Nabankur Gupta’s flaunt here
I do agree with him on number of issues like
If you look at the body of 180,000 IIT-ians across the world, they have created for themselves important positions across the world.
They are either into completely technological areas, in techno-commercial areas or in areas of business leadership. Not only in India, IIT-ians have excelled themselves across the world. Therefore, there is a talent pool, which is unbelievably large and very, very strong, transcending different segments of the industry and the society.
In industry, you find them in NGOs, water resource management, et cetera. This talent pool should be basically inspired to involve them in transforming India.
Absolutely no problem at all! But i differ from him when he says this
If you look at India, be it its nuclear programme, be it its space research centre or its defence research laboratories — most of these organisations across India in the technology side are manned by IIT-ians who are either leading it or are in very senior positions.
In scientific organisations (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, etc) or in the corporate world, you just cannot do without IIT-ians. In India alone, about 1,500 CEOs are from IITs.
His tone seems to suggest that IITians are the only ones who have made India proud. How many IITians stay back in India to become professors? How many join research in India? It has to do with opportunities and IITians are good at exploiting that. During my interaction with seniors I have learnt many things and the most important one being that I should learn to ‘fart’ about myself, basically able to sell myself and that’s one thing you should learn in your stay. IIT is a brand name these days. Everyone gets attracted by the name. We had a company called Lime group last which was paying $100 thousand USD just because the people who help make it to the top were IITians. No doubt that IITs have revolutionized the way world sees India.
JEE is a platform which helps student even from rural India come up to an international university. I come from a place, called Hazaribagh, where people would wonder why there is a double ‘I’ in the name of institute i study! ( IT these days is the buzz word) Some would wonder why I mispronounced ITI as IIT! (ITIs are more common). I have had no background when I decided to leave that place after 10th to pursue my +2 in a place known for producing IITians, Bokaro Steel City. People flock in myriad to places like Kota, and Delhi to get access to coaching institutes available in those places. Slowly JEE became synonymous with FIITJEE and Bansal classes. JEE was slowly losing its flavour because of its monotonity and these institutes milked this for maximum gain. They did manage to even put below average student to IITs. But IITs soon realised it and recently they have taken drastic measures to reduce the influence of these coaching institutes. I hope JEE remains the best way to extract the best brains in the country.
Anyway so the bottom line is the best brain in the country don’t always make in to the IITs. But that doesn’t mean they don’t make in big in their careers. Its just a matter of time and as the famous proverb goes Jo jeeta wahi sikandar. So to project IITs as something prerequisite for the development of India is not fair. I wrote a post on research in IITs.
People talk at length and many flaunt about the prospects of research in IIT. Outsiders often wonder the level of research and the kind of equipments available in an IIT, the premier institute of engineering in the country. I have talked to people and they often express their awe at the facilities available in the labs here. Well the truth of matter is IITs exist because of JEE and not because of the research. IIT is ranked 5th in the world when it comes to Btech but that rank touches 3 figure when it comes to post graduate education. The reasons, well there are many and the most prominent among them is lack of funds. I understand India is still a developing country and to be at par with the world class institutes you need much more than brain power. No doubt Indians have out-performed their counterparts in US universities but with foreign facilities, right?
So to say that you cannot do without IITians is not true to a very great extent. Its like having a princely attitude towards others.
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noemaun 11.08.06 at 11:39 pm
indians have the habit of boasting about themselves a lot instead of accepting the ground reality. iit is an example of how they blow things up.
I personally feel RPI undergraduate programs are far more systematic and the courses are better organised and they are taught quite a lot here too. It is not just about facilities. The courses are designed such that even a dull student really learns a lot at the end of the course. There is lot more dedication in the professors and they give assignments every week. it is just that the standard of students is very low.
If RPI which is ranked 24 has such a good UG progam, I would assume that places like MIT and berkely are tens of times better than IITs even at the UG level.
Ofcourse when you are selecting 2000 students from 1.5 lakh students and with india having a comparatively good school education, you expect the students to be of high caliber.
I Me My 11.09.06 at 6:03 am
I have to admit that IIT is probably the one Indian educational institute that is recognized here in the USA. In Princeton we have some extremely smart and successful IIT alumni who do their alma mater proud. However, that is not to say that there aren’t other institutes just as good. A place of learning is as good as its students make it, and humility and brilliance always make a dynamic duo; wouldn’t you agree?
Sharique 11.10.06 at 12:49 am
Noemaun,
Agreed!
I Me My,
Yes IITians are the best India has to offer. Not only Princeton but they have earned reputation for themselves in every university they study. And yes agreed that there are better colleges and thats what i tried to say in my post.
