Bangalore, now known as Bengaluru, has long been hailed as the Silicon Valley of India. A hub of leading IT industries in the country, it is the dream destination for aspiring Indians looking to make it big. The money and the associated lifestyle is certainly an added perk. However, eminent scientist CNR Rao has highlighted a different point of view about the city's growing IT industry which is likely to raise a few eyebrows. Accusing the IT industry and the people associated with it of being a blot on Bangalore's thriving intellectual space, the Bharat Ratna awardee scientist has lashed out at the IT culture in the heart of the city.
In an article in Outlook, while calling himself a "real Banglorean", Rao expresses his burning hatred towards the new "IT city" which was once regarded as an intellectual city. He also holds the thriving IT industry as responsible for dumping 'intellectual garbage' in the city. CNR Rao is currently the head of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India.
Reminiscing the simplicity and culture before the IT boom, Rao draws a contrast between the new and old world. "The city we have created in recent years is rotten—highly polluted, garbage strewn everywhere, including the intellectual garbage dumped on this city by the IT industry."
He points out that the increase in the growing urban middle class due to new job opportunities has led to the decline in the intellectual content of the garden city. "An NRI recently asked me, if India is so great in IT, how come it produces only 25 PhDs in computer science per year?"
He also blames the failure of long term planning as a result of the inflating IT culture. "Right in the beginning, the IT industry should have planned their campuses in towns like Ramanagaram (40-odd km from Bangalore). They should have created IT satellite towns, but they all wanted land inside the city. "
Taking a personal dig at prominent figures like Narayan Murthy, he claims, "Our society has created a bunch of icons and role models who are distorting not just the future of this city but of India and our sense of values."
Ending on an extreme note, Rao goes on to say, "If IT is going to take away our basic values, then you can burn Bangalore and burn IT."
