On February 28, India celebrates National Science Day, marking Sir CV Raman’s groundbreaking discovery of the Raman Effect, which allowed scientists to understand molecular structures by studying how they interact with light. Raman’s work also demonstrated that fundamental scientific discoveries could emerge from India through curiosity and perseverance. Through this National Science Day, India is not only celebrating a breakthrough scientific discovery, but also its building capability. Raman and his students conducted ingenious experiments that revealed a new phenomenon through an instrument that he has built, which is now called world over as Raman Spectroscope. This work earned India its first Nobel Prize in the sciences, and the award took notice of it.
About 6 months back, I was in Shivam University, to be a part of unveiling ceremony of Sir CV Raman’s bust, and Shimane became the first Japanese University to have an Indian Scientist’s bust on its campus. Shimane has a Centre for Raman Spectroscopy, which is an example of the global impact of this discovery and innovation.
I am fortunate that I will be in Shimane University to address their faculty and students on National Science Day.
Nearly a century after the Raman Spectroscope was built, National Science Day should ask us a deeper question: Are we still building things that make India globally proud?
India has seen remarkable growth over the past decades. We are a vibrant emerging economy with enormous human capital. Much of our success has come from providing valuable services to the rest of the world, but we have also steadily built a deep and important technological base from our own laboratories.
To become a developed country (Viksit Bharat), we need to design and build our own technologies and products with the highest global standards, which can drive global economy.
To understand how we can achieve this across the broader technological spectrum, it is useful to keep in mind India’s progress in areas such as atomic energy and missile technology. Given the critical nature of these sectors, India built the technology from scratch. We developed our own launch vehicles, designed nuclear capabilities, and engineered world-class systems. When compelled to rely on us, we rose to the occasion and built globally acclaimed technologies.
However, when technology is readily available for import, we often adopt rather than invent. By the time we absorb one generation of imported technology, the exporting nation has moved many steps ahead in research and development.
On National Science Day, we should not only celebrate scientific discovery but also renew our commitment to becoming a nation of builders. This transformation cannot take root only at centres of higher education. It must be ground up, beginning right from our schools.
Today, too many young minds are channelled into a narrow pathway of entrance examinations. The obsession with a single metric of merit has unintentionally dampened creativity. Children who once played sports, engaged in music, tinkered with gadgets, or built small experiments are now asked to set aside everything to prepare for competitive exams, which stifles curiosity. Our definition of academic excellence in schools must not come at the cost of imagination.
If we want India to become a technological superpower, we must tell our school students that building matters.
Imagine a system where higher education institutions recognise not just entrance exam scores but also demonstrated innovations — a prototype built, a product designed, a real-world problem solved. This will ensure that schools across the country establish tinkerer labs, maker spaces, and innovation studios, not as extracurricular activities, but as integral parts of learning. Teachers are trained, and students are incentivised to conceptualise and create prototypes of novel and original solutions rather than memorising content. When young people know that their ability to build is valued, they will naturally build more.
Globally, many leading universities evaluate applicants holistically, including portfolios, projects, initiatives, and creativity. Students submit videos, demonstrate prototypes, and present evidence of what they have created, broadening the definition of merit.
If India’s top higher educational institutions were to open their doors wider to innovators and builders, it could lead to a bottom-up transformation, where, instead of being pigeonholed into a rigid definition of learning, students would rediscover the joy of experimentation. Higher education must also rethink how it values “building.” Can a market-ready product or medical device be recognised like research papers or theses? At IIT Hyderabad, this shift has begun with product-driven degrees, where innovation itself can serve as the thesis.
Higher education institutions also have reason to introspect. Do we sufficiently reward building within our academic structures? If a doctoral student develops a transformative product that reaches the market, can that be recognised on par with a research paper? If an MTech student creates a deployable medical device, can it be used to award the degree? In some of our programs at IIT Hyderabad, we have begun experimenting with product-driven degrees, where the product itself serves as the thesis.
The National Science Day reminds us that discovery has ripple effect through time. Raman’s work did not remain confined to a laboratory notebook; it revolutionised spectroscopy and influenced generations of researchers in physics and chemistry.
If India is to become a truly developed nation, we must value builders as much as rank-holders. When students see that creating solutions, developing products, and solving real problems are recognised alongside examination performance, education will naturally shift from memorisation to meaningful innovation. Sir C.V. Raman showed that the original discovery from India can influence the world. Our task now is to nurture a generation that not only excels in knowledge but also applies it to build technologies for the nation. That shift from learning to creating, and from adapting to leading, will define India’s journey to a Viksit Bharat.
Let us on this National Science Day, renew our pledge to reimagine education so that we can become a nation that builds.
IIT Hyderabad to lead the country from the front through its supernumerary “Builders Quota” to admit students to its BTech program based on their building capabilities in the school. Once such students are admitted, they can take a semester break in the first semester itself, to demonstrate their building capabilities and earn credits. These students can also do studies up to 5 years at the end of the second year with a Diploma to pursue their startup journey.
(Prof BS Murty is IIT Hyderabad director)