Science in India is a mix of narrow excellence and huge untapped potential. First about excellence: our best scientists and science institutions have deep expertise. Yet, our best can be more daring in the questions they address; we need to think more originally.

Currently, with some notable exceptions, our excellent scientists and institutions aspire, at most, to be as good as those elsewhere. This is aiming at a derivative. We should aim to address and solve the most challenging problems, be it fundamental or applied. If we do this, we can be better than the best. If we focus on trying to be the best, by breaching metrics alone, we will be ‘good’ by jugaad, but imitative and boring.

Second, our best and brightest institutions are now in a position to be the hubs which connect to the spokes: our State universities. Over 95 per cent of our students are in State universities. There is an urgent need for us to invigorate research in our State universities. This is a huge untapped potential.

The retirement age for those in Central government-funded research institutes is 60 years (in universities it is 65). The retirement age in these research Institutions should be raised to 65 with the condition that they put in place a mechanism for close relationship with State universities, without interfering with their core function. This interaction can be a local one or a national one.

For example, take the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) in Bengaluru, which is a great institution. It could take on the mandate of ensuring availability of high-quality astronomy and astrophysics teaching material, teachers, meetings and workshops, experimental workshops, and so on, all over the country. No matter what the quality of a State university, no student should be wanting teaching resources and experimental access if he or she wants to learn astronomy and astrophysics.

If this is done as a mission, India will do even better than its excellent current state, and in 10 years there will be 25 Indians in the world’s list of 100 astrophysicists. And, in the process, students in our State universities will have doors open to them like never before. The demand for this, if it comes in a well-articulated manner from the IIA, bottom-up as it were, will get full support. The IIA is just an example. If 20 of our best institutions take on similar missions in 20 different areas, our excellence, which is now in isolation, will spread into the university system.

There are many areas of science where India has too few people or institutions of quality. Here, too, if our best scientists and institutions can get international interaction into our State university system, this can be transformative, In parallel, we of course need to reform the university system, a slower process, which involves partnership with the States.

At the core of our efforts, no matter what we try to do, from cosmology to nano-science, we can succeed only if we do make investments in three areas: people, people and people. In our schools and colleges. If we do this, we can be amongst the best in any area very soon. Facilities and so on are necessary, but quality people are at the core.

The author is Principal Scientific Adviserto the Government of India

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