tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post748202357202328066..comments2024-03-20T13:10:11.477+05:30Comments on nanopolitan: The Curious Case of Dr. Shiva AyyaduraiAbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790560045313883673noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-23309611662744868482009-12-07T15:48:20.382+05:302009-12-07T15:48:20.382+05:30My final post on this blog. My being outstanding o...My final post on this blog. My being outstanding or not was never the issue. Nor did I call people working in the US idiots. Being aware of blogs vs. being knowledgable are different things. Inability to recognize such differences is characteristic of strongly opinionated people charging at windmills. Yes, that is not American language but then I am not American. I have much regard for US institutions and nowhere did I state or imply that my leaving the US was because of disillusionment. It is sad that some of the people on this forum are so bitter about their own country that they cannot imagine anybody returning constructively and of free will. One thing I certainly learnt from Americans was to respect your country even if you differ on matters of policy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-53778703638315371272009-12-06T13:21:51.260+05:302009-12-06T13:21:51.260+05:30Sir you are full of sh..t. You should know better ...Sir you are full of sh..t. You should know better than to defend Bramchari. He should be fired for threatening NYT reporter. He has big ego, he must go. Shiv may be an ass but this guy is even a bigger ass. You wanted to be non productive so you moved to India. What's so great about that. Here you were under microscope 24/7 365 days a year. You are trying to tell us that we in America are all idiots. Thanks for you faith in US institutions. I have had many incompetent faculty members from India at my IVY league US university. I am sorry to say you must be one them. MERE BHARAT MAHAN. You had not heard of blogging and you claim to be this outstanding faculty. It is like saying email did not exist in 1966. Give me a break.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-56726697756523876792009-12-05T15:44:50.509+05:302009-12-05T15:44:50.509+05:30I am a CSIR scientist recruited by Prof. Brahmacha...I am a CSIR scientist recruited by Prof. Brahmachari, and would like to speak for the silent majority of CSIR scientists who like me (until recently) have little knowledge of blogworld. I have previously held tenure-track faculty appointment at a top-10 US institution, and one of my primary reasons to join CSIR was my gut feeling about Dr. Brahmachari's ability to deliver. I am happy to say that I have no regrets about joining CSIR, and can personally vouch for Dr. Brahmachari's capabilities as a visionary leader. I would also like to point out that in the world of grown-ups, it is not necessary that all confrontations have to have a hero and a villain. So why must we malign one, if we want to show merit in the other. Smart and well-intentioned people may have different visions and opinions. Dr. Ayyadurai was unable to work with his superior officers in a constructive manner and had to leave. His knowledge of his field, being a PhD from a reputed lab, is likely to be first-rate; but that is not what his job was about. There is a saying in Hindi "Ghar ki murgi dal barabar" which translates to "we lack respect for our own". I hope that we will not be blinded by such petty-mindedness in this case.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-29374412773018583992009-12-03T00:19:37.675+05:302009-12-03T00:19:37.675+05:30To the guy who did not want expatriate indians to ...To the guy who did not want expatriate indians to come back or is totally shallow (@4).<br />Dude if you got a chance you too will leave everything behind to go to foreign country and live a third class life as servile man. So shut and contribute to the discussion instead of passing your judgement.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-60440236240894860032009-12-02T14:53:26.086+05:302009-12-02T14:53:26.086+05:30Annoy #45, I do not know what type of papers that ...Annoy #45, I do not know what type of papers that professor publish. Publishing a paper is not joke in any reputed journal even if you have manpower/student. If that professor is publishing good paper then he/she is doing greate job because contribution does not mean hard work, even if you are guiding student you are doing greate job. If you feel you can do this job, try to publish paper like that then you will realise, how much effort is required to publish a single paper in good journal.<br /><br />Please respect the person who contribute to science.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-36293483052406296412009-11-30T10:56:46.675+05:302009-11-30T10:56:46.675+05:30Dear Anony @comment #29: Brahmachari publishing 10...Dear Anony @comment #29: Brahmachari publishing 100 or 1000 papers means nothing. When I was a RA at IISc during the mid 90's, the supervising prof had over six hundred publications. Great, right? Except that his "research" was done by his students, and the papers were written by them too. He would get his name into it and send it off to IEEE or SIG*. <br /><br />This happens much more often than you care to count, so don't give much importance to number of publications.Shailhttp://www.shal.