Narayana Murthy Exclusive | Infosys Prize

Well, this has been a 10-year journey, as I pointed out at the prize announcement ceremony. We wanted this to become the preeminent prize in India. Therefore, we said we will have the best possible jury chairs, we will provide them absolute freedom to choose whosoever they think is the best winner based on meritocracy. The Infosys Science Foundation would just not interfere in any of their deliberations. Third, we created the prize in six categories, both Sciences, Arts, Social Sciences, and Engineering. We have had some of the names that have gone on to win even bigger prizes on a global scale. We have had Manjul Bhargava, Venkatesh, then we have had Ashok Sen who won the Millennium Prize, and Priyamvada Natarajan who is highly respected in astronomy throughout the world. Coming to 2018, I think we have continued gender diversity. We have two women, we are very, very happy about it. Second, for the first time, the Physical Sciences jury has realized the importance of climate change for India. Therefore, they must have deliberated on this issue. This morning when I came to know that they had chosen an expert in the area of climate change, I was very, very happy. So in other words, this year's prize indicates that the jury is alive to the challenges and problems faced by India.

As a matter of principle, we don't get into the details of who they choose, how they choose. That is completely the prerogative of the jury. However, as observers from outside, I agree with you that there are more and more winners from India. They are tackling bigger and bigger problems that have value to the country. There is a focus on women, as I pointed out, which has been the result of the wisdom of the jury. So overall, I am quite happy with the way this prize is evolving.

Well, there are many initiatives that we have taken up. For example, we have held summer programs for school children in science and mathematics. We have got children from government schools and private schools. This year we are working with the New York Academy of Sciences on a competition for children to come up with solutions to some interesting problems. We have arranged for the Infosys Prize winners to go and give lectures to youngsters at different cities in the country. Today you saw the announcement of the prize by six youngsters. They were all school children. That itself is an affirmation of our belief that we have to involve the youngsters more and more in some way in our Infosys Science Foundation activities so that those youngsters are even more enthusiastic about science.

Well, more than the financial aspect, I do believe that the role models in science, engineering, and mathematics in the country and from abroad have to communicate more and more to our youngsters. We have to create a program whereby these role models go to cities, small towns, to the extent possible, and speak about the exciting problems that confront the human race and how science, technology, and mathematics can indeed find a solution to these problems. If we did that, I believe that we will be kindling or rekindling the interest of our children in pursuing science. I think the government has increased the salaries of teachers in schools and colleges to the extent that is possible. It's not that bad. Therefore, I would not so much think that financial inadequacy in terms of salaries is the main problem. I think we do not have enough public leaders who are standing up day in and day out and speaking about the importance of science and technology in creating a better India in the future.

I personally feel money is not the problem. I think there are enough grants. The previous government and this government both have done a good job in increasing the allocation to primary and higher education. The issue is really one of creating excitement in our children, excitement in our youngsters. The issue is one of being more open-minded to benchmark ourselves with the best in the world. The issue is one of being more open-minded to welcome universities from abroad that can help our universities to reach even higher orbits. The issue is one of creating exchange of ideas and views between scientists abroad and scientists in India. In other words, create opportunities for our scientists to travel abroad more and for scientists abroad, at least of Indian origin, to come more often to India, to hold more and more international conferences in India. You know, like the MobiCom which happened in New Delhi. You were in New Delhi where my son was involved. He was a general chair and gave a brilliant speech, a stunning, very inspiring speech. So I think those are the issues that need to be tackled.

I would say that our children must focus on understanding the nature around them and use science to understand nature. For example, why do we say the sun rises in the east? What do we mean by an eclipse? Why do we see a red and yellow sun in the morning and in the evening? Why does heat go only from a hot body to a cold body and not vice versa? Why is the sun sending so much energy? Why is the sun so bright white? What does it mean to us that the sun is 93 million miles away from us? What is happening there? They have to understand that hydrogen is being converted into helium due to nuclear fusion and that's how that kind of energy is released. I think if our children can start understanding the natural phenomena around us using scientific theory, and then they should start thinking about solving the strangeness that they see in nature using the imagination of their mind, I believe that India will indeed produce very high quality scientists.

Well, there are several startups which have used deep learning and machine learning. After all, deep learning and machine learning is by and large pattern matching for a large number of variables, and that requires huge amounts of data, or what's called big data. If you want to do research in finding a cure for cancer or cure for other diseases, you obviously need large amounts of data. That fortunately is available in India. I also see startups using artificial intelligence and cognitive sciences in other areas. So it is alive and kicking. But how many of these companies will indeed grow to be a size of Infosys is something only time alone will tell.