'IT boom has hurt devp of basic sciences'

Bangalore, Aug 23: Reiterating the boom in Information Technology (IT) had badly affected research and development in basic sciences, noted scientist C N R Rao said the IT industry may be paying the staff well but had taken away their 'creative endeavour.'

Speaking on the sidelines of Bangalore Nano-2007 here last night, Dr Rao said IT had taken away the interest of the younger generation in scientific pursuits.

''It has become an issue of money alone. This trend will destroy the spirit of Bangalore and the country,'' he claimed.

''Yes. What I said about the IT boom earlier is true. Tell me why are we not getting enough bright talent in scientific institutions anymore? ''The work being done in IT sector in India is just routine. There is no creative endeavour. It has been taken away from the Indian youth by the IT industry.'' The reason behind the situation was after completing Standard XII, the students were heading towards IT.

''What needs to be understood is the society needs Science graduates too. We are not making enough strides in IT research but doing just routine things. This is the reason why we are producing only 25 to 30 Phds a year in the sector.In such a scenario, it would be difficult to encourage niche scientific areas like Nano Science.

''How to encourage development of nanotechnology in such a situation? This is a challenge for us. We have large brain power. We need to increase the number of engineers passing out from our institutions by picking up talent from 75 per cent of our population which is still unutilised.

''Once we have more Science graduates, it does not matter where they go. We will have our fraction,'' he said.

Dr Rao said Bangalore was originally a Science city and not the IT capital as was being perceived now. ''It is you people (media) who have made it an IT city.

''Long before IT came in, we have been known as a Science city.

We have the IISc, an institute where more than 1,400 students are pursuing Phds. We also have the Raman Research Institute,'' he said.

Bangalore was the ideal place to have the Nano Centre.Accordingly the Centre had given a grant of Rs 1,000 crore for the Nano Mission in the country.

''This is the biggest grant given for any mission,'' Dr Rao added.

UNI