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-73560240110588267172009-11-29T19:37:07.844+05:302009-11-29T19:37:07.844+05:30Too many of you are concerned with Mr. Ayyadurai&#...Too many of you are concerned with Mr. Ayyadurai's Publications, but what the world really needs are people who can bring Technology and Business together, exploiting that synergy. This is very difficult to find as most Universities a focused primarily on Academics.<br /><br />Bill Gates is leaps and bounds ahead of Steve Jobs in terms of Programming/Engineering ability, but the [Western] world sees them as worthy competitors.<br /><br />Mark C. Taylor, the chairman of the religion department at Columbia, recently wrote an article [End the University as We Know It] in the NYT that argued for 7-year tenures at all Universities, and that education should be more collaborative and more focused on solving the world's many problems.<br /><br />Complete article here...<br /><br />http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/opinion/27taylor.html?pagewanted=2&emc=eta1<br /><br />Here is an excerpt from another NYT article. Pay attention to the last sentence where Mr. Brahmachari is threatening the NYT reporter. Makes you wonder what it must be like to work with him.<br /><br />...But going public with such accusations is highly unusual. Mr. Ayyadurai circulated his paper not just to the agency’s scientists but to journalists, and wrote about his situation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. India is “sitting on a huge opportunity” to create new businesses and tap into thousands of science and technology experts, Mr. Ayyadurai said, but a “feudal culture” is holding the country back. <br /><br />Mr. Brahmachari said in an interview that Mr. Ayyadurai had misunderstood nearly everything — from his handwritten job offer, which he said was only meant to suggest what Mr. Ayyadurai could receive were he to be hired, to the way Mr. Ayyadurai asked scientists for their feedback on what the C.S.I.R. spinoff should look like. <br /><br />To prove his point, Mr. Brahmachari, who was two hours late for an interview scheduled by his office, read from a government guide about decision-making in the organization. Mr. Ayyadurai didn’t follow protocol, he said. “As long as your language is positive for the organization I have no problem,” he added. <br /><br />As the interview was closing, Mr. Brahmachari questioned why anyone would be interested in the situation, and then said he would complain to a reporter’s bosses in New York if she continued to pursue the story...<br /><br />Complete article on NYT here...<br /><br />"Some Indians Find It Tough to Go Home Again"<br /><br />http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/28/business/global/28return.html?emAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-747360087733647962009-11-29T16:40:55.468+05:302009-11-29T16:40:55.468+05:30I completely agree with the last comment in many w...I completely agree with the last comment in many ways. First of all, a critique of an organization does not always speaks of the quality of people at an organization. There is little doubt in my mind that CSIR has great scientists, maybe even better than Ayyadurai himself. But that is akin to saying India has great people living in it and therefore it is a perfectly function democracy. As far as other things are concerned, we are quite ready to admit that organizational bureaucracy holds back quite a few things. I see Ayyadurai's critique as no differnt. Besides, he was hired to specifically form a profit making venture CSIR-tech as a spinoff of CSIR. Hence, if he claims that with a budge of 500 millions (by the way, their website itself claims that they are probably the world largest publicly funded R&D lab), all they are able to generate is techology worth 80 million and that if not for the organizational hurdles they would be able to generate much more, what exactly is wrong about it? [This argument can be made even though it hasnt and is probably not worth pushing, but it is our money isn't it. The government funds the lab from the taxes it gets from us presumably. ]<br /><br />As far as the comments about his qualifications are concerned, I think they take away from the main point. Like i read somewhere before, if he was incompetent why was he hired? Eitherways, it actually goes against the very people Ayyadurai wrote the report against. Apart from that, from what i have read he is pretty competent for the job he was hired which was essentially trying to push for a climate where it is easier for people to pursue direcly applicable research. That kind of work to my knowledge requires not so many publications but an acumen to be able to turn your ideas into something practical. I would have cried foul if the goal was to disrupt an environment of doing pure science and research, but that does not seem to be the case at all. <br /><br />As far as the salary is concerned, he agreed to it upfront. Though i smell something fishy. They should just make the report public. That way, people can get a sense of what exactly he was trying to say.shalinsterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00574713645976639805noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-22864717913324637602009-11-29T11:38:40.926+05:302009-11-29T11:38:40.926+05:30Mr. Ayyadurai is the founder and stake holder in t...Mr. Ayyadurai is the founder and stake holder in two multi million dollar enterprises. So Rs.60000+Rs.12000 a month does not exactly sink his ship. Good, we got that out of the way.