From: psubbu@trace.eng.wayne.edu (Ponnuswamy Subburajan)
Subject: Re: Research in India-is the problem in the attitude?
Reply-To: psubbu@trace.eng.wayne.edu (Ponnuswamy Subburajan)
Organization: Wayne State University, Detroit
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 07:15:57 GMT

In article <1993Jan11.021000.13723@serval.net.wsu.edu> cvenkate@luke.wsu.edu (Chandramouli Venkatesh - CS) writes:
>
>Hi,
>Before starting the article _ please read this with an objective view
>and don't let ur passions run high! I am not finding fault with any 
>particular religious or ethnic  or whatever group of people!!
>
>I was just wondering if it is the attitude of Indians that doesn't
>encourage research there. Indian culture teaches u to revere age
>which subconsciously tends to create a feeling that whatever is
>old is good and whatever is new is bad (don't deny it!).For most
>people "andha kaalam" always seems better than "indha kaalam"[Tamil:
>"those days" always seems better than "these days"]. But isn't
>research something that should produce results better than that
>of yesterday? Unless there is an attitude to look forward to a
>tommorow where things would change for the better how is it possible
>to produce fruitful results? Many Indians are very good at boasting
>about the past.  Haven't u heard people say "Oh! atom bomb was
>described in such and such epic" or "an aeroplane was explained
>in such and such literary piece"...May be true that India had
>seen those things then itself, I am not questioning their validity
>etc. But what is the current condition? I am not trying to say
>that we should discard our glorious heritage, no, definitely not!!
>There are several beautiful aspects to our heritage which we
>should definitely not give up! I am just saying that we shouldn't
>take such a hard stand! Don't u see that the same people when they
>come over here (US) they are doing very well? Is it something
>to do with the attitude here? 
>
>Are there any psychology majors around reading this? Your more
>systematic approach to this issue are most welcome ( I am not
>a psychology major but I have done some casual reading .)Any
>body else's constructive comments most welcome!!
>
>CV

	Interesting!!. IMO the individual potential of an average
Indian is comparable to that of the developed countries and the so
called super powers. What is the problem with us?. We people
don't know how to co-operate(including myself). We have a lot of 
differences with us. For e.g caste, religion, language etc.
Here I am not blaming anybody or comparing India with
any other countries. But we should admit our limitations. Either
explicitly or implicitly each and every one of us have atleast one
reason to differenciate with others(fellow indians). This is really a serious
problem. Even the developed countries have their own problems.
(Black-white problem in U.S). We had already crossed the limits.
The above netter was wondering why Indians(not all) do fairly well in U.S,
where as the same people do very poorly in India.

	One reason is the differences and discrimination and
our policy of "never get along". For e.g even in cricket if we
send a regional team like Goa, A.P or T.N for international
matches instead of the "indian" team, I think the possibility
winning is high(When Azar decides to call Kapil to bowl Sastri
wants to bowl). Why the most powerful team is not doing well?.
Some readers may wonder how this is relevant to the above discussion.
This is just an example. They may not explicitly discriminate (and hence
not cooperate) based on caste or religion. But the reason behind our
uncooperativeness(?!) is our cultural, linguistic and other differences.
The castism and religious fanatism are the main hindrances for the   
development of india. Had there been no castism and religious fanatism
in india, India would have been a super power.


Even if we try to forget the differences among us
the power hungry political parties don't let us do that. Because their
survival mainly depends on how efficiently they are able divide the people.
Unlike in U.S or other countries it is not possible for a political
party to win the election without actually dividing the people. They 
use all of our weaknesses caste, religion and language to keep the
people divided. The spent most of their time in doing this and diverting
our money to their own pockets. How can we expect them to find some time
to allocate funds for research?.
Some one might say that it is not proper to blame the political parties
and the political system for every thing. But I think the political
instability and unhealthy means of competition are some of the obstructions.


	As noted by the netter our religion teach us to belive anything
without asking any questions. We had been brought up like that. One who asks
Why? How? is a naxalite, antinational, pseudosecularist or terrorist in
India. Our contitution and religion don't allow us to ask questions. We 
have to say "yes" to whatever our govt. does(True democracy)
 and our religion says. We
can improve only when we learn to encourage(or alleast allow) 
 dissents. When we are in a
"yes" country it is not at all possible to do re-search.

	In govt. offices we had been taught not to do reasearch. The politics
and caste play a major role in promotions and other benefits. There also
most of the people spend their time in planning how to topple others. Another
thing is the boss-servent relationship among officials and their
sub-ordinates. I know some higher offcials use their sub-ordinates for
their own work etc ( Otherwise no promotion). All govt. money is wasted like
this. How do they get time to do research?. I am a witness of brahmin-non
brahmin politics in BHEL Trichy.

	What is the solution?  


					-Subbu
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