12/11/09

Indian expat scientists scheme off to shaky start

The scheme is intended to encourage expatriates to return home Copyright: WHO / P.Virot

We encourage you to republish this article online and in print, it’s free under our creative commons attribution license, but please follow some simple guidelines:

You have to credit our authors.
You have to credit SciDev.Net — where possible include our logo with a link back to the original article.
You can simply run the first few lines of the article and then add: “Read the full article on SciDev.Net” containing a link back to the original article.
If you want to also take images published in this story you will need to confirm with the original source if you're licensed to use them.
The easiest way to get the article on your site is to embed the code below.

For more information view our media page and republishing guidelines.

The full article is available here as HTML.

Press Ctrl-C to copy

<div class="article-wrap">
<div id="article-introduction">
<h1>Indian expat scientists scheme off to shaky start</h1>
<h4></h4>
</div>
<br />
<br />

<div id="article-body">
<p><span>An Indian scheme intended to encourage expatriate scientists to return home has made unintended waves after its first recruit was dismissed.</span></p>
<p><span>Shiva Ayyadurai, an inventor with four degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States, was the first expat to be appointed as an ‘outstanding scientist’ at India’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). </span></p>
<p><span>CSIR intends to recruit 30 senior scientists in total.</span></p>
<p><span>Ayyadurai was dismissed last month (October), five months after taking up the position and just days after the publication of a critical report of CSIR that he co-authored.</span></p>
<p><span>Samir Brahmachari, CSIR director-general, says Ayyadurai’s "appointment offer was withdrawn" because he did not accept the terms and conditions of his contract.</span></p>
<p><span>But Ayyadurai says he was sacked for sending his report to senior CSIR scientists. The report was intended to gain feedback from scientists about institutional barriers at CSIR to commercialising technology, he says.</span></p>
<p><span>"Our interaction with CSIR scientists revealed that they work in a medieval, feudal environment," he says. </span></p>
<p><span>"The fact that the CSIR administration is impervious to healthy and fair criticism" will send the wrong message to Indian scientists thinking of returning," says Pushpa Bhargava, founder-director of CSIR’s Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology.</span></p>
<p><span>But Gangan Pratap, director of the CSIR’s National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources, believes that most returning expats will focus on research rather than policy — so are unlikely to face similar conflicts.</span></p>
<div>
<div><a href="http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091109/full/462152a.html"><span>Link to full article in <em>Nature</em></span></a></div>
</div>

</div>
<div class="quick-links-wrapper">
<h3>You might also like</h3>
[related-articles]
</div>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/news/indian-expat-scientists-scheme-off-to-shaky-start/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
<script type="text/javascript">
(function(e,t,n,r,i,s,o){e["GoogleAnalyticsObject"]=i;e[i]=e[i]||function(){(e[i].q=e[i].q||[]).push(arguments)},e[i].l=1*new Date;s=t.createElement(n),o=t.getElementsByTagName(n)[0];s.async=1;s.src=r;o.parentNode.insertBefore(s,o)})(window,document,"script","//www.google-analytics.com/ga.js","ga");var _gaq=_gaq||[];var _gaq=_gaq||[];_gaq.push(["_setAccount","UA-3223906-8"],["_trackEvent","article interaction","republished","https://www.scidev.net/global/news/indian-expat-scientists-scheme-off-to-shaky-start/",null,true])
</script>
</div>

An Indian scheme intended to encourage expatriate scientists to return home has made unintended waves after its first recruit was dismissed.

Shiva Ayyadurai, an inventor with four degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States, was the first expat to be appointed as an ‘outstanding scientist’ at India’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

CSIR intends to recruit 30 senior scientists in total.

Ayyadurai was dismissed last month (October), five months after taking up the position and just days after the publication of a critical report of CSIR that he co-authored.

Samir Brahmachari, CSIR director-general, says Ayyadurai’s "appointment offer was withdrawn" because he did not accept the terms and conditions of his contract.

But Ayyadurai says he was sacked for sending his report to senior CSIR scientists. The report was intended to gain feedback from scientists about institutional barriers at CSIR to commercialising technology, he says.

"Our interaction with CSIR scientists revealed that they work in a medieval, feudal environment," he says.

"The fact that the CSIR administration is impervious to healthy and fair criticism" will send the wrong message to Indian scientists thinking of returning," says Pushpa Bhargava, founder-director of CSIR’s Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology.

But Gangan Pratap, director of the CSIR’s National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources, believes that most returning expats will focus on research rather than policy — so are unlikely to face similar conflicts.

Link to full article in Nature