 20, said NR Narayana Murthy, Chairman Emeritus of Infosys.At the sidelines of the event announcing the names of the winners of the 2011 Infosys Science Prize, speaking to TOI, he said the Infosys Science Foundation and the Science Prize were created to counter this downward-moving graph and "encourage research and recognize scientific talent" in the country.
Murthy said that research was no longer seen as a prestigious career option because India has failed to "provide adequate encouragement, incentive and appreciation for students to get into research areas". While acknowledging that the government was moving in the right direction by its recent move to increase spending on research by a factor of 5, Murthy asserted that Indian industry also has a role to play in fostering research.
On a lighter note, Murthy said: "Those who achieve scientific success have to be showcased as heroes and stars.'' IISc Prof wins physics prizeThe Infosys Prize this year has been awarded to six scientists __ Prof Kalyanmoy Deb from IIT Kanpur for engineering and computer science; Dr Imran Siddiqi from CCMB Hyderabad for life sciences; Prof Kannan Soundararajan from Stanford University for mathematics; Prof Sriram Ramaswamy from Bangalore's Indian Institute of Science in physics; Prof Raghuram G Rajan of the University of Chicago for economics, and Dr Pratap Bhanu Mehta, head of the Centre for Policy Research New Delhi for political science.
Each award carries a cash prize of Rs 50 lakh. On the jury are eminent scientists and researchers from universities across the globe, including Nobel laureate Dr Amartya Sen. "As one of the winners from last year said, the nice thing about working in science is that you get paid to do something you really enjoy. Unfortunately, not many people are made aware of this. We have to sell science and science education as a fun, interesting thing to do and a fantastic career," said Prof Ramaswamy.