India's declining ranking

Creativity in Indian Science

This paper reports the findings of a preliminary inquiry which is part of a larger project on creativity among Indian scientists from a psychological perspective. The aim of the project is to explore the scientists' cognitive and emotional ap proaches to work, to understand their personality pattern and to examine the psychosocial influences which have shaped them. The preliminary inquiry in cluded a review of literature and an open-ended interview with 20 scientists who were asked about their definition of creativity, their understanding of creative processes and the personality characteristics of creative people. In addition, infor mation pertaining to the impact of Indian culture on creativity and child rearing practices and codes of interpersonal relationship in India was also elicited. Inter view findings were subjected to a qualitative analysis, critically examining the scientists' views against the available literature on Indian character.

Indian publishing: enduring the boom

There has been a boom in the publication of Indian plant science research in recent years, defying national trends in other sciences and outperforming the international trends in plant science publications. This boom augurs well for India considering the importance of agriculture to her economy and the crucial need for science-based solutions to break the yield barriers. However, sustaining it requires tackling the problems of funding, infrastructure, manpower and other policy issues.