Narayana Murthy's comments on Indian inventions: Here's the real reason why IITs, IISc failed

That was a real punch from an old man. NR Narayana Murthy, 68-year-old Emeritus Chairman of Infosys, made a few comments at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) convoction that should trigger some introspection not only among our politicians but even among our premier educational institutions. There has not been a single invention from India in the last 60 years that became a household name globally, nor any idea that led to “earth shaking” invention to “delight global citizens”, he said in his convocation address. He said almost all inventions such as cars, electric bulb, radio, television, computers, Internet, wifi, MRI, laser, robots and many other gadgets and technology happened, “thanks to the research by Western Universities”. “Our youngsters have not done much impactful research work despite being equal to their counterparts in intellect and energy in Western universities,” he has said. In order to drive his point, he drew a comparison of Indian Educational Institutions with Massachusets Institute of Technology by listing out 10 major inventions from the iconic US institution over the last 50 years, including global positioning system, bionic prostheses and microchip. [caption id=“attachment_2347368” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] NR Narayana Murthy[/caption]“Have the institutions (in particular IISc. and the Indian Institute of Technology) over the past 60-plus years contributed to making our society and the world a better place? Is there one invention from India that has become a household name in the globe? The reality is that there is no such contribution from India in the last 60 years,” Murthy has been quoted as saying in a report in The Hindu. “Folks, the reality is that there is no such contribution from India in the last 60 years. The only two ideas that have transformed the productivity of global corporations – The Global Delivery Model and the 24-hours workday – came from the company called Infosys.” And it is not only about the educational system. The problem, according to him, is that none of the prime ministers since Jawaharlal Nehru have paid any attention to the need for impactful research from the country. Before getting into the political cat fight over who was at fault - the Congress that ruled the country for most of the years after indpendence or the BJP that too got a chance to rule and also sit as the least-constructive opposition - let’s be clear about one thing - Murthy’s comments are also pointing at the system that we have built and maintained - a system that kills the future heroes, as Firstpost editor R Jagannathan says in this article . As he rightly argues the IIMs and IITs uphold a system of exclusion. “The true value of an IIT or IIM is not the intellectual capital they produce, but their filtering expertise – which keeps all but the superlisters out of these institutions. When the people entering the institution are the best among the best, they will shine no matter what the quality of faculty or the curriculum,” he says. Read in the context of Murthy’s comments, this argument gains a relevance as never before. Are these filtering systems keeping the best innovative minds out? How fool-proof are their filtering mechanisms? Can we be sure that they are really getting the crème de la crème? If indeed the answers to these questions are in affirmative, why have there not been any earth-shaking inventions from these institutions, as Murthy rightly pointed out? This leads us to another point raised in the above mentioned Firstpost article on how we have ended up being risk-avoiders and not risk-takers. While the Congress continues to play the populist game, the BJP now falls back on ancient India, where they see the proto-type of every modern discoveries and inventions - right from nuclear weapons to computer. It is significant that Murthy’s comments come at a time when the ruling NDA government is showing signs that they have learnt from the mistakes of their predecessors. The comments should insight the politicians and the common man to start introspection and debate on all the issues that hold us back creating things that will change the world.