Rocking chairs - continued

Rocking Chair draws my attention to the recent lamenting by the Chairman of the SAC-PM. I wonder if some one was trying to rock his Chair? I have been hearing for decades now the inability or insensitiveness of successive governments for providing enough funds for academic and research institutions. The last nail in the coffin by the Chairman of SAC-PM is of course his statement as reported in the media - “science is dying”, “I am really worried”, “I am saddened that the best of us in government and public affairs may only consider science as a budget item, possibly as a non-productive expenditure”. Be that as it may, has SAC-PM or any other sacred body assessed what has been the output of the academic institutions or research laboratories? Has it been commensurate with the inputs so far made? Yes, the academic institutions are churning out student body year after year thereby the country has become very rich in producing high caliber scientists and research professional but what is the product development commensurate with the inputs provided to the research institutions or research laboratories of the government? How many of the so called patents that have been filed have really been utilized by the industries and how many of the so called scientific/technical papers that the research institutions are producing are referred to by the academic/researchers elsewhere in the world. Is the number of such papers commensurate with the number of scientists/researchers employed by the government. Incidentally how many of the research papers have been published in reputed journals say Nature, Scientific American or similar well referred journals from Britain? What is perhaps important is quality and just not just quantity. If the answers are negative, there is a problem with the governance of the institutions or policies, or if positive, what are the results in terms of products and what is the value. Some statistical data in terms of input versus output may be worthwhile lookiing at. But for the fact that a large number of students have found placement with the information technology industry, what would have been the fate of the large number of professionals coming out of the academic institutions? These are some questions that need to be looked into as well.