The controversial assessment of the IITs by Minister Jairam Ramesh apart, we need to improve the infrastructure in our premier institutions to enable us to utilise talent here.
It is the lack of high standards which makes our best students leave India. There is no point in crying hoarse over brain drain.
Sankar Mani Iyer,
Mumbai
Lamenting that the IITs have not reached the desired heights of excellence is a lopsided argument, with the wrong parties being held accountable. We must compare the financing of our premier institutes with the freedom enjoyed by world class universities. Our institutes get sufficient funds. Foreign universities get surplus funding. The difference between the West and India is that the money there is used without constraints to master technology, whereas we end up paying more to buy such technology from outside. Our IITs are ready to usher us into a new era of growth and development, but it is we who are preventing them from doing so.
Madhav S. Kumar,
Thiruvananthapuram
This refers to the report “Sibal reposes trust in IITs and IIMs” (May 27). The quality of research in India is not on a par with the rest of the world. Our educational structure and methods of instruction are to blame. The fallout is the inability to generate original, innovative thought.
G.K. Anil Vishnu,
Kozhikode
Mr. Ramesh has put the cart before the horse. While accepting the exhaustive and comprehensive record of the IITs in the field of research, he has denied its faculty credit.
C. Koshy John,
Pune
