IIT System: Its contributions?

I did my undergraduate studies from IIT Madras, and entered IIT Kanpur for work as a faculty.  On the whole I have spent 25 years of my life in the IIT system so far, and I do owe a lot to it for what it gave to me. During my student days,  the environment was an eye opener for me, and it provided exposure to new worldview.  Just to name some of the topics that came up in our mid-night discussions were curved space-time, Godel Eschar Bach, Richard Bach, and many others.  It was very exciting for a kid coming from a small town.  Some classes were very fascinating, and they were the comparable to  my graduate courses at the University of Maryland at College Park. 

There are raging debates in India on the contributions of IIT system to the nation.  Did it contribute enough to the development of nation? Did we create new technology, or inspire students to do the same? Why our IITs do not figure in the top 100 institutions of the world? Why don’t IITians appear as biggest names in science and tech, and in humanities (e.g. Nobel, Field, Turing awardees).   These are subjective questions, and critics have taken both negative or positive sides.  It is unfortunate that we have not done a comprehensive study on this topic.  Given fragmented data, I will say a couple of things on this topic; I hope that it will lead to some constructive debate to take us forward.

The older IITs are around 60 year old now.  In terms of discoveries, we have had sporadic bursts.  New fields, e.g. computer science in 1960s, first came in India via IITs.  The graduates of IITs dot most of the important institutions and industries of the India, as well as that of advanced western countries.  This include all degree holders (including Ph.D.’s) even though the focus tends to be on the undergraduates.   In information technology sector, IIT alumnus have done exceedingly well, and they are considered equal to the best in the world.   Hence the achievements of the alumnus of IIT system is comparable to the top institutions of the world.

Still, the intellectual output of the IIT system is not comparable to the best universities of the world.  We do not seem have confidence to take on the most difficult and indigenous problems.  Here, it is a common practice to follow the western trends.  But to be fair, this practice is followed in almost all frontline institutions of  India.  Naturally, followers cannot be leaders, hence the vicious cycle continues.  Comparatively, for not so obvious reasons, the scientists (e.g., Raman, Saha, J. C. Bose, S. N. Bose) in the first half of the last century appear to have been more confident and original than today.  The reason for the malaise is not straightforward, and it needs to be studied carefully.  

People do look up to IITs for inspiration.  We do hope that in near future, the faculty and students in IITs will solve indigenous problems in creative ways, and make India one of the world leaders in science and technology.