Volume 6.3 – IITs for India

The IITs are academic paradises. J E Steephen raises questions on our responsibility to the 100 crore people whose tax money maintains them. Inputs from Prof. Rohit Manchanda.

Introduction

The IITs were established 50 years ago to groom engineers capable of aiding the country in the process of modernization. With a large percentage of IIT engineers going for careers abroad, IITs have instead, largely become high-quality brain power suppliers to developed countries. Their high quality education system, thanks partly to the huge funding, is bringing these institutes international reputation, and their students money, fame and great opportunities, but the net contribution to our country is a very small fraction of what was intended to be. This article examines the possible modifications to the existing IIT system so that they can contribute more to the nation’s

Development.

 Focus shift: From Reputation to Development

 In order to get back to the track which leads to their original goal, the primary focus of IIT has to shift from students, research and reputation to the development of our country. We need to envision how a civilized and developed India will be like and ensure that all the activities and research work are directed towards that goal.

How to achieve the goal?

A living being, human being in particular, generally performs a work either due to pressure or due to an attractive reward. A good example is the circus, where animals are trained to perform either using fear (pressure) or food (reward). Obviously the second option is better, since it is a win-win situation for all, but may not be applicable in all cases. We need to develop a system which uses the right combination of both of these to channelise the efforts of IIT engineers for the benefit of our country and also benefit them simultaneously. Considering the reputation of IITs in the country today, they can easily afford to try out some unconventional reforms in some of the campuses. Given below are a few pointers in that direction.

 Professional management and Self Reliance

 For maximum output from IITs, they should be managed professionally like a company where the benefits enjoyed by people running the ‘company’ are proportional to the contributions made by the institute towards the country’s development. With the annual government funding per IIT in the league of a hundred crores or so, and a lot  of money flowing in from alumni and other sources, IITs are wealthy. But does their output, in relation to the country’s development, justify such a huge expenditure from the government’s side? With its extremely talented and expert technical pool of students and faculty, IITs can easily be self reliant, that is, if they are managed in such a way. Self Reliance, in addition to saving government money, encourages the shift from science related research to technology centred research and development. 

One step, but a major one, towards this will be to give more importance to develop and transfer technologies and product know-how to commercial firms and earn income out of this. IIT education and facilities are currently highly subsidized which is not justified considering the enormous career boost IITs provide to its’ students. Subsidies can be replaced with educational loans and sponsorship by Indian companies.

 Many activities within the campus, like construction work, make use of engineers from outside the campus when we have experts within. The construction of hostels 12 and 13 is an example. The services of the resident engineers and students should be made use of with proper compensation, which can bring down the cost, as well as add to practical experience. 

Moving from publications to products The number of publications contributes in deciding the promotions of IIT faculty. Most of the problems, solved in IITs are the ones faced by developed countries. The research papers of IIT faculty, thus help them in developing products which end up being sold to India at a later date at exorbitant prices. We need to modify the existing system so that the focus of research and development shifts from the current path to that which is most beneficial for our country. Promotion and other benefits enjoyed by IIT faculty and staff should be based on product developments and successful project implementations within the country which have proved to have added to its development. This will also mean, there needs to be close co-operation between the institutes and commercial organizations that procure the technology and actually do the final implementation under the guidance of the concerned faculty member(s). 

Bridging gaps in the technology flow

 A few years back, an engineer from Tamil Nadu developed a device which could drastically reduce vehicular pollution. He hoped that applying his patent pending technology, India could lead the world in controlling vehicular pollution. But he failed to get recognition for his product in India and was finally forced to sell his complete technology to automobile giants in China and Philippines. We all have heard of such stories. 

From idea to implementation is a long way. And the whole process requires creativity, knowledge, facilities, marketing and management skills and so on. Since all these skills rarely occur in a single person, many great ideas die a natural death and many entrepreneurial skills go waste. What is needed is a system which connects the various blocks in the development process from idea to implementation seamlessly. A dedicated cell in IIT with a patient, open and generous outlook can be formed which caters to this and thus ensure that winning ideas arising from different parts of the country reach their final destination successfully, effectively adding to the country’s development.

 IIT as a Test bed for applied technology

 IIT being a self contained township can act as the first test bed for many indigenously developed technological implementations for testing and evaluation. Once successful and operational within the campus, they can be transferred to the rest of the country and even exported to other countries.

 From IIT to a model city to the rest of India 

Though through the above mentioned reforms, IITs can increasingly contribute to the country’s development, the major chunk can only come from the graduated IIT engineers willing to work in India. In most cases, money, fame and concern for the  family drive humans forward much more than patriotism. So we cannot count on patriotism if we want a good contribution of IIT engineers for our country. This would mean the attractions India can offer should outdo the lure of developed countries.

 We cannot transform the whole of India in  a short span of time. But atleast we can develop one well managed model city which can provide living standards matching that of any developed country. If Singapore could transform itself to a developed nation in a span of 30 years, a large country like India with its resources can easily convert atleast one city. Successfully developing such a city will require non conventional outlookand development methodologies. This may sound like a dream, but if we were able to create IITs with world class facilities, which stand out among other universities and are not affected by corruption, reservation and strikes, we can very well build a city too which can similarly stand out from the rest of the country. In short, this city will have what is needed to compete with other developed countries, and will be the hub of development in India. In addition, it can act as the second test bed for IIT’s technological innovations. That is, for example, if IIT develops a fully automated tram system, it will be first tested within IIT itself, followed by implementation in this model city and subsequent implementation in the rest of the country.

Conclusion

This article is intended to just remind ourselves what was the purpose behind founding IITs and how far away these institutes of technical excellence have moved from their original goal of serving the country. The document also provides certain suggestions as to how to get these institutes back to their original goal from their current position. I admit that some of the points I have mentioned may be incorrect, or impractical since I myself am not an expert in these. But my intention is just to put forward a few suggestions which may open up certain lines of thinking and planning to use IITs for the maximum benefit of our country.

(John Eric Steephen is a M.Tech II year, Biomedical Engg. who can be contacted at johneric@iitb.ac.in)