Who wants the science ministry???
Jacob Koshy -
Monday, May 18, 2009 4:33 PM
Like the average hack, i'm curious who's going to take what portfolio in this post-election "yes-we-can" Delhi.. Specifically, what's going to happen in science and technology. Unlike the powerful Home ministry and the remunerative telecom industry, science and technology isn't among the to-die-for posts.
That's because the ministry of science and technology is essentially a funding organisation, and given that hard core research and development rarely happens out of Indian companies, the minister rarely has to take path-breaking high-impact, executive decisions. Couple of months ago, a reliable Mr Someone in political circles, told me off record that the previous science minister, Kapil Sibal, was eyeing a more 'powerful' ministry. " Atleast something on the lines of education or environment," Mr Someone told me. I haven't been able to confirm it with the minister, though.
Incidentally, environment is suddenly very sexy, thanks to climate change. In the last few years, three ministers of the Dravida Munettra Kazhagam have ambled through it and the last few months, it was under the Prime Minister. That's about how much in demand it was!! But thanks to climate change morphing into a geo-political issue from a geeky, niche environmentalist rant, and an upcoming conclave in Copenhagen, the environment minister now becomes a prominent face on international negotiation tables.
But technocrats who've been with prominent institutions such as the CSIR and DST in Delhi say that changing governments rarely impact S&T in the country. S&T's main problems in India are human resources related (smart guys choosing careers in IT instead of basic research, smart science grads pursuing their Phds in the US and never coming back) and thus a matter of inspiring students over several years. Not as quick as promising 60,000 crores to farmers!