CHINDIA

I am always a little chagrined when people consider China and India as models of future economic superpowers in the same breath. From what I know, differences between these two countries are still massive when it comes to many fundamental matters. Especially when it comes to science, I don't think India is on the same page as China. Basic infrastructure in China is superior to us, and it's with the basic infrastructure that students are going to get trained at an early level. Bureaucracy and red-tape still riddle many levels of operations in our scientific institutions, which can lead even a promising young scientist to throw in the towel. More importantly, reservation and regionalism, formally and informally instituted, threaten to always pull us back by a hundred years, no matter what the sphere of progress that we are talking about.

Peer review is lax or largely absent in India. Academic promotion is largely on the basis of seniority and not on the basis of achievements. A young scientist's career in an Indian academic institution could well be chock full of bureaucratic complications, informal regional favouritism, and plain jealousy. These problems turn into real problems then, even when there is no lack of funding. Science in China has been shown to be largely relatively unfettered by such red-tape. Maybe it's because of the 'whip culture'. But the results speak for themselves.

We have the proverbial potential. But what about its translation into solid achievement? We had the potential and certainly the manpower. Yet we missed the Human Genome Project bus. How many more such endeavors are we going to find ourselves sliding out of, not because we lack advanced instrumentation or foreign educated scientists, but because we don't have a base to stand on? How many treks to Mount Everest will we miss not because we lack the stamina or strength or will power, but because we don't know how to tie our shoelaces to begin with? Of what use is the most lavishly constructed roof, if the foundation does not exist? In an earlier post, I talked about aspiring to sprint before we even stand. China seems to be building a much better base to stand upon. And they also have the infrastructure for sprinting.

Our basic economic problems are already well-documented. Unfortunately I cannot find the article by a BBC journalist who bemoaned this comparison between China and India, after seeing the stark contrast in basic living conditions and infrastructure when he travelled to India from China. And this is really basic; food, shelter and clothing. No matter how resplendent the branches and fruits may be, their growth and prosperity are limited by the roots that hold them down. They cannot soar even when they want to.

Of course, we can complain about human rights and rigid controls in China. But I am talking about the end results. Human rights problems are real problems without a doubt, but when Chinese laureates are sitting at the Nobel prize ceremony a few years from now, they would have been lauded for their discoveries, not for the fact that they made those discoveries under threat of torture. And it does not have to be that bad in the first place.

So no, when it comes to matters of scientific and for that matter, economic progress (because many of these factors apply to economic advance too), I cringe when people take China and India's name in the same breath. So, echoing the Khan and leaving my grudges about him aside for once, let me say that I think that our country is not as progressive as China when it comes to technological and economic matters. Yes, it certainly has the potential, but right now, it's not. Simple. And because it has the potential does not mean it will automatically live up to that potential.