Bharat Nirman?

India, as this newspaper reported last Friday, produces far fewer civil engineers than its needs. If the situation doesn’t change soon, the economy will bear witness to infrastructure delays because of lack of qualified personnel. Only about 10 per cent of students opt for civil engineering at the IITs and a meagre 200 of the 1700 AICTE-approved colleges offer a course in it. The reason is the more lucrative IT sector. As potential employers and teachers complain, the lure of higher salaries draws students to computer science and electronics. The implication is that the market is guilty, or the economic liberalisation that engendered the IT revolution. But it is the market itself that, today, is begging for civil engineers. While the re-employment of retired servicemen is mitigating the problem to a nominal extent, the fact remains that India, as a rapidly developing economy, is witnessing a building boom. Linked to this growth in residential and commercial housing is our need for roads, bridges, railroads, nuclear reactors, etc — the modern infrastructure that India must have. This needs a steady supply of quality civil engineers, trained in the latest technology.

However, the sad story of civil engineering is symptomatic of higher education in general in India. Demand exceeds supply in every conceivable way in this sphere. We don’t have colleges and universities enough to cater to the demand for academic and vocational education. When and where we do have the institutions, they are deprived of the necessary infrastructure and faculty strength. Thus, students suffer and their potential to serve the new economy remains curbed. So is it with civil engineering where the market is deprived in terms of quantity and quality of human resources.

While IT is the hallmark of the new economy, and must continue to attract some of the best brains at the best rates, it should not be forgotten that people will always need houses, roads and bridges regardless of the other miracles of technology. And first-rate infrastructure is both a cause and an effect of economic growth. Now that the market is valuing civil engineers once more, the government and the institutions concerned must act to raise supply to meet demand. But that cannot happen overnight. It calls for investment by the state and by the owners of private engineering colleges — in faculty, equipment, seats — and a change of mindset. The debate is not about the superiority of civil engineering. They are simply being asked to respond to market signals.