Build indigenous capability, not just new institutes
Business Standard / New Delhi Oct 20, 2009, 00:34 IST
The Union ministry for environment and forests and the Indian Space Research Organisation have come up with a typically Indian response to the debate on climate change. Build a new institute! New research does not always need a new institution. There is a good case for investing in indigenous research on issues relating to climate change and global warming. But capacity building should not be confused with building capacity. Instead of pouring money into a new campus, new buildings and related infrastructure, the ministry would do well to fund existing institutions and create the critical mass of research manpower necessary to take existing knowledge forward. There is no doubt that some of the research conducted in western institutions is driven by western development agendas. There is no denying that we must have domestic research capability so that we can examine issues pertaining to climate change from our own developmental perspective. This can be done by strengthening existing research institutions, including university departments, around the country. The Isro must be encouraged to share the data that it has with researchers in these institutions. Indeed, the Isro can do more to share the data it has with researchers in a wide array of disciplines. Funding a new institution will only mean taking existing talent away from existing institutions to a new campus, with a new bureaucracy and new buildings. This is such a wasteful thing to do and no one can guarantee that the cause of good science is served any better.
The larger point that has been made by the minister for environment and forests, that correct facts must shape policy in this field, is well taken. But in such scientific disciplines, facts have no nationality. All facts and findings must stand up to professional scrutiny. Moreover, India must carry conviction with the international community when it challenges existing views. This is best done when the relevant research challenging such views is conducted in institutions of excellence by researchers of repute. Building that capability is what a government should invest its time and energy in. India has several research institutions like the Indian Institute of Science, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, the National Geophysical Research Institute and the like that can be better funded, and can work more closely with Isro, to conduct the required research. These institutions should be open to global talent, hire the best brains and do the best research possible. It is on the foundations of professional credibility that political opinion and public policy can be shaped. New institutions can easily become some busybody’s Taj Mahal if they are not populated by living and live talent.
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