By Dr. K. Javeed Nayeem, MD
It has been reported that the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has recently issued an advisory to Central Universities in the country to discourage research scholars from selecting pointless topics as research subjects. It has done this in response to the concern expressed at a recent meeting in Delhi by the Vice-Chancellors of many Universities over the irrelevant research that is now being done in our country which has no real relevance to our needs as a vibrant nation. This advisory that all research done in our country should be relevant to our national priorities has already received much criticism from some quarters as it has been seen as a restriction on the freedom of our scholars to select subjects of their choice for research.
