AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

        At the Science Congress, there were many references to where universities were found wanting. It was said that standards had declined in the matter of university research, that the commercial aspect had overwhelmed academic norms of excellence in recruitment procedures and that politicisation was a factor to reckon with.

        Speaking about standards, R A Mashelkar, former Director of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, said the number of papers that received 'O' rating had doubled over the decade, those that received higher rating had declined by more than half.

        Compared to China, the difference was appalling. For that matter, that country and the nations of the Far- East have made giant strides in scientific publishing by investing heavily in their higher education institutions especially in the university system. Indeed the circle involving the scientific community, institutions, industries, private sector and government is weaker in India than in the Far East, not to speak of the position in the West. Much depended on the contribution from the government which is to go up to three per cent of the GDP from the present two per cent.

        The progress of science and technology should depend less on the government and more on the ecosystem that consists of patenting, private spending, research and technology, the percentage of high-tech exports and availability of venture capital and status of cluster development.

        Constraints peculiar to India in these areas can be offset in two ways: by opting for global partnerships, getting equity funding for technology and providing incentives for pro-poor technology and for attracting Indian talent employed abroad which could occasion reverse brain- drain.

        To talk like this may seem unreal in the prevalent Indian ethos where plutocrats start institutions of higher education as an eminently commercial proposition with no concern for academic excellence.

        The atmosphere is vitiated by infection of campuses by politics. In some major institutions, elections to the post of president, vice-president and general secretary of the College Union involve all the unpleasant tactics of a political campaign in which political parties operate as remote controllers.

        No wonder voters are offered free ticket to a movie and also liquor. And the link with the political party culminates in the victors in student elections becoming legislators. Even during the days of the freedom struggle, despite exhortations of leaders asking students to keep off politics, the latter participated in the struggle and went to prison.

        Student leaders becoming legislators or Ministers ultimately was not an uncommon phenomenon but the difference now is that the quality of these counterparts leaves much to be desired, to put it mildly. Lucknow University hit the headlines for goondaism on the campus which was given the blind eye, if not encouraged by the rulers, leaving the Vice-Chancellor fighting against rowdyism single-handedly.

        Turnouts from colleges can be only as much of a bane or blessing as the institution from which they hail. And in emulation of political protests, student protest displays a penchant for violence causing arson and damage to public property. In this sense, many seats of learning have lost the purpose for which they had been set up.

        At the Science Congress, suggestions were made on what was labelled as academic retrieval. How far politicians having a controlling interest in this area would act as they should and how far students could be made to realise that learning for learning's own sake should be their only obsession are part of the imponderables about which, at present sights, none has the answer. A beginning here could be to restore basic science to its status as the foundation for its area of knowledge and research. Since its demand on the student's mind would be obsessional in practice, he or she would not be distracted by anything.