A cabinet minister's blunt criticism of the work of the faculty at India's most prestigious educational institutions has set off a storm of controversy, and also brought into debate the quality of scientific innovation and research in India, particularly in the government-funded Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).
Last week, Jairam Ramesh, India's environment minister, told reporters: "There is hardly any worthwhile research from our IITs. The faculty is not world-class; it is the students in IITs who are world-class. So the IITs are excellent because of the quality of students, not because of quality of research or faculty."
There are now 15 IITs, universities focused on science and engineering, in India; Mr Ramesh graduated from the IIT in Mumbai in 1975 with an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering.
Ever since the IITs' establishment, they have been synonymous with India's ambitions. In 1956, the then Indian prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, speaking at the convocation of the first IIT, saw the institute as "representing India's urges, India's future in the making. [It] seems to me symbolical of the changes that are coming to India".
Of the 400,000-plus candidates who take the IIT entrance examinations every year, only the top 13,000 or so are selected. The IITs have acquired a reputation for academic rigor and for producing intelligent, well-trained undergraduates. Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft, once called India's IITs "an incredible institution".
This close association of the IITs with India's stature has been augmented over the past decade, as the graduates of these institutes have started to power the intellectual economy.
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