WHY Indian Institutes of Technologies (IITs) ARE NOT WORLD CLASS INSTITUTIONS

(prHWY.com) June 14, 2011 - Haridwar, India -- A recent statement that the Indian Institutes of technology (IITs) are not world class Institutions by an Hon'ble Indian Minister had lost sight of any notice because no data support or any logic could be provided for the said statement. But there are enough reasons to support and provide logic to the stated remarks of the said Hon'ble Minister.

It is well on records that the IIT Roorkee's once famous Civil Engineering Department had about a dozen full fledged professors who could never earn a Ph.D.degree or publish any significant research papers despite their best efforts and fullest administrative backing which fact was well known to the Ministry of Education (now MHRD, the Ministry of Human Resource Development) who never viewed this truth with any kindness. On top of this, the academic administration of this IIT (the oldest former technical Higher Learning University of India/Asia), backed also by such non-PhD virus professors, sabotaged (including plagiarizing) the research work of the internationally highly renowned professor colleague through all kinds of possible illegal actions manifested through as many as 20 to 30 writ petitions filed to nullify the illegal actions repeatedly taken without any regard of natural justice. These are well recorded facts also known to the MHRD. This is the story of almost all IITs to a lesser or greater extent.

There are exceptions of course when, for example, IIT Kanpur was started with the support of American faculty, but if an institutional index (integrated effect of the various Institutional components including the credentials of the faculty) or a teacher/faculty index (integrated effect of the research potential, teaching ability, qualifications, etc of every faculty member) for all IITs are worked out and compared with world class Institutions, then the truth will come out. This is because merit is totally disregarded in the Indian system as manifested by the fact that India is branded as a developing third world country despite the fact that it has the highest manpower of highly qualified hard working genius persons in almost all disciplines in the entire world. Thus, in a merit oriented country, their best available persons are appointed for each and every available position while the respective Indian counterparts appointed for similar positions are of much lower calibre (measured through the said index) although much more qualified persons are always available in abundance which aspect is well manifested by the fact that India gets defeated in cricket, diplomacy, neighbourly relations, etc by countries which are much smaller in size, resources, literacy, etc such as ShriLanka, Pakistan, etc. Numerous examples will show that most merited ones in India find their habitat only in the dust-bins.

If India can rise above caste, region, and relative considerations and sincerely rely on merit then alone the IITs would become world class Institutions. To eliminate the Indian political ills like the instability (not allowing a concentrated and free rule) of the Prime Minister and State Chief Ministers, and the evils of money/muscle powers, regionalism, cxasteism, etc, it will only be appropriate to adopt the system wherein the Prime Minister and the Chief Ministers will be elected by the entire relevant electorate and a concept of weighted votes wherein the value of each vote of a person would depend on the person's credentials as is done while fixing the salaries of the various persons based on their relevant credentials.

The author's research paper entitled "A NEW METHOD OF EVALUATING TECHNOLOGICAL RESEARCH TEACHERS' published in the International Journal for Development Technology, England, Vol.5, 1987 pp.27-38, contents of which were comprehensively highlighted by the Press Trust of India news flash, can be of great help to compare the various IITs, their faculty, and their nearness to the world class.

There can be no two opinions about the fact that the IITs do attract the best of students who perform extremely well due to their own ingenuity despite the kind and quality of their teachers. This fact is well manifested by a bulk data of performance by the IIT pass-outs.An Institution's three main pillars, viz. the faculty, the students and the reputation are interdependent. This is proved by the fact that now the best of students do not opt for Roorkee IIT.

Hon'ble Shri Jairam Ramesh had given such an honest fact based bold statement about the IITs but unfortunately contradictory statements been given without any base or verification or concrete examples or data. It is hoped that the MHRD shall, in the nation's interest, seriously and sincerely look into all the above stated vital aspects.

Devendra Swaroop Bhargava - About the Author:
Prof. (Er.) Dr. Devendra S. Bhargava, BE (Civil), PGD (Public Health Engg), ME (PH Engg), PhD (Environmental Engg), D.Sc (Env Sc) had been teaching after post-graduation in 1960 at several Insttutions including BITS Pilani, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, Asian Institute of Technology Bagkok etc. and retired as Professor (Environmental) from Roorkee University (now an IIT) in India (now residing in Bhargava Lane, Devpura, Haridwar-249401 with a mobile No.+91-9412074331). He had authored 460 researh papers and received 32 academic awards including the UGC's most prestigious swami Pranavananda award as well as the Institution of Engineers India's National Design award in Environmental Engg. He had been researching Ganga river's various aspects for the last 35 years. He is included in the prestigious Marquis Who's Who in the world and is part of interdisciplinary panel and jury member for the World Cultural Council awarding the Albert Einstein award in science.

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