C.N.R. Rao, Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India, said that none of India’s premier institutions, including the Indian Institutes of Science (IISc) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), “can match the best in the world.” Rao said that research in the country “is sadly losing quality,” despite the fact the number of facilities that conduct research is increasing. According to Rao, India has been a victim of lack of finances, but now is the time for the country to work hard and create technologies that can shape the new world. Nanotechnology, he said, is one field in which India can take the lead. India needs to create cottage industries out of nanotechnology so that the country can leverage the achievements and make the best of “our” technology, he said. “The Chinese will in the next 20 years become the best in all fields but we (India) will linger around the fifth place,” Rao predicted. “Why can’t we be the number one?”
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