ConcernedGuy 11.17.06 at 10:02 pm
Its just a desi mentality and nothing else. All desies think they are great and others are dumboos. that is what causing to india to waht ever it is.
learn2unlearn 11.18.06 at 5:24 am
IIT-ians r indeed Intelligent,Informed & Technosavvy. But are they as Insightful, Intuitive and Trustworthy to contribute meaningfully to India’s progress. I wish it were so, but I am not able to convince myself as things stand.
Also, to acknowledge most of India’s sucesses with in the coountry’s contours and globally is to do a great disservice to the other 99.999 % of the Indian population. Are Prahalads, Indra Nooyi’s Ram Shrirams, Vijay Govindarajans and thousands of medical docotors( to quote a few exemplary examples) not rising the Indian flags at extremely high levels inspite of their non IIT background.
Frankly, as head of the Pan IIT caucus, Mr.Gupta would have helped both the IIT global alumni and the mainstream Indophiles a great deal of good if he ‘d chosen tact,humbleness and balance in his interview. In a changing context, a diagnostic mindset and an openness to acknowledge and adapt messages is paramount.
I only hope that the California caucus doesn’t degenerate into gloating pride.
My parting question is this : Are there any IIT alumni knocking the doors of the Nobel or Genius awards. Let’s see in a decade’s time
noemaun 11.18.06 at 5:47 am
@above,
nobody says that other indians dont contribute. but frankly i feel that many other engineering institutes in india are sub-standard. Unfortunately the students who shine in these colleges are those who heavily depend on memorising and doing exactly the same their instructors guide them.
here i see those people seldom taking risks or thinking out of the box even in research.
though iits pick up and boast the best brains in the country, they dont do overall good to their students. But then other colleges in india dont even pick up or boast their best kids. most often the examples that you quoted are those who became big due to their own talent or even luck.
rain 11.18.06 at 7:08 am
@ concerned guy
This is not the case…indians have out-performed many in various fields…its just how you look at things
I kind of agree with noemaun on this. learn2unlearn, even though every successful man/woman in not iitian but most of the iitians are successful! thats because of the education they get and kind of tough competition they clear. JEE is still todays ‘the’ exam to crack. I have entered into professional life 10 years ago and let me tell you that iitians are the smartest people i have interacted with. BTW IITs don’t produce doctors! so you are comparing apples with mangoes. iits have also produced lot of musicians,parsanna and many others. my point is that the kind of education helps them excel in any field they venture into.
ConcernedGuy 11.19.06 at 1:20 pm
I also know that indians have out-performed in various fields and still doing, but the unfortunately so many of them are not recognised and they have to go to other contries to prove that they are capable.
If IIT has best of all education and what it takes to adopt elsewhere and what its waiting for ?
Sharique 11.20.06 at 7:05 pm
ConcernedGuy,
The answer to your question lies in the opportunities that exist in India. As far is research in concerned, PhD programmes in India are not at par with those in US. Money is an important factor even. And even after PhD a high paying job is not guaranteed in India, leaving CS or Electrical people. Research in other fields is still in its incipient stage in India. And I have already pointed out that IITs are known more for undergrads rather than post grads for obvious reasons.
Anonymous 01.10.07 at 4:11 am
All this talk and argument is good but I think most have missed the picture. The key thing to remember and accept that IIT has been a huge marketing success. Given the investment and competition in the world, it has positioned itself as a leading brand for undergraduate education in the world.
What this means to you?
IITian: exploit the brand equity to advance your career and make more money.
Non-IITian: leverage IIT’s good reputation to position your school/achievements and make more money.
At the end of the day, after all the big talk and the philosophy, all that will matter is the value you have added. One measure is the dollars you make.
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Sharique 01.10.07 at 8:32 am
Anonymous,
I completely agree with your point, being an IITian. But would a non-IITian agree? Won’t pride and ego come into picture?
ConcernedGuy 01.10.07 at 9:59 pm
Sharique, you said it .. why do you think all these discussion is .. because of pride / ego.. between IITian’s and non’s. One thing is clear Hard work and experience of someone cannot be replaced by other, what ever IITian’s do in IIT cannot be replaced by non’s and what ever non’s do cannot be replaced by IITian’s. IITian’s are IITian’s and non’s are non’s no comparison.
Sharique 01.11.07 at 10:06 pm
ConcernedGuy,
I definitely do support you on “Hard work and experience of someone cannot be replaced by other”
But i said that based on my experience. There are many who cannot make it it to the IITs and they are generally prejudiced. I do feel that a lot of pride comes into picture. In fact this comparison is kind of odd for me. At the end of the day one’s achievements matter and not the college one studied in!