Research output in India disappointing: scientist

Bangalore, Aug 11 (UNI) Noted scientist C N R Rao today said researchers in India should work on original ideas even if the output proved to be small.

Delivering the foundation day lecture on 'Doing Science in India: Personal Reflections' at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics here, he regretted that most of the research work done in the country was repetitive and not much new work has been emerging.

''Choosing a research problem is very difficult. Anxiety for success should be imbibed by our scientists. Quality of research must be worthy of investment made on it. However, we have seen research projects with huge funding bringing out a disappointing output,'' he said.

Prof Rao said India could take a cue from Taiwan for innovation of newer products despite being a small country. ''We have seen China making good strides in scientific research and this is funded by Taiwan,'' he added.

He said the government had tripled the funding on education and research during the last few years, but unfortunately, the institutions were not finding enough students to take up research in new fields, he added.

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