Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has slammed the faculty of the country’s premier institutions IITs and IIMs. The minister said that these educational institutions are "not world class" but are "excellent" because of the quality of students only.
"There is hardly any worthwhile research from our IITs. The faculty in the IIT is not world class. It is the students in IITs who are world class. So the IITs and IIMs are excellent because of the quality of students not because of quality of research or faculty," said Ramesh, who is himself an alumni of IIT Mumbai.
Talking about his ministry's decision to have a joint venture with Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) to set up a National Centre for Marine Biodiversity in Jamnagar, Ramesh said the decision was taken as a world class research centre cannot be built in a "Governmental set up" and can never attract young people.
"We cannot build a world class research centre in a Governmental set up. The governmental set up can never attract young people. Never. Let us understand our experience in the last 60 years. Government research institutions can never attract young talent.
"So we want to think differently. We have to think differently, how we are going to organise our research institutions. And this is one way of building PPP," Ramesh said.
"So I have been to Jamnagar and we are in a PPP mode. We are having a joint venture with Reliance to set up a world class national centre for marine biodiversity," he said.
Jamnagar is also the site of India's first marine national park, the Minister said. This would be a new centre that would be focussed exclusively on the conservation of our marine biodiversity, Ramesh said.
Jairam Ramesh has been the Indian Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Environment and Forests since May 2009. He was also a member of the first National Advisory Council, 2006-2008. Ramesh graduated in 1975 from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) with a B. Tech. in Mechanical Engineering. In 2001, IIT-B presented him with their Distinguished Alumnus Award.
Between 1975-77 he studied at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College and received a Master of Science in Management and public policy. In 1977-78, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology he studied technology policy, economics, engineering, and management, as part of the newly-established inter-disciplinary technology policy programme.
He is a founding member of the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad and is a member of the International Council of the New York-based Asia Society. Ramesh has been an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi since 2002. Ramesh has been a columnist for leading dailies like the Business Standard, Business Today, The Telegraph, Times of India and India Today.
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