Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Both basic and applied researches are important' that was published in Newsband

Both basic and applied researches are important

Of the eight winners of the top awards in mathematics given away at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Seoul on August 13, the focus in the Indian media has been on three of them, the two Fields Medalists, Indian-origin Manjul Bhargava and the Iranian Maryam Mirzakhani; and the Rolf Nevanlinna Prize winner, Subhash Khot, also of Indian origin.

The Indian-origin laureates instill a sense of pride although they have little to do with the Indian educational system. India needs to have good mathematics teachers who are able to spot bright students. Also there should be conducive educational environment for talented youngsters to pursue their interests and these youngsters should be given the necessary freedom to explore beyond the printed curriculum.

The Indian S&T Ministry has established a proven scheme to nurture school students with exceptional talent and also programmes for women scientists to pursue research careers. But without a change in the societal attitude towards research in the basic sciences, mathematics in particular, nothing significant will come about.

Just like fine arts, literature, and religious studies, basic research does not pay the individual or the nation. Applied research, application, and technology transfer to manufacture are the need for a developing nation and its starving millions.

The problem lies in the mindset of the society, specially parents. They pressurize children to pursue professional courses like engineering, medical, CA etc, instead of formal courses because former are more job oriented than latter. We cannot change this mindset until we strengthen the economic condition of people. India is a country where most of the people are poor or middle class. That is the reason why parents want their children to pursue the courses which are job oriented.

We should work on promoting expertise in our young crowd and bolster them to grow beyond books. Today much of the public funding for science research goes to a few elite institutions leaving out thousands of colleges and private research organizations starving for even small grants. Let it not be forgotten that great minds like Ramanujam did not go to IITs or IIScs. Indian talents are often found like uncut diamonds in remote towns and villages. It is important that the government stops funding the already rich elite institutions and focus on improving support to the less fortunate educational organizations. Elite institutions can generate their own funds through industry collaboration. This is what top US institutions like Stanford and MIT do.

Our society measures every thing and every one in term terms of money. Researchers do not earn much money hence very few take up to research. Here, society has to develop a positive attitude towards research and researchers.

Progress is technology-centric and technology is not an exact science. It is a combination of science, analysis, personality, character, and imagination. There should be a balanced approach between basic and applied research. If basic research alone is pursued it will amount to stopping a construction after the basement. However, emphasising applied research alone will amount to building a structure without foundation.

Government should create world class research facilities in India for research in science and arts with stipend, so that student from middle class can enroll themselves in research fields and more noble laureates will emerge from India. Then only Modi’s dream for technology-developed India will be possible.