Story of Potholes & Pay Scales — In India, Many Potholes and Not Enough Engineers
NYT’s wonderful analysis hits the nail by pointing out the underlying problem: salaries. Having studied Civil engineering and worked in that part of the world, I can perfectly relate to this situation. It was one of the reasons why I decided to leave the country to explore opportunities in the West.
India really should buck up and address the discrepancies in its salary structures across the industries or else it will be always playing catch up with the other economies around the world..
China has leaped technologically in just two decades and matched its economic growth by tremendously investing and improving its infrastructure, which is made possible by a steady stream of civil engineering graduates.. On the other hand, though India’s academic institutions churn out a good number of civil engineers, many of them are lured away from the profession by the riches and air-conditioned comfort of the software shops… Unless this situation changes, the country’s roads will continue to remain poor and eventually will drag down the economic progress..
Oh, Civil Engineering is not the only profession that has taken a hit from this software-industry propelled economic boom. Many other branches of engineering are also suffering the same fate.The situation is even worse for those with arts and science degrees…
Despite this nation’s rise as a technology titan with some of the best engineering minds in the world, its full economic potential is stifled by potholed roads, collapsing bridges, rickety railroads and a power grid so unreliable that many modern office buildings run their own diesel generators to make sure the lights and computers stay on. It is not for want of money. The Indian government aims to spend $500 billion on infrastructure by 2012 and twice that amount in the following five years.
The problem is a dearth of engineers — or at least of civil engineers with the skill and expertise to make sure those ambitious projects are done on time and to specification.
Civil engineering was once an elite occupation in India, not only during the British colonial era of carving roads and laying train tracks, but long after independence as part of the civil service. These days, though, India’s best and brightest know there is more money and prestige in writing software for foreign customers than in building roads for their nation.
