India's Real Problem-Solvers

Exactly five years ago, I had interviewed A.M. Naik, the big chief at Larsen & Toubro. As always, he was brutally honest and candid. He had lashed out at his own engineers, accusing the best of the lot of fleeing the country to pursue a career in the software industry. In engineering college campuses, not too many people wanted to join an engineering firm and dirty their hands. That merely left “the leftover of the leftovers” for premier engineering companies like L&T to hire.

When the interview appeared in The Times of India where I worked then, it sparked off a controversy inside L&T. His employees were up in arms against their chairman for his disparaging remarks. I’m not sure what Naik did to mollify them. But five years later, I’m not sure that the situation on the ground has changed all that much. Software jobs may have lost some of their lustre, but engineering hasn’t quite regained its place in the sun. Young people still prefer a desk job in a comfortable air-conditioned environment over the dust and grime of a project site.

There’s no point in getting drawn into value judgment. But this is something worth thinking about. In China, young people have come forward to build the bridges, ports and roads that their country needs. For the next five years, India will witness one of the biggest build-up in infrastructure anywhere in the world. It is far from clear whether there will be enough capable engineers coming forward to build the country’s backbone.

And it isn’t just about offering more money and perks. It represents a massive generational shift. The old industrial corporations like L&T and Siemens were built for lifers. They offered low salaries, steady career growth based on seniority, but good retirement benefits. CEOs like Naik and his peers were willing to wait for 40 years to rise to the very top. Today’s young people put a premium on work-life balance and seek instant gratification. Hence, all the benefits have to be front-loaded. For the past five years, L&T and other engineering firms have tried to remake their corporations, even offering stock options to hold on to talent. Naik even went to the extent of starting a software company to retain talent. Things have improved considerably, but I’m not sure the outcome is still going their way. Associate Editor T. Surendar’s story on L&T uncovers this crisis in our latest issue (dated 5th March 2010).

Science and engineering help solve real world problems. Scientists and engineers, perhaps, need more recognition than our financial engineers. Ashish Mishra’s story on V.K. Raina on page 58, the scientist who opened our eyes to Glaciergate, is a must read. Raina lived on the fringes of the scientific community, before the environment ministry decided to use his skills. Today, his pioneering work on the Himalayan glaciers has received global acclaim and brought new understanding to the climate change debate. India needs to celebrate its scientists like Raina.