Chairman of Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister C. N. R. Rao on Thursday cautioned India’s high economic growth could not be sustained over a long term unless it gave importance to education and science.
Economic advisers to the Prime Minister keep harping on the country reaching a GDP growth of ten per cent in the next two-three years, and that if the nation continued the same performance over a decade, poverty would be wiped out, he said.
“(But) Economic progress will not last long if you don’t give prominence to education, science and other fields,” said Dr. Rao, who has won a number of national and international awards.
“In future, if we don’t give importance to education and science, we will not be in any position”, he cautioned, noting that some Western countries lost momentum after quick growth.
“While it might be possible to remove poverty with high economic growth, what about securing future for lakhs of young children in rural areas who are keen to study and come up in life?” Dr. Rao said inaugurating the Karnataka State Science and Technology Conference 2010 here.
In 20 years, the face of India would change when there will be a population of 1.5 billion, of which 30 to 40 per cent would be young ones who need thousands of universities and colleges for their education, he said.
