From Prime Minister Modi downward, India’s entire political class and the establishment keep proclaiming from the rooftops that the 21st century is India’s, and attaining the PM’s Viksit (‘developed’) Bharat and $30 trillion (cf. $4 trillion) goals is an inevitability. But the plain truth is that in 75 years since independence, Indian higher education institutions comprising 45,000 undergrad colleges and 1,100 universities, haven’t ideated and produced even one globally acclaimed zap-’em, killer product or service. I mean products like the smartphone, internet, Google, Gen Ai super motor car or even a jet plane engine.
The depressing reality is that although India’s higher education institutions certify 3 million graduates — including one million engineers — per year, this huge pool of presumably subject experts, has conspicuously failed to produce any solution to the country’s most enduring problems. Surely, there is a scientific solution for monetizing stubble burnt in the farms of Punjab whose smoke chokes Delhi every winter? And cleaning up India’s filthy rivers? A century ago, the rivers Rhine (Germany) and Thames (UK) were highly polluted, but have been cleaned up long ago. In 1984, when I visited the HQ of Pepsico, USA to write a cover story for BusinessWorld, I met an aqua scientist who assured me that if invited, he could clean up Kashmir’s Dal Lake “in a jiffy”. He wasn’t invited; neither was there any effort to adapt his technology.
The root of the problem in my opinion, is that post-independence India hijacked by the Dynasty which imposed bankrupt, inorganic socialism upon the nation, has transformed it into a Republic of mediocrity and graveyard of talent. The clear stream of reason has lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit, as apprehended by Nobel laureate Tagore.
Against this depressing backdrop, our discovery that measured by global proportional norms there may be 70 million gifted individuals and 10-25 million gifted children within India’s predominantly mediocre population, offers a sliver of hope. In this month’s cover story penned by Sridhar Rajagopalan, co-promoter and CEO of Educational Initiatives and his team — this Bangalore-based company identifies and enables gifted children realise their potential — the authors provide good news about newly emergent companies and organisations striving to nurture and mentor gifted children. Provided encouragement, special accelerated learning pathways and expert mentorship, this neglected minority is capable of ideating, designing and delivering killer, zap-’em products and services that could vault India into the forefront of the world’s developed nations.
This Spring issue of EducationWorld is heavy with education information, solutions and insights you won’t get anywhere else. Check out my Special Report feature arguing that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s latest Budget 2025-26 is only half of the prescription India needs, and how to fulfill it. Also excellent expert essays and reports rich with detail and perspective.
Happy Holi and Eid!
