There has always been a debate over the contribution of Indian scientific institutes over the years. Many people have questioned their original contribution to the field. The latest person to have questioned this trend is Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy. IT czar has said that there has not been a single invention from India in the last 60 years that became a household name globally, nor any idea that led to "earth shaking" invention to "delight global citizens".?
"Our youngsters have not done much impactful research work despite being equal to their counterparts in intellect and energy in Western universities," he said delivering the convocation address at the Indian Institute of Science here.
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Listing out 10 major inventions that Massachusets Institute of Technology has created in the last 50 years that includes Global Positioning System, Bionic Prostheses and Microchip, Murthy said these happened because students and faculty at MIT "walked the untrodden path, asked the unasked questions and used their intellectual prowess to take huge leaps".
"They demonstrated unusual courage to achieve the plausibly-impossible. The story is similar at many other western institutions of higher education," he said.
He said almost all inventions such as cars, the electric bulb, radio, television, computers, Internet, wifi, MRI, laser, robots and many other gadgets and technology happened, "thanks to the research by Western Universities".
He added: "On the other hand, let us pause and ask what the contributions of Indian institutions of higher learning, particularly IISc ans IITs, have been over the last sixty-plus years to make our society and the world a better place?
"Is there one invention from India that has become a household name in the globe? Is there one technology that has transformed the productivity of global corporations? Is there one idea that has lead to an earth shaking invention to delight global citizens?"
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Co-founder of the country's major IT firm Infosys said: "Folks, the reality is that there is no such contribution from India in the last 60. The only two ideas that have transformed the productivity of global corporations -- The Global Delivery Model and the 24-hours workday -- came from the company called Infosys."
Pointing to the problems plaguing the country such as illiteracy, child malnutrition, poor public health service, Murthy said, "I can go on and on. The important thing is to recognise that this country has no shortage of problems to be solved urgently."
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He said there must be free flow of ideas between our intellectuals and foreign scholars. "Our younger faculty must have full freedom to pursue their line of research without hindrance."