Let us nurture a generation that will not be reluctant to ask disturbing questions. Such a generation will lead the country to a scientific revolution that we have been long waiting for.

Economic prosperity alone won’t make a super power

India has achieved exceptional economic growth in the last decade and is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. This has given rise to ambitions to become one of the powerful nations in the world. The size of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will not ensure that India will be recognized as a super power. To be recognized as a super power requires strong background of scientific research and innovation that sets apart the super powers from the mediocre ones.

No scientific inventions and discoveries

India has given birth to world renowned scientists such as Aryabhatta and C V Raman, who have made path breaking discoveries. Being such a country with a rich scientific legacy to talk about, what has happened to the present day scientific community of India? Why is it that India fails to produce outstanding scientists today? Why is that no significant scientific discoveries and inventions are made by Indian scientists in the present day? As long as there are no indigenous scientific developments, we will have to rely on borrowed technologies.

We cannot point at the education system alone

All discussions on scientific research inevitably points fingers towards the deficiencies of the present educational systems in India. The current education system is considered as the root cause of poor performance of India in scientific research. But this forms only a part of the story.

In a country, there are many factors that influence the quality of scientific research. Those factors include belief systems, values, and attitudes. The eastern attitude differs significantly from that of the west. In the case of Eastern region, people are generally collectivists, i.e. they give highest priority for collective good rather than individual happiness and achievements. Here people are not concerned with what they can do for the country; they are concerned with what the country can do for them. They look up to the country for guidance, and direction. The individuals lack desire to excel and achieve something distinct by their own.

How the west differs from the east?

In the west the case is entirely different from that of the east. The individuals put in effort to realize their potential through their own hard work assisted and facilitated by enabling laws and institutions. For the people in the west, self reliance is the main objective of life. A free and independent life needs an enquiring and unbiased mindset that takes nothing for granted and keep on challenging conventional wisdom. Children are motivated to push the boundaries of knowledge by introspection and open minded enquiry.  Only a doubtful and differing mind that often thinks out of the box to explore new areas of knowledge.

Collectivism encourages conformance and submission to authority whether it is parents, teachers or the government. People do not question established values and customs.

Passive behavior of the East

We pass on our passive behavior and uncritical attitudes to the generations. This is the main reason why the education system in India continues to encourage routine learning and accepting what is taught in the class and explained in textbooks without questioning. With such a system in place we cannot expect out children to develop a questioning and curious attitude; while the same system discourages disruptive thoughts.

India and China were considered as the most developed countries in the world a century back. But the foreign invasion and the rule that followed drained the resources of the both the countries. In addition to this they destroyed the will power and scientific traditions of both the countries. As a result of colonial exploitation both the countries suffered serious setback and the reconstruction process was mainly concentrated on feeding the population and building basic infrastructure.

But what we forgot was that the desire to excel that our forefathers had has not been lost as a result of colonial exploitation. Our long tradition of free will and individual excellence can be regained through serious effort.

Fear of failure

Another problem with the Indian culture is that it considers failure as a terrible mistake. This has created a fear in the minds of the people and has been a tradition for long. Excellence comes only through a trial and error method, which always involves failure. So this attitude has made us to stay away from taking risk as far as possible. This is the reason why our children have become risk averse while choosing their career.

It is long process and one needs to be patient

The process of scientific research involves a long drawn war on received wisdom, which needs a number of battles before it can be won. The world of science was not created in a single day. Many a times these battles can end in failure. A contradiction to the eastern approach is that in the west they consider failure as a stepping stone of success.

The mindset needs to be changed

Before introducing educational reforms in the country, the mindset of the parents, teachers, and policy makers must be altered.  The agreement to the conventional thoughts and knowledge should be changed so that an enquiring mind set can be developed among individuals.

Look for innovation and excellence

To meet the challenges of the present day, we need innovations that can revolutionize the lives of the common man. This requires fearless efforts to take risk, which will result in outcomes that are worth the risk. The younger generation should come forward to take the risk that will drive the country to economic prosperity and a play ground of indigenously developed scientific innovations. This will ensure that the country is a super power in all sense.

We have to come out of our passive attitude and be a part of the effort to build a better nation for tomorrow.