<br /><br />Next, Brahmachari is one arrogant person is he not, if per the NY Times article published November 27, 2009, he was 2 hours late for an appointment (Speaks volumes for his leadership and management style) and if he threatened the NY Times liason reporter that he would report her to her boss in New York (!)<br /><br />Furthermore, if Ayyadurai is such an incompetent person ... well how many people in the CSIR have had 26 years in constant academic, research AND business involvement at a prestigious institute such as the MIT or it's Indian equivalents? <br /><br />Last, but not the least, what is wrong if a scientist who has a business acumen, (and who indeed, was hired to make the CSIR a business friendly lab) actually goes about doing EXACTLY THAT and brings to attention the relative (in)-competencies and hurdles to attention of the management that hired him to do so in the first place?<br /><br />TYPICALLY DESI BUREAUCRACY.<br />HOW DO YOU EXPECT INDIANS TO RETURN AND DO ANYTHING FOR THEIR COUNTRY? AND THEN AGAIN, WHY SHOULD THEY? WHY DO THEY? FOR THIS? SHAME!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-47470883214431104332009-11-29T04:19:18.385+05:302009-11-29T04:19:18.385+05:30Folks:
I don't know Siva Ayyadurai, but I kne...Folks:<br /><br />I don't know Siva Ayyadurai, but I knew his thesis advisor, Prof. C. Forbes Dewey, when I did my PhD in the Fluid Mechanics Lab at MIT more than 15 years ago, where prof Dewey was appointed. He was one tough cookie! I will not dismiss Ayyadurai just on the ground that he got his PhD under Prof. Dewey.Samnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-47258355527680609122009-11-29T04:00:19.802+05:302009-11-29T04:00:19.802+05:30This may be an opportunity for a public discussion...This may be an opportunity for a public discussion on the broader issue of admistrative incompetence at public academic and research institutions in India, besides the issues specific to the two individuals, Ayyadurai and Brahmchari. Over the past 25 years I have known many Indian scientists and engineers who returned to India only to leave in disillusionment soon after. The institutions included such well respected ones as the IITs. One of the most common has been reneging on verbal promises of every kind, the most common being housing. Even the written agreements have been further "bargained" at the threat of indefinite delays to meet the written agreements. Such tactics are employed at every administrative level. But the saddest chapter is typically started when the higest authorities i.e. the directors etc. get involved. The naive idealist returning from the West realizes the rot started at the top, only to trickle down.Samnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-22415223221581230762009-11-29T01:47:50.179+05:302009-11-29T01:47:50.179+05:30A few points:
1. What should be the right credent...A few points:<br /><br />1. What should be the right credentials/experience for a person heading CSIR-Tech (what should be the job description): A person with a scientific background at highest level, solid understanding of technology licensing, knowledge on legal framework, basic understanding of international patent law and solid understanding of running a scientific/technology start-up: From all these counts, Ayyadurai has the right credentials (or so it appears from his website)<br /><br />2. It's not pertinent to discuss how good of a scientist Ayyadurai is/was or how many citations his publications have received, why? because this is not relevant for the job that he was supposedly hired for. His job was NOT to be a practicing scientist in a CSIR lab BUT to understand hidden treasures in CSIR labs and help commercialise those.<br /><br />3. I wonder if its possible to get hold of the whole report by filing a request under government's Right To Information Act (I am not even sure whether RTI act applies to internal government reports before they are finalized/approved). This would help clarify a lot of comments & counter-comments.