Address to the Senate of Indian Institute of Science

Vision for Indian Institute of Science

It is indeed a great pleasure for me to be with the Senate members of Indian Institute of Science who are indeed a very important component of Indian higher education system.

Birth of IISc

When I am here, I am always reminded of an incident of significance that took place sometime in 1901 when a ship was sailing from Bombay to Europe. Two great human beings were travelling in that ship. They introduced each other. They were Swami Vivekananda and Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata. Swamiji asked Nausserwanji Tata where he was going and what was the mission. Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata said, Swamiji I am going with a mission to bring steel industry to my country. Friends it was 1901, when India was ruled by the British. Swamiji said, it is indeed a beautiful mission. My best wishes.

However, I would like to give you a small caution. This caution came in the year 1901. Swamiji said, whatever amount you spend to get the process of making steel but you should learn the the metallurgical science of making steel also. I will prefer, you start an institute, a laboratory to do advanced research on the subject. What a prophetic statement. Many things happened after that. Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata could not get the technology for manufacturing steel from UK. However, he could get the know how of manufacturing steel after crossing the atlantic from USA and he established the Tata Iron and Steel Company at Jamshedpur. A big planning took place. That planning had two parts: the first part was to start steel manufacturing plant presently at Jamshedpur in Jharkhand. After this he donated one sixth of his property for establishing an Institute of material research at Bangalore. I have visited Jamshedpur sometime back and I saw the fruits of Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata's vision: 4 million tons of steel per year being produced by Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO).

My memories and association with IISc

I have lived in this campus months and months while I worked in ISRO and walked and walked in this campus. Many Faculties I have visited and worked. My first career started here and I learnt how to design a contra-rotating propellar for a hovercraft. My teacher was Prof Satish Dhawan. It all happened when Prof.Vikram Sarabhai was working on the cosmic research with Sir CV Raman and both of them were working here. Later I had the opportunity to work directly with Prof Vikram Sarabhai who unfolded the vision for the Indian Space Programme to put a remote sensing satellite in the orbit through a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle and communication satellite in orbit through a geo-synchronous satellite launch vehicle. That was a great opportunity in my life to work with such a great visionary.

Then I worked with Prof Satish Dhawan when he became the Chairman of ISRO. He gave me the mission of building India's first Satellite Launch Vehicle to put the Rohini satellite in orbit. When we succeeded he gave us the credit of success and when failures occurred he took it on himself. Prof Satish Dhawan later became the director of IISc and also simultaneously he was the Chairman of ISRO.

It was my great fortune to have worked with another great human being man of nobility. He was Prof Brahm Prakash a Material scientist in the material science Faculty of this Institute. When he was director VSSC, I happened to work with him directly for a decade. What a great human being he was. First time I learnt how in scientific administration you can show nobility. Prof Brahm Prakash was responsible for the many achievements of ISRO in the launch vehicle programme. He was responsible to see the importance of titanium steel. Today many of the boosters and rocket motor components ISRO and gas turbine engine components of DRDO were made of titanium alloy. He was also responsible for giving a decision for establishing a fibre glass lab which later became a reinforced plastic production centre at VSSC.

Friends when I see you all Faculty Members, I see the images of great human beings of this campus Prof Satish Dhawan and Prof Brahma Prakash, the great visionaries. Today I am in front of you only because of those great human beings who shaped me. So I am grateful to all of you for continuing the mission of education in the best tradition started by Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata.

I thought of recalling another incident which changed my career. After I completed my mission with ISRO working nearly 20 years, there was a call from DRDO to take up the position of Director DRDL. When the request came from Defence Ministry to Prof Satish Dhawan he felt that there were not many great responsibilities in defence. At that time Prof Ramaseshan was director IISc who had great affection for me and was a friend of Prof. Satish Dhawan, who persuaded him to relieve me to join DRDO. Many things happened after that and I joined DRDO. However, whether I was in SLV or with DRDO my partnership with IISc continued. For years I have spent in this campus. Prof. I.G.Sharma's lab, Prof.Mukunda's lab. Prof.Balki's lab, Prof. S M Deshpande's lab, and Dr Ramaswamy's lab. It was a great and memorable experience.

IISc the future Nalanda

This is the past. Now I would like to recall an incident which happened during one of my visits after becoming the President. During my tour of the State of Bihar, I visited various spiritual places and also Bodh Gaya, and also the famous Nalanda University. I walked through the monument and I saw a big hostel, a beautiful study hall of Buddhist philosophy and college where teachers and students from nearly 63 countries used to study.

Why it happened in this country in the 5th century BC? Our civilisational heritage attracted students from various parts of the world. Dear friends, whereever I go young students ask me Mr. President why many of our scientists and engineers just after graduation move to foreign countries. What is the answer you have? The answer is we produce three hundred thousand engineers every year. India can afford to send some of them to work abroad. Due to our traditional family connectivity our engineers maintain the umbilical connection and bring back knowledge to our system. However, India has to have a full research and R&D lab to nurture our best talents. Is it possible?. When I am in this campus, I feel that it is possible. A new Nalanda is possible here. That would be a great universal centre working in many parts of the world and throughout India.

Vision for IISc

When I see you all I imagine, what you can do in the next 10 years - 20 years- 25 years. Or next hundred years for scientific research in India. You have a mission. Within this millennium your mission will be to create "World Science Research Centre in this campus where scientists and engineers will find a noble and harmonious environment for research and generate a number of Nobel laureates. I wish you all the best.

God bless you.