Is India a science superpower?
Comparison between how much of money is spent for buying technology and for creating technology in India would be a good indicator for the possibility of India to become a science superpower.
Most of the technologies developed are mere assembling of imported goods.
We don't even fabricate silicon wafer, forget about developing innovative electronic devices and instruments.
Even in conventional fields of science and engineer we are much behind the world. We don't build machines or architectural masterpieces that can even come close to rivaling the technologies of developed countries.
Though it is true that many Indians are involved in developing technologies throughout the world.
No we are definitely not. If by science you mean the research output in the country then we are far from becoming a super-power. We have almost one-fourth the population of the world and our research is abysmally low. In the IITs itself the amount of research is not that great. The other universities are not engaged in research.
There are specialized institutions and they are doing some work. I mean like the IISc Banglore. But they are very few.
"Lot of Indians is of the belief that the lack of research is due to the lack of money put into experimentation."
Unless the livelihood of some people is dependent on such things nobody is going to think about it. Additionally, the best brain would go for fields that give them more money. In any part of the world the number of people pursuing certain profession purely out of passion and not due to financial reason or any other kind of compulsion is very low. Only when people in India will start doing what they actually love will India improve rather. Everybody must know that the first criteria for choosing a profession for most people are "demand in market". once they know that certain profession has great demand they follow it like a sheep's herd.
A country is known by its people and their achievements not by its boundary, area or geographical location. Since the people make the country it is very important that every citizen proves her/his worth and perform to their best. Learning and skill improvisation can be achieved being in any part of the world and sometimes even necessary to leave home land. At the same time we should strive to contribute our skills for the development of nation.
If there are no opportunities we should even try to create those opportunities based on the unique experience and skills we have gained. It therefore becomes very important for us to realize our true potential and do our best and resist the temptation to sell entirely our knowledge and skill for some external money minting organization. One of the serious inadequacies threatening our consistent development is lack of learning opportunities.
There are only handfuls of institutes that churn out good students remaining all institutes lack basic facilities to impart good training to the students. Those getting into IIT's and IIM's are the best but the remaining are not dumb and deserve better learning opportunities. Even the premier institute does not cover all the latest fields. India has been trying to lure many companies to build their fabrication units here, but one of the important hurdles for them is lack of skilled professionals in this field. One of the business reports mentions that India is trying to give huge subsidies to lure such industries.
It then adds that it would have been wiser for them to invest that money instead on creating local talent required for such industry