<br /><br />4. No mater how much of a problem CSIR or its current leadership has, as its supposedly been portrayed by the report, Ayyadurai's style of functioning was not right. You can't and shouldn't try to impose US style of management in India. This doesn't necessarily mean that there is no folly in our system but we should rectify the system to be better and more efficient within our own framework rather than copying others blindly. Ayyadurai should have had a candid talk with the DG in a one-to-one setting (we don't know whether he did) in stead of making the report public to all of CSIR's scientists (which he did). Its not what Ayyadurai said in the report but how he said it. <br /><br />5. We, Indians, are very touchy about anyone and everyone who is critical about us/our style of functioning/our system. A mature nation/system takes things in stride rather than being reactionary. Hence, let's examine what we could all do to better our own surrounding rather than lamenting on it.<br /><br />Looking at the brighter side, one can only hope that something good comes out of it at the end.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-24905110373370571892009-11-28T23:18:12.163+05:302009-11-28T23:18:12.163+05:30I think the last paragraph of the New York Times a...I think the last paragraph of the New York Times article is very revealing about the administration.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-64473907549328551602009-11-28T22:54:21.549+05:302009-11-28T22:54:21.549+05:30You want to know the true face of Samir Brahmachar...You want to know the true face of Samir Brahmachari "the Dictator" read the laest news article from "The New York times" (go to the end of the article).<br />(http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/28/business/global/28return.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print)<br /><br />After interviewing with Brahmachari on Shiva controversy HEATHER TIMMONS of the NY times reports that:<br /><br />"As the interview was closing, Mr. Brahmachari questioned why anyone would be interested in the situation, and then said he would complain to a reporter’s bosses in New York if she continued to pursue the story."<br /><br />" Mr. Brahmachari, who was two hours late for an interview scheduled by his office"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-9600449085428164652009-11-28T20:08:31.354+05:302009-11-28T20:08:31.354+05:30@10:20:00 AM - Only you seem to get the point righ...@10:20:00 AM - Only you seem to get the point right. Citations since 2007 (now being 2009) should hardly be a top criteria. A lot of researchers in India also publish a lot of papers which are cited within their papers or peer group and most of the times in sub-standard journals. Nothing wrong with that, just that citations should be taken with a pinch of salt. It takes a great researcher (the recruiter) and his advisory committee to actually see potential in a young candidate. <br /><br />In the US, while people do trying to sell their work, the market is so brutal that if you made it moderately big (like this guy, chances are that he is a genuine in his accomplishments). For those who do not know about EchoMail, there are hundreds of such small innovations in the US, and THAT is the strength of US - small ideas chased and nurtured by young minds). Something unfathomable in India.<br /><br />The truth is most higher appointees in India are political. I am not sure about Dr. Brahmachari but I would not be surprised if he was a above average researcher who made his way up by brown-nosing. A lot of good young Indian researchers also understand this but do not try to complicate matters - rather they try to justify their surroundings.<br /><br />I hope there is a silent revolution where the private sector picks up these brains and recruits them for science. Organizations like CSIR and DRDO will always be drain to tax-payers money due to corrupt leaders (maybe like the one mentioned here). <br /><br />-A young scientist in the US who has had people close to higher research in IndiaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-31518781050406815372009-11-28T10:20:21.810+05:302009-11-28T10:20:21.810+05:30"Some Indians Find It Tough to Go Home Again&..."Some Indians Find It Tough to Go Home Again"<br />http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/28/business/global/28return.html?emc=eta1<br /><br />There is a lot of meaningless debate about citations. This guy seems to have graduated with his PhD in 2007. How many scientists have a admirable citation record within 2 years?scnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-71095557131463997922009-11-23T12:42:37.827+05:302009-11-23T12:42:37.827+05:30@Anony 7:02 : I have known Prof Brahmachari for qu...@Anony 7:02 : I have known Prof Brahmachari for quite some time now. The company that you have been mentioning is not his and he has no stakes in the company- you can see it for yourself at http://tcgaresearch.org .Don't please sh*t out in public. Probably you would like to see this : http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-deserves-Nobel-for-dirt-filth-Jairam/H1-Article1-478465.aspxAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-67811315075932608332009-11-23T12:20:26.596+05:302009-11-23T12:20:26.596+05:30Hey Anony,
