India is a economic powerhouse in the software sector. But, the bias is completely skewed in favour of the services sector. We are hard pressed to create a genuine product which has worldwide recognition.
Does it have something to do with the Indian mentality that we are good at getting things done(I’m not talking abt the CWG, paradoxically), but, terrible in creating something new? We are good at marketing services which target segments. We follow standardized methods and become masters in those areas. But, where is the next product coming out?
My analysis is that, it has something to do with our educational system. Education is a way to economic accomplishment in modern Indian society. It is the new status symbol. That is why, an IITian can easily consider himself equal to the kids of Ambanis or Birlas for that matter.
But, the key issue is that , our greatest talent generally go into uni-disciplinary institutions. It is widely accepted that IITs and IIMs are at the pinnacle of education academia in the country. Oops, I should not forget AIIMS . But, a little known fact is that, the guys who top in the entrance exams for IITs invariably never top in their colleges. Some of our IIM graduates are busy writing novels , albeit great ones. This essentially underlines the fact, that, something is missing in our educational system.
The tragedy is that, the universities which are multi-disciplinary by definition don’t necessarily attract the greatest talent of this country. These universities are breeding grounds for political ideologies which reflect the feudal streak still prevalent in remote corners of the country. Take an example of the Union elections across India. You know what I mean.
So, the question still arises is that, what, is the answer? I believe we need institutions like harvard and Stanford. Our Jawaharlal nehru had the right idea when he said that, factories, research laboratories, irrigation dams and power stations as the “temples of modern India” . Today, in an environmentally conscious age I will stick to only research laboratories.
Recently, I saw a movie called the ‘The Social Network’. This was a fictionalized version of the story of how ‘FaceBook’ was created. Independent of the storyline and content in the movie , one interesting aspect stuck me. The kind of dynamism which was reflected in the movie for Harvard university was electrifying. You have street corners where violin is played by very talented artists. You have clubs where people socialize. You have an economics graduate becoming best friends with a software geek with no social skills. Will that be possible in an IIT today? Mark you, I have great respect for IITs and IITians. I was not good enough to get in in those days. But, when will the next google come from an IIT lab or for that matter the next facebook.
Indian guys are good at executing things. They know how to follow the trodden path. When will we charter a new horizon? Our educational institutions don’t teach us these things. Or mebbe, the environment is just not there. I refuse to believe that Indians in general are not good enough.
C’mon, the greatest invention of the 1990’s-2000 decade was hotmail. Who founded it? The great Sabeer Bhatia. He did not do it in BITs Pilani. He did that after dropping out of Harvard. Take this decade , if the movie ‘Social Network’ is to be believed, the Idea behind facebook was by ‘Divya narendra’. I hope this happens in India soon.
The above rant is posited on a small happening in Eastern India. I happen to have a vested interest since, my home town is close to that place. A Billionaire, albeit with a controversial reputation has pledged $1 Billion for a similar university. Since, then, Politics has engulfed the university. And recently a high court Judgment along with our ‘license raj’ oriented environment ministry has put substantial roadblocks. I only wish that people who want an innovative India would come behind this and support it as much as possible.
INDIA WILL NOT GET IT’S FACEBOOK UNLESS IT CREATES ITS OWN HARVARD
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