Union Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal finds a novel metaphor for the “India of tomorrow” in the money-spinning, though recently beleaguered, Indian Premier League (IPL), he has said.
“The IPL, barring the current controversy, is a metaphor for the India of tomorrow. Why do global cricketers come to India? The crowds are here, the recognition is here and the money is here,” said Mr. Sibal in his address at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) where he was conferred an honorary fellowship on Saturday.
“India will soon have the world's largest working population. And our production levels and rates of saving will be the highest in the world. That future of India has to be realised and we have to accept this challenge.” Science and economics are integrally interconnected, said Mr. Sibal, adding that without investment in science “India will neither be able to achieve a double-digit growth nor help realise the aspirations of its youth.”
There has been a paradigm shift in the notion of wealth, he said. “The wealth of multinationals in the 1980s lay in the ownership of physical assets. Now, it is based on the ownership of non-tangible assets, or assets that relate to the mind.” Investing in non-tangible wealth, principally by creating centres of excellence, was bound to make India a leader in global science research in the years to come, he said.
The country must invest in universities, institutes of higher education and in basic science if it seeks to move ahead. The Minister inaugurated a hostel at JNCASR.
A new science funding agency, the National Science and Engineering Research Board, would be formed this month, C.N.R. Rao, honorary president of JNCASR and chairman of the Prime Minister's Science Advisory Council, told reporters on the sidelines of the event.