You should be ashamed of commenting on...Hey Anony,<br /><br />You should be ashamed of commenting on something you don't even know a bit of.<br /><br />Open Source Drug Discovery has been one of the most "Open" projects in CSIR and a casual look into the website of OSDD www.osdd.net reveals close to 2000 (2000 man !!!) people have alsready registered themselves. A large number of projects are open there and in addition, they have managed to put up a summer research project, which the site claims has got 100 researchers registered in a day.<br /><br />We all know you Anon and your tribe , and don't behave like a politician taking a chance here and there !!. No wonder it is not the Indian media who writes about OSDD and looks up at CSIR.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-12162584323335662832009-11-21T07:02:02.189+05:302009-11-21T07:02:02.189+05:30I have met Bramhachari in person. He is a great ma...I have met Bramhachari in person. He is a great manipulator and politician. He has also made enough money by creating his own pvt company that provides services on genomics. He benefitted his company by passing it insitutional jobs.project that were running on government funding. He is shit and talks shit. At one meeting at IMTECH, chandigarh he demeaned PhD research scholar by saying that PhDs are byproduct of CSIR functioning and not its main concern. He is promting peple who are favoring him to higher appointments. The open source for drug discovery is a great fasade and I bet you nothing will come out of it except publicity and media writing. The major brains working on this project are Dr. GPS Raghava group and few others at IGIB New Delhi but this fu**ker projecting it as if he is doing everything. If he remains in office he will keep raping the whole Indian scientific talents for his own fortune.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-5468507664090529472009-11-17T11:46:03.420+05:302009-11-17T11:46:03.420+05:30Snake oil salesman = " Dr. VA Shiva Ayyadurai...Snake oil salesman = " Dr. VA Shiva Ayyadurai "Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-31268942656179619472009-11-14T22:20:24.594+05:302009-11-14T22:20:24.594+05:30@Anon (1:07 AM): You ought to be ashamed of your c...@Anon (1:07 AM): You ought to be ashamed of your comment. Get a life, will you?<br /><br />Go away!Abihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06790560045313883673noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-63202761910169528352009-11-14T20:32:48.309+05:302009-11-14T20:32:48.309+05:30Dear Anony
Yours comments are more personal than p...Dear Anony<br />Yours comments are more personal than professional. I do not know Bhramchari persnally but I saw his Biodata available on net. He is successful scientist published more than 100 papers in high ranking journals all papers have high citations. He is responsible to convert from nearly non-functional institute to successful institute. He is a successful scientist not politician. We normally attach our authorities without knowing truth. This is the reason people do not believe critics.<br /><br />ScientistAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-9721040314441398012009-11-14T01:07:39.153+05:302009-11-14T01:07:39.153+05:30I do not know how many of you who posted views her...I do not know how many of you who posted views here ever interacted with current DG Dr. Samir Bhramchari in person. I do not know Dr. Ayyadurai therefore I will refrain to comment on his credentials. But Dr. Bhramchari is a politician and manipulator that is why he got his current job. During one of my personal meetings with him he was continuously scratching himself like a monkey, sticking his finger in his nose several times every minute and clearing his cough filled throat and swallowing cough every minute. Another time I saw him in front of a foreign delegation in his office and he was behaving the same way. Everybody in that delegation was irritated when DG was nose picking in front of everybody. This DG does not know how to behave in public. A third grade politician from Bihar knows better. If you analyze his recent appointments for the post of directors in various CSIR labs, you will realize that current DG is very shrewd politician. The excuse "financial mismatch" is bullshit.<br />But that is the norm in any Govt of India organization.<br />Jai Hind.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-83845074525977527372009-11-13T23:36:09.050+05:302009-11-13T23:36:09.050+05:30And so the sad tale of our research institutes con...And so the sad tale of our research institutes continues, ruled by mediocrity, dictatorial and whimsical leadership, and failure to solve actual problems.Hutomhttp://calcuttachronicles.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/shiva-the-destroyer/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-59767721123232709772009-11-13T04:30:03.907+05:302009-11-13T04:30:03.907+05:30@ vpatel -
Could you post/email a copy of the re...@ vpatel - <br /><br />Could you post/email a copy of the report? I'd love to see why it caused so much trouble.Navaneethan Santhanamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14123247487566198988noreply@blogger.com