PM's Science Advisor displeased with Sibal hiking engg. seats

Prof C N R Rao, an eminent scientist and Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, said this year, admissions at engineering colleges in India topped seven lakh, ten times the number in the US, where only 70,000 students are enrolled for such streams annually.

"What do we do with all these engineers (in India) ?", Rao, a scientist of international repute, asked. "They are not trained; they can't be used".

Rao initially declined to comment on Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal's annoucement yesterday which is estimated to increase engineering seats substantially, remarking: "I have nothing to do with education what he does", and replied in the negative when asked if he (Rao) has been consulted on the issue.

Rao, in his characteristic style, then narrated how the then British Prime Minister Winston Churchill dealt with harsh criticism from Left members in the Parliament there. Churchill told them: "Your one left hand does not know what the other left hand does".

Then, he sought to draw a parellel in the present context. "India is similar. One left hand does not know what the other left hand does", he remarked, bursting into laughter, indicating a disconnect in matters of policy.

Earlier, he said though admissions to engineering colleges are increasing, what is also needed is rising enrolment in other subjects such as economics, poetry, philosophy, botany and biology.

"Nobody is going for earth sciences. Strange things are happening. Eventually, we will be short of people", he said but expressed hope that "over-fascination for making money ....all this will go away" in a few years.