When Usain Bolt successfully defended his Olympics Gold medal in 100 metres sprint for the second time in 2016, the world celebrated this hero’s hattrick and called him the swiftest human on earth. When I asked my students about Ashton Eaton, who also won the Gold in decathlon at London and Rio, the class drew a memory blank. That Bolt is a genius athlete is undoubted but Eaton got shadowed just like Daley Thompson’s Moscow and Los Angeles got under Carl Lewis’s Los Angeles and Seoul showdown. Moral: Mono-discipline athlete is more popular than a multi-disciplinary comparable. Is it the same in higher education? Let us explore.
The career pathway to achieve career aspirations begins from schools, navigate multiple entrance exam pathways, and just when it reaches its final destination of hope, gets muddled with exploding choices leaving young minds at the cross-roads of chaos. Millions of Indian students begin their journey towards a medical or engineering admission that germinates from an academic aspiration. These crucial formative years of cognitive sprouting become an exhausting expedition through a maze of entrance examinations, counselling systems, coaching ecosystems, cut-offs, quotas, and uncertainty. The foundational basis of a meritocratic gateway has gradually evolved into a multi-layered fence that test endurance more than aptitude. Just like a young cricketer struggles to play Test cricket, T20, and One-Day formats on the same day—with different rules, different pitches, and different captains evaluating performance differently, young students struggle to perform well in Class XII exams, NEET, JEE, other private university entrance exams, interviews and many modern testing instruments. The reason is simple. One examination rewards speed and agility, another conceptual depth and precision, another memorisation and flexibility, and another strategic elimination techniques and creativity. Students are forced to become examination tacticians rather than genuine learners. This results in either becoming a NEET/JEE super-achiever humanoids like Bolt and Lewis or matured learners with holistic knowledge but shadowed like Eaton and Thompson. It doesn’t stop here. It further stretches as they enter the higher-education fracas in which mindless popularity seems to be the screaming horse and not calibrated thinking which remains the muted mule.
Viksit Bharat 2047 is Prime Minster Modi’s ambitious mission mode target that charters India’s growth story for the next 25 years. While Digital India is one foundational pillar, it cannot be the only growth trajectory, as all cylinders have to fire to carry the Indian engine far and high. Both human bodies and countries function similarly. Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science represents the brain and nervous system, but without the heart, lungs, bones, muscles, and circulatory systems, the body cannot survive. Likewise, a nation cannot be built on algorithms alone unless it is supported by robust physical infrastructure and industrial capabilities.
If Viksit Bharat 2047 is about the dreams of India becoming a global manufacturing hub, it requires Mechanical Engineers, Production Engineers, Industrial Engineers, and Materials Scientists. If it is about, smart cities and urban transformation, it needs Civil Engineers, Environmental Engineers, Transportation Experts, and Structural Designers. If it is about green energy leadership, it depends upon Electrical Engineers, Energy Systems Engineers, and Chemical Engineers. If it is about semiconductor independence, Aerospace leadership, defence self-reliance, and advanced mobility ecosystems, it requires specialised core engineering talent at massive scale. In short, engineering intelligentsia of India is a superset of all and not a subset of few. The massive success of India’s digital revolution rests on its physical infrastructure. Cloud computing requires data centres, electric vehicles require battery technology, AI systems require semiconductor fabrication, smart cities require civil infrastructure, defence systems require aerospace engineering, medical technology requires biomedical engineering. Renewable energy requires power electronics and grid engineering. In essence, Computer Science and AI are accelerators, not substitutes for foundational engineering disciplines.
The current trend among students often resembles a gold rush. Large numbers migrate toward Computer Science and its latest derivative cousin Artificial Intelligence not necessarily out of passion, but due to perceptions of salary, prestige, global mobility, and social validation. Core engineering branches are sometimes unfairly viewed as outdated or less glamorous. This perception is deeply misleading and if left unchecked will over-create isolated coders (Bolt-Lewis) and under-create interdisciplinary builders (Eaton-Thompson). India needs both with a balance just like Olympics needs both sprinters and decathloners. At a time when India needs this balance now more than ever, young minds and influencers should not get swayed by popularity, for popularity comes with no invitation and leaves with no farewell. In short: Young India should chase profundity and not popularity.
vaidhya@sastra.edu
