Ancient India was the hub of learning and innovation. India had scholars like Aryabhatta, Charak, Chanakya, and many others. But, with time, that zeal for innovation has faded away due to the constant lack of encouragement from the whole system. Ancient India gave zero to the world, invented chess, developed ayurveda but today not many discoveries take place in India.
This lack of innovation is the result of the systemic failure of our society. From school to college to workplace, we are taught and tamed into following the set rules. We are taught to be followers and any attempt to think freely is viewed as dissent. Our society has closed itself to any criticism or corrective evolution. This was quite evident when we saw the introduction of Genetically Modified seeds in India. Every technology has its pros and cons, and we need to encourage the spirit of research and innovation to increase the pros and limit the cons but an outright opposition to anything new will be a hindrance to progress.
India has also had great researchers and innovators in the field of science and technology. The likes of C.V. Raman, Satyendra Nath Bose, APJ Abdul Kalam et al. This, however, has given way to a society which is vehemently opposing nuclear energy plants. There is lack of a mechanism which educates people on the benefits of research and innovation. If, we want to be a superpower there needs to be an emphasis on research. The United States has been at the helm of the world because it has been at the helm of innovation. It attracts and promotes world's best brains.
Ancient India had great places of learning like Taxila and Nalanda but among the current Indian universities none ranks in the top 100. This must be a cause of great concern. Our school education is a system of rote, governed by exams and marks. Knowledge accumulation is the least concern of the student and sadly, the parents as well. Our education system is a mad race for marks, percentages and ranks. Even professional education is marred by the same malaise. We have thousands of factory produced engineers and doctors coming out from this system every year. Each one with little practical knowledge and no zeal for innovation.
To say that we lack innovation is not to mean that we lack talent. India is still home to the largest pool of talented manpower, well educated in English. This is why we have a strong service industry catering to the world. Lots of these talented people are also starting their own ventures and are innovating, but such research and innovation is mostly taking place on foreign land by people of Indian-Origin and not Indians. Suneet Singh Tuli, the CEO of Datawind, and Anant Agarwal, an MIT professor and president of edX, were among the top 15 innovators in education. Both of these two gentlemen are of Indian-Origin.
As a developing nation, we have huge potential in research and innovation. The government needs to provide encouragement to research, not just at higher levels but also at school levels. The students need to be encouraged to ask questions and learn by doing and not just by rote. The system should allow children to explore. We need to realise that it will take a complete generation to usher in this change from a closed society to being a research oriented one. This is going to be the biggest impediment in India becoming a superpower.
"I believe in innovation and that the way you get innovation is you fund research and you learn the basic facts." ~ Bill Gates
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