**** The ability and wherewithal to SEARCH effectively WILL indeed help
Assam much more than doing 'research'. Because most of the wheels that Assam
needs to turn its lot around have been already invented, refined and are being
used by a myriad of societies around the world. Far better use of it will be to
FIND those, re-engineer them if necessary to respond to Assam's unique needs.
Investing scarce public resources in 'research', the kind we have seen in so
many decades, will be akin to attempting to re-invent those wheels, with useless
paperwork as results.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2005 3:40
PM
Subject: Re: [Assam] An Open
question
Hi Ankur:
I am not going to attempt answering questions to my brother, but I am
appalled
to hear about the conditions you describe below:
>Guwahati University , which was once
adorned by eminent scholar Krishna Kanta Handique as Vice Chancellor ,
>is in total disarray today. It is reported that Cows freely roomed in the
classroom, sometimes Professors had to >pledge with peon to clean the
classroom. The Lakhimpur college of veterinary science is already derecognized
, >The prestigious and historically renowned ASSAM MEDICAL COLLEGE
which was number 7th in Asia & first >medical college in Assam; is now
facing a grave situation , de-recognition is looming large
*** Personally I don't care what a few individual shine, in Assam or
elsewhere. Good for the,m. But it means little for the general populationat
large.
Now the question is WHY and HOW Assam has arrived at the state of affairs
you ament and I empathize with you?
Do you have any thoughts on that, and how it could be turned around? What
it will take ?
Some of the
colleges (Including J. B. College) in Assam reported that there was low
enrollment in many of its courses recently. They attributed this to
unusually high number of Assamese students going outside for higher
education. This is in sharp contrast to West Bengal, where the trend is
reversed; students who used to go to Karnataka for Engineering are currently
studying in Bengal itself. The reason is simple, Ten years ago Bengal used
to have five engineering colleges, now they are having more than fifty ( 52
as my friend told me). Calcutta is hub of research now, there are
number of institutes doing world class research in nuclear physics /
statistics/computer science a! nd MIT has established the collaboration
based on this. Needless to mention that there is going to be number of
peripheral industries which is going to provide employment to thousands of
young men.
**** The question here is HOW such Engineering education is changing the
condition of the people? Do you consider it Engineering at all, for example?
Are you aware of what a large segment of graduates from the IITs opt for as
careers? If you did not know, it is Babudom--the Civil Services. Would
you want your scarce public resources to subsidize Engineering education in
elite institutions to turn out paper-pushers, clerks-from-hell?
Perhaps it is time to turn it around--that public resources pought not to
be expended in higher education, but for BASIC education, turning out NAtion
Builders, not paper-pushers.
Can you cite any significant Indian research , the outcome of which has
been able to contribute to the national good? Helping build a better
mousetrap, an affordable and reliable tool, a piece of machinery to respond to
local needs and circumstances?
>Since, you mention that SEARCH is
needed to alleviate the sufferings of Assamese people
**** The ability and wherewithal to SEARCH effectively WILL indeed help
Assam much more than doing 'research'. Because most of the wheels that Assam
needs to turn its lot around have been already invented, refined and are being
used by a myriad of societies around the world. Far better use of it will be
to FIND those, re-engineer them if necessary to respond to Assam's unique
needs. Investing scarce public resources in 'research', the kind we have seen
in so many decades, will be akin to attempting to re-invent those wheels, with
useless paperwork as results.
Do you think I am making a fallacious point?
Best,
c-da
At 10:42 AM -0800 11/17/05, Ankur Bora wrote:
Respected Mahant,
This is in response to your
observation
"We do not necessarily need catchy brand
names like MIT,IIT,IIM,IT,BPO-----
We do not need Research. What we urgently
need is SEARCH and apply to the lives of 25,000,000++"
Following is my observation
Guwahati
University , which was once adorned by eminent scholar Krishna Kanta
Handique as Vice Chancellor , is in total disarray today. It is
reported that Cows freely roomed in the classroom, sometimes Professors had
to pledge with peon to clean the classroom. The Lakhimpur college of
veterinary science is already derecognized , The prestigious and
historically renowned ASSAM MEDICAL COLLEGE which was number 7th in Asia
& first medical college in Assam; is now facing a grave situation ,
de-recognition is looming large
.http://assam.org/article.php?sid=230
Some of the
colleges (Including J. B. College) in Assam reported that there was low
enrollment in many of its courses recently. They attributed this to
unusually high number of Assamese students going outside for higher
education. This is in sharp contrast to West Bengal, where the trend is
reversed; students who used to go to Karnataka for Engineering are currently
studying in Bengal itself. The reason is simple, Ten years ago Bengal used
to have five engineering colleges, now they are having more than fifty ( 52
as my friend told me). Calcutta is hub of research now, there are
number of institutes doing world class research in nuclear physics /
statistics/computer science a! nd MIT has established the collaboration
based on this. Needless to mention that there is going to be number of
peripheral industries which is going to provide employment to thousands of
young men.
Since, you
mention that SEARCH is needed to alleviate the sufferings of Assamese
people, can you expect the present generation of Assam motivated for this
challenge? I would like to hear from you based on my observation
above.
Regards,
Ankur
Dallas , Texas
mc mahant
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
What Assam needs today is useful tools for rapidly catching
up.
We do not necessarily need catchy brand names like
MIT,IIT,IIM,IT,BPO-----
We do not need Research. What we urgently need is SEARCH and
apply to the lives of 25,000,000++
mm
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