Revamp ‘white elephant’ CSIR, universities: Kasturirangan

By Prashant K. Nanda, IANS

New Delhi : The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Indian universities have become “white elephants” and need to be revamped to achieve successes in science, says eminent space scientist K. Kasturirangan.


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Many of the laboratories in CSIR, the country’s biggest scientific body, need a complete overhaul and their mission, organisational set-up and infrastructure need to change for the better, Kasturirangan said in an interview.

“Perhaps the research and development (R&D) laboratories of CSIR were set up on a different mandate. They must have been created to make their presence felt, but things have changed in a competitive world,” said the scientist, a former chief of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Kasturirangan told IANS that India should move from just patenting to developing real products, which can be used by common people.

“These laboratories should develop prototypes, models and later develop them into finished products in collaboration with industry.

“There is no point being white elephants. Be they universities, R&D labs or scientific organisations with strategic significance, they should be goal oriented,” he said.

Kasturirangan, under whose leadership India operationalised the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), said universities also should get a new look because they lacked infrastructure as well as good teachers.

“We have over 350 universities but they lack physical infrastructure, laboratory and quality teachers. Universities need to be revamped and given autonomy for the betterment of science, education and the country,” he said.

“Currently these universities have no power to select their own vice chancellors (VCs) and faculties. Bureaucratic interference too is hindering the bottleneck.

“The government should give them autonomy to select their own VCs, directors or even teaching staff.”

Kasturirangan was responsible for directing the Indian space programme for over nine years as head of the ISRO and the Space Commission and as secretary in the government’s Department of Space.

He also led the first successful flight-testing of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). He relinquished office in August 2003 and is currently a Rajya Sabha member.

The scientist, however, asserted that India did not lack talent in the field of science.

“India is a vast country and there is no dearth of talent. We have manpower to employ at any level – school, college, university and research laboratories,” he said.

But he added: “There is no point filling the vacancies by people who are not competent. There should be a proper talent hunt and you will find enough of them.

“We should draw talent from across the globe. It’s a borderless universe. If America can draw talent from us why can’t we draw talent from them? There should not be any compromise on quality,” he said.

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