Our country maybe celebrated on the world stage for introducing a clan of incredible artists in various fields of liberal arts ranging from literature and music to philosophy and theatre but humanistic disciplines that were once synonymous to those ‘great’ and ‘intellectual’ no longer seem to be a lucrative preference for the young scholars.

Instead, they are considered as an alternative for those unable to digest hefty laws of physics or mind-bogging compounds of chemistry.

The bygone year left so much awakening and self-realization in the country but still a substantially large chunk of citizenry remains crippled with herd mentality while charting a future career. It seems the country has gone gaga over engineering. Almost every second student, regardless of interest and appetite for the subject, opts for engineering at the graduation level.

Although, there is dearth of publicly available data dealing in this matter but whatever little statistics could be procured, they point towards a not-so-pleasant facet.

A study conducted by Duke University in 2008 said that in India 3, 50,000 engineers graduated in 2004 whereas in United States and China merely 70,000 and 60,000 did so. Worse, for every one million citizen, India produced only 200 technology specialists as opposed to United States and China which produced 750 and 500 respectively. Keeping in focus the present wretched state of engineering in the country, the figures, undoubtedly, must not have improved.

Jatin Chawla, an eminent educationist and Director of the Center for Career Development (CCD) New Delhi, said, “A lot of students think about engineering because others are also thinking of the same and it is prestigious to do it. Understand if you are really interested in doing something technical or working in manufacturing or better still research and development, then decide about engineering.”

“A number of students just take up engineering after intermediate and work in computer programming area or do Masters in Business Administration (MBA) and become managers. They must think properly before deciding upon this”, added Chawla who has been doing a number of career oriented shows on television and writes for various newspapers and magazines on the same issue.

Unfortunately, the ‘rat-race’ is further beguiled by mushrooming of various private colleges across the country. These colleges have no merit criterion for admissions and one is good to be tagged as an engineer just by paying a lofty amount of fees.

Rangan Banerjee, Dean (Research and Development) of IIT Bombay in his book ‘Engineering Education in India’ indicates the trend in recent few years whereupon the brightest students opt for engineering after the intermediate and how has this resulted in significant unemployment among graduating engineers despite a spurt of engineering colleges, mainly in the private sector.

Moreover, the commercialization of education through coaching institutions specialized only for engineering competitive exams, especially the one for Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), have only worsened the situation.

Kota, the hub of coaching centers, alone has a record of more than 40,000 students joining it annually in hopes of making to an elite engineering college.

Abhishek Gambhir, a first