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 (Bihar Times)Government of Bihar has been pursuing the revival plan for Nalanda International University (NIU) in the right earnest. However, what has been bothering me for some time now is the complete absence of any credible research institution in the state. It is true that there is always a possibility of uneven distribution of such institutions in the country as big as India, however, what is not expected is the complete whitewash on this front in as big a state as Bihar. As per one estimate, India will be having over 250 such institutions under the various departments and agencies of central government. Given this plethora of research institutions, it is some times difficult to even digest that Bihar has not been overlooked as part of any design. Anyway now when it is on the way it is also quite imperative that some of the advance research institutions do find there way in the vicinity of the proposed university to provide the excellent background to the proposed university. This calls for a meticulous effort on the part of state government and an equally warm response from the various agencies entrusted with the task of research in frontier technologies.
Given the above background I would like to propose an Integrated Research Complex to be called "Integrated Research Complex, Nalanda (IRCN)". The reason for proposing this complex is three fold. The administrative ease of setting up a large number of varied research centers under multiple agencies, maximizing the synergic relationship through sharing of research resources and, most important, to provide easier linkages with proposed international university.
Administrative ease of setting up such an integrated complex will be evident in planning and provisioning of infrastructures and utility services. A single location integrated campus will also provide for facility of physical linkages between the proposed NIU and this research complex. To realize this research complex government will have to provide around 2000 to 3000 acres of contiguous land. It will have to allocate these lands to the premier research agencies as per their needs. Since most of the agencies are in the process of expanding they would be able to quickly move in the proposed campus. Again common facility center can be set up for these institutions together in regards to township management, utility services management as also in terms of shops and recreational facilities.
Setting up these various institutes in one integrated campus will also help in creating a possibility of sharing of research resources and can also help break barrier of compartmentalization of researches at the agency level. Thus a possibility will emerge for collaborative research as well. Collaborative research could have been possible otherwise also but definitely it will be much better under one integrated campus.
As such the vision behind NIU is quite lofty and can not be realized unless the university is provided with the backdrop of applied research. Mere academic research will not help NIU achieve the aura it once enjoyed. It has to be really planned as a university which facilitates seamless integration between academics and advance applied research. Since at present the applied research itself is compartmentalized between the various agencies, establishing such integration becomes as much difficult. Idea behind setting up IRCN in the physical vicinity of NIU will help us not only achieve integration between the activities of various agencies but will also create strong linkages between academics and applies research. Also, it would be possible to harness the competence of various agencies on larger canvass as offered by their various facilities across the country, for the benefit of NIU.
In the first stage, the prime movers of NIU can start by impressing upon and soliciting the interest of the premier research agencies. Depending on their upcoming plan or their interest the plot size can be marked out for these agencies and then the common facilities, utilities and infrastructure can be provided. Essentially the agencies which can be targeted are CSIR, DoS (ISRO), DAE (TIFR), DRDO, NAL, ICMR, ICAR, DBT, DST, DIT (CDAC) and DoT (CDoT) etc. State may think of inviting private entities like Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI) and international research agencies/organizations including corporate research houses like Intel, GE, Microsoft, IBM, Lucent and likes on to this campus as well. Land requirement of campuses of these agencies would be between 200 to 500 acres each.
Such an action is not only warranted to provide required backdrop for excellence of NIU but also to address the acute deficit of such research institutions in Bihar. Perhaps, lack of such institution has been the prime reason for failure of state economy to get a foothold in the emerging knowledge economy. People who could have lead the knowledge revolution in state migrated to other places and failed to return to the state in a classical conundrum of "it is chicken first or the egg". This way, state became deficient both on technologies and the capable human resources. Thus, it can be said that such an integrated complex is also an economic necessity for Bihar.
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**A Financial Sector Consultant and Research Analyst
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