A small news item in today's newspaper is worth consideration. One Ms. Himami Anand of Bangalore, a Pre-university student, who secured 4th. rank in CET(Medical), 6th. rank in AIEEE and 477th. rank for IIT has decided to join B.Sc. at I.I.Sc. Good luck to her. Not many would have taken such a decision these days.
If C.V.Raman's life epitomizes anything, it is the difficulty of pursuing pure science in a country that is poor(intellectually). J.C.Bose lost himself first in teaching and then in culture, while Meghnad Saha drifted to social uplift and politics. Homi Bhabha was more successful, but in institution building rather than in pure science itself.
It is true that nowadays money for scientific research is more easy to come by. But money alone does not produce good science. India has not got woken up to the fact that unless there is a proper environment, organised support and nourishment, occurance of excellence on the Indian scene would continue to be infrequent.
Public attitude to excellence also must change. Rxcellence(at least in science) is not a spectacle to be paraded and treated with civic receptions, Republic day honours and the like. Rather, it must be nursed, given necessary support and left alone to grow. Also, there must be a certain amount of boldness in keeping out the charlatans and the mediocre.
No comments:
Post a Comment