ISLAMABAD: Shorn of its manpower and facilities, the challenge of running the National Institute of Electronics (NIE) would only have been accepted by a mad man. In January of this year, however, the NIE – which is the country’s only research organisation working in the field of electronics – found just the loon they were looking for after 12 years of searching.

Because who but a mad man would leave a cosy job and take the helm of a sinking institution?

“It is do-able,” the new DG, Dr Basharat Mahmood, told Dawn. He now earns half as much as he used to at his last job and commutes in an official vehicle that should be sold off as scrap by now.

“The organisation has been missing determined administrators,” he says, pointing to the plaque on the wall behind his chair. The plaque bears the names of more than 20 men who held the reins of the organisation on acting charge. The NIE has only had four permanent directors general in its history.

This fact, in itself, speaks volumes about the importance the government gives the NIE, which is supposed to support industry by designing technologies, developing human resource and conducting energy audits to minimise power losses.

But the organisation has not been able to do any of this; it has been so short of funds that it is missing half its staff. This is the new DG’s first job – to fill the 104 vacant positions with qualified people.

Since 1994, 14 doctorate-level staffers have quit the NIE. Of the 40 Masters-degree holders originally hired, only four still remain. More than 30 research officers left and only one stayed back.

“The organisation has been missing determined administrators.”

But despite being in dire straits, Dr Mahmood is surprisingly optimistic.

“The organisation is coming to life. We have presented a PC-1 to the government to install around 20,000 LED lights in all Pakistan Secretariat buildings. These lights are being developed and manufactured by the NIE at our research laboratories. They are better than the Chinese lights available in the market,” he said, arguing that this initiative would help generate capital that could then be invested in acquiring the state-of-the-art technology needed to carry out cutting-edge research.

But research and development in Pakistan has suffered so much over the past eight years that most heads of organisations under the Ministry of Science and Technology do not share Dr Mahmood’s optimism.

Work at departments such as the Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF), the Pakistan Council for Science and Technology (PCST), Pakistan Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR), Pakistan Technology Board (PTB), Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA), Pakistan National Accreditation Council (PNAC) and the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) has suffered ever since funding started shrinking some eight years ago.

Funds flowed more freely during Gen Pervez Musharraf’s reign, but were reduced to a trickle after 2008. Compared to the Rs1.6 billion released that year, the government gave less than Rs550 million in 2014-15 to develop new technologies, which the Ministry of Science and Technology distributed amongst its 16 research departments.

Funding for research to these departments ended or was cut so drastically that most qualified staff members immigrated to foreign countries or have taken up teaching jobs in local universities that pay better.

Trained on government expense in water quality management from Japan, USA, Singapore and Korea, Shakil Badshah is an organic chemist and has been associated with the Provision of Safe Drinking Water Project for nearly a decade. He has now started throwing his resume around.

“PCRET needs more than a 100 PhDs to carry out research.”

Fozia Faisal, who is currently completing her MPhil in Environmental Sciences, is trying to immigrate to Canada. With a BSc in Civil Engineering and an MSc in Environmental Engineering, Mohammad Farooq also sees no future with the Pakistan Water Council for Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) if the drinking water project ends after June.

“I have been here for nine years and don’t want to leave. But I have a feeling I won’t have a job after the project ends,” said Mohammad Farooq, another employee.

“I’m almost ready to leave for a PhD in Holland. It will be a fresh start. I want to stay because this is home and there is plenty of potential to work and deliver, but absolutely no job security,” said biochemist Rizwana Perveen, who has worked in PCRWR for the past decade.

Dr Suhail Zaki Farooqi who took over as the new Director General Pakistan Council of Renewable Energy Technologies (PCRET) a month ago has just one PhD-qualified employee.

“PCRET needs more than a 100 PhDs to carry out research in solar, wind, hydropower and biogas technologies so that Pakistan can generate energy through natural resources,” he said.

He pointed to a pile of applications forwarded by the Ministry of Science and Technology asking for nominations for training programmes in Japan, Korea and some European countries. “But I have no one to nominate,” he said with a short, bitter laugh.

Some of the staff in the PCRWR have already left for better opportunities in Saudi Arabia, scholarship programmes in China or the private sector.

“Countries such as China and even India, are now hiring qualified experts from Pakistan,” said a senior PCRWR official.

“A knowledgeable human resource is needed to keep up with the era of globalisation,” said PCRWR Chairman Dr Mohammad Ashraf, quoting Dr Mahatir Mohammad, who oversaw the development of Malaysia.

This is why Dr Basharat Mahmood is trying to hold on to what he calls “the country’s cream”.

The DG may have got the organisation floating, but real research will happen when government provides the funding. But in the meantime, Dr Mahmood is trying to figure out how best to promote research with a development budget that is less than the amount allocated 40 years ago, when the organisation came into being.

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2015

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