A few weeks ago, a newspaper article quoted a well. known scientist saying, “IT has destroyed Indian science.” One can speculate about the various ways in which the growth of the IT sector and other similar knowledge industries such as biotechnology has led to a decline in basic scientific research in India.
The most obvious reason is money: Pay scales in IT and BT are much higher than one can aspire to in academia. The argument goes: why should a bright B.Tech. or M.Sc. student enroll in a PhD programme when she can make a lot more money writing code? Not only does a fresh IT employee make a lot more than a fresh M Tech student, his/her pay will rise much faster in IT than in academia. A professor’s pay at a government-run university, even after the Sixth Pay Commission, tops out at far less than a senior executive’s salary in a major industry.
Second, the social status of IT and BT jobs equal or even exceed the social status of corresponding academic positions, since they are seen as knowledge industries, which plays to the best and worst instincts of the societal order. As quintessential white-collar professions, neither do they compel a successful entrepreneur to resort to violence and corruption, nor do they demand any physical labour. Unlike real estate or road construction, it is felt that IT workers can become rich while staying honest and sweat-free.
Assuming that the labour pool for academia and IT is roughly the same, the difference in our collective preferences biases the labour market towards IT and away from academia. Further, when the imbalance between IT and academia continues for years and even decades, a destructive loop, from academia’s point of view, is created. When our best and brightest take IT jobs over academic ones for a decade or more, faculty positions in our universities and research centres are no longer filled by the best candidates.
As faculty quality goes down, so does the capacity to train top-class graduate students who, after all, are teachers in training. In response to decreasing faculty quality, even those students who otherwise choose an academic profession, decide to join industry or go abroad for their studies. These foreign trained graduated prefer to come back to corporate India — if at all they do come back — and, the downward cycle replicates itself in each generation. In other words, academia is trapped within a perfect storm created by a combination of social and economic factors.
In this socio-economic calculus, the members of our societal classes should prefer an IT job to an academic one. Or, to put it another way, the knowledge economy, ie, the creation of knowledge for profit, trumps the knowledge society, ie, the creation of knowledge for its own sake or the safe of the greater good. As is said, “Knowledge is power, but money is even more power.” Perhaps the scientist was alluding to this victory of capitalism over the pursuit of pure knowledge when he accused IT of having a negative influence on Indian science.
Surely, knowledge has become a commodity like any other and as a result, knowledge workers are like any other labourers, who will sell their wares to the highest bidder. One solution is to accept and even encourage the commoditization of knowledge; if so, Indian universities and research centres should copy their western counterparts by becoming more and more like corporations. These centres of earning should convert themselves into engines of growth. In this logic, if we increase academic salaries and research grants to match IT pay cheques we will attract good people into academia, where, in any case, it is rumoured that a certain elusive feeling called ‘the quality of life’ is better.
QUESTIONS:
1. According to the passage, what did the scientist actually mean when he said, “IT has destroyed Indian science?
(A) The centres meant for scientific research are being utilised by IT industries.
(B) The IT industry does not employ people pursuing higher studies
(C) As information is readily available on the Internet because of IT, there is no need to seek further information
(D) IT has distorted the truth as stated by Indian science
(E) The desire for money has overshadowed the search for knowledge
2. Which of the following is possibly the most appropriate title for the passage?
(A) Is the Future of IT Bright?
(B) The IT Industry and the World Economy
(C) Research and Academics — Losing the Battle Against IT
(D) Scientific Research and the Need for Well-Trained Faculty
(E) Information Technology and its Advantages
3. Why does the author say that knowledge has become a commodity?
(A) As it is no longer desirable in any professional field
(B) As there are too many educational institutes in the country which do not provide quality education
(C) As knowledge is now available easily as compared to the past
(D) As knowledgeable people sell their services for the highest price possible
(E) Like commodities, knowledge too becomes stale after a certain period.
4. What, according to the author, is a destructive loop?
(A) Many people quit their existing jobs to work in the IT industry, which in turn leads to the downfall of the other industries
(B) The fact that the best minds do not want to become teachers and this in turn leads to good students seeking knowledge elsewhere.
(C) The fact that people working in the IT industry do not pursue higher studies, which in turn leads to the deterioration in the quality of employees
(D) The unending use of resources by the IT industry leading to a dearth of resources in the country
(E) Less grants are being provided by the Government to academic institutes, which in turn leads to poor quality students joining the same
5. Which of the following mentioned below is/are the author’s suggestion/s to promote interest in Indian academia?
(A) Research centres should adopt the corporate culture as is done in the West.
(B) Lessening the number of research grants given
(C) C. Making academic salaries equivalent to those paid in IT industries
(A) Only C
(B) Only A
(C) Only B and C
(D) Only A and C
(E) None of these
6. Which of the following is NOT TRUE in the context of the passage?
(A) It is believed that the quality of life is better when pursuing scientific research.
(B) People currently seek knowledge only for the greater good of the society.
(C) Money is not perceived to be as powerful as knowledge.
(A) Only A and C
(B) Only B
(C) Only A and B
(D) Only B and C
(E) All A, B and C
7.Which of the following, according to the author, are factors responsible for the declining interest in scientific research?
(A) Slower progress of work in research
(B) Lesser monetary compensation in research-related activities
(C) C. Societal perception towards research
(A) Only A
(B) Only C
(C) Only B and C
(D) Only A and B
(E) All A, B and C
8. Which of the following is true about the perception towards IT jobs as given in the passage?
(A) They are physically tiring.
(B) They are considered to be managerial-level jobs.
(C) C. They require usage of dishonest means
(A) Only B
(B) Only A and B
(C) Only C
(D) Only B and C
(E) All A, B and C are true
(Source: Central Bank of India PO Held on: 25-07-2010)
Latest Govt Job & Exam Updates: