Indian institutes lack proper environment, says Mukherjee

Former President Pranab Mukherjee Saturday lamented that the country does not have proper environment in its institutional system and called for development of both infrastructure and quality of education.

Mukherjee mentioned three graduates, who had been products of Indian universities but got the coveted prize while working abroad.

"After 1930 no Indian working in basic research in Indian University got Noble prize. Sir C V Raman was the first and the last (Nobel winner).

"Side by side, I mention that three Indian graduates- -- Amartya Sen from Calcutta University, Hargobind Khurana from Punjab University and Subramaniam Chandrasekhar got Noble prize," he said adding that they got the prize while working not in Indian universities.

Therefore, it points out the basic lacuna that the country does not have proper environment in our institutional system, he said.

"What is needed that we should not only have physical expansion of infrastructure facility in higher education but also quality of education should start from the school," Mukherjee said here.

Addressing the 10th Foundation Day celebration of the Indian Institute of Management, Ranchi, Mukherjee referred to how Rabindranath Tagore used to take classes at the primary level.

Stressing on the importance of research, innovation and total development of the faculty of the students, he said many a prominent personality, including Swami Vivekananda and Sarvapali Radhakrishnan, repeatedly pointed out that education is not just collection of information.

"That type of information is of no use. It must assimilate and along with assimilation it must build up the inherent strength of the learner, the student," the former President said.

Touching upon the GDP growth, Mukherjee said how India had less than one per cent of growth in the first half of the last century and reaching 7.1 per cent in 2015-16.

He said important economies by and large agree that 8 per cent to 10 per cent GDP growth for one-and-a-half decades at least is needed to address the basic problem of hunger, poverty and disease.

"Therefore, it is utmost important that we must have not only educational institutions but also quality education," Mukherjee added.

Saying how former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao initiated and encouraged liberalization in 1991-92 and another former Prime Minister and the then Finance Minister Manmohan Singh implemented it, Mukherjee said India has to continue its march forward and has to sustain the growth rate.