Former Union Minister Arun Shourie on Friday said excellence is under assault due to vote bank politics.
“Standards are dismissed as a conspiracy of the rich and well-connected to keep the poor down,” he said, participating in the Indian Institute of Science’s Alumni Global Conference. He said there is a dire need for at least the top 20 institutions of excellence in India to have a close interaction among themselves to learn from one another.
Referring to the trend of higher learning institutions showing eagerness to sign MoUs for research collaborations with foreign institutions while ignoring reputed ones within the country, he suggested that such collaborations should be established with other institutions within the country.
Mr. Shourie said it was a matter of concern that the country did not have biographies of famous scientists like Satish Dhawan despite them being household names. He called for bringing out biographies of such personalities.
When asked about the performance of the NDA government, he said: “it is a missed opportunity”.
He said: “In China, the president of the country would be appointed after closely watching him for nearly 45 years. But the basic problem of India is that we are relying on lottery….”
