Need for Temples of Learning in Bihar
by
Manish Kumar
Chennai, India
June 22, 2006
In
engineering, a group of seven institutes is
collectively called IITs. They are-IIT Kharagpur,
IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur, IIT Delhi,
IIT Guwahati, and IIT Roorkee. Apart from IITs
there are a large number of National Institute
of Technology (formerly known as Regional
Engineering Colleges) scattered throughout the
country educating and training students to be
future engineers. The first Indian Institute of
Technology was born in May 1950 in Hijli,
Kharagpur, in the eastern part of India. No need
to remind that all IITs and NIT’s are autonomous
universities and draft their own curriculum.
In the area of modern biology, biotechnology,
and plant molecular biology, lots of
institutions have been setup in last one-two
decade. These are, for example, The National
Institute of Immunology (NII), New Delhi,
founded in 1981, promotes research in basic and
applied immunology, research and development
(R&D) of new vaccines and immunological reagents
for communicable diseases and research into
regulation of human reproduction. The Centre for
Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB),
Hyderabad, established in 1977, has major R&D
programmes in biomedicine and biotechnology,
genetics and evolution, cell and developmental
biology, molecular biology, biochemistry and
biophysics. In plant molecular biology, the
National Centre for Plant Genome Research (NCPGR),
New Delhi has broad research areas in plant
genomics and transgenic, while recently
initiating new research projects in chickpea
genomics. Some of the other research institutes
working in the area of scientific research are
the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced
Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore (in
frontier areas of science and engineering);
National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS)
also at Bangalore (in modern biology); National
Brain Research Centre (NBRC), New Delhi (in
neurosciences) and the National Institute of
Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER),
Chandigarh (in pharmaceutical sciences).
Another world-class institution in the area of
management is the Indian Institutes of
Management (IIMs). The premier management
schools of India are located in the cities of
Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore,
and Kozhikode.
Recently, two new institutions of national
importance have been created by the HRD
ministry. These two institutions are
collectively called as Indian Institutes of
Science Education and Research (IISER) and are
located at Kolkata and Pune. The HRD ministry
has reportedly been trying to push through the
first batch of students for the two premier
Indian Institutes of Science Education and
Research (IISER) in Kolkata and Pune by July
2006.
A cluster of the premier industrial R&D
organization called as the Council of Scientific
& Industrial Research (CSIR) was constituted in
1942 by a resolution of the then Central
Legislative Assembly. It is an autonomous body
registered under the Registration of Societies
Act of 1860. CSIR aims to provide industrial
competitiveness, social welfare, strong S&T base
for strategic sectors and advancement of
fundamental knowledge. Today CSIR is recognised
as one of the world’s largest publicly funded
R&D organisations having linkages to academia,
R&D organisations and industry. CSIR’s 40
laboratories and 80 field centers not only knit
India into a giant network that impacts and add
quality to the life of each and every Indian,
but CSIR is also party to the prestigious Global
Research Alliance with the objective of applying
global knowledge pool for global good through
global funding. CSIR’s R&D portfolio embraces
areas as diverse as Aerospace, Biotechnology,
and Chemicals indeed, almost the ABC-Z of Indian
Science! (Contd. to next page)
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