While inaugurating 99th Indian Science Congress in Bhubaneswar on 4th January, 2012 Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said, "India is fast losing out in science to other Asian giants like China." It caught my attention. Why not I take this as Armchair Research Project myself and find out what ails the Indian Science.

You are dished out the dry statistics about percentage of GDP spent on research; number of well-equipped labs we have, how many researchers are there per million, number of doctorates we produce annually, and volumes of scientific papers generated, the rate of citation by the peers etc.etc. And we are satisfied. But from the ivory tower sitting cozy I find some important imponderables missing. They are usually considered as inconsequential and hence always remain left out. My ivory tower vision thinks otherwise: they are vital.

I traced the missing link to this story told by a professor from Technical Teachers Training Institute, Chandigarh. It was about difference between Indian and American education system. You can replace America by any other advanced country. If a  problem is given to an American and Indian student simultaneously, the Indian will immediately go through it and say ,’sorry, it was not covered in our syllabus’ and the American will try to figure out the problem and sincerely exert to find a solution, even though he may or may not be successful in the end. How many of us are endowed with this problem-solving aptitude. Does it ring true that this aspect is overlooked in our education system. Yet, we don’t have dearth of brilliant students scoring 99% and above for getting admission to higher institute of learning. Don’t we acclaim them as genius! But these geniuses lack curiosity – the spark to ignite the mind. Curiosity leads to think and think anew, think differently -- thinking out of the box. It needs courage to be deviant – first sign of creativity. You are required to create something new - a gadget, a devise, a theory, a process – anything that leads to the solution of the problem your curiosity was grappled with in the first place. Our routine straitjacket method of education strangulates creativity. It doesn’t foster originality of thought. A student is supposed to remain steady on the beaten track. The habit inculcated early in life proves difficult to break free.

I would apologize, if you are a different breed, otherwise, is it not that our motivation to acquire a doctorate is to enhance social esteem, improve the job prospect etc. How many of us tend to choose a topic for the love of it or because it is easy to get a doctorate? A good test will be: will s/he stay   on the course of research path if another offer is available fetching fatter salary packet – but not connected with his/her pet topic. It is common to find the lure of the lucre is much stronger than the ‘drudgery?’ of thrilling research. Naturally, development of science stand loser.

So, first and foremost is to ensure the quality of the vital input to the research lab – the researchers fired with imagination, endowed with ability, driven by passion, commitment, and determination. And, of course, having courage to face challenge of unraveling the unknown.

 This is the synopsis of first part of my research report. The second part hangs on a dilemma whether to publish or not.

Disclaimer: It is certified that the report is a handiwork of an idle brain. Taking any word of this report seriously will be at your own risk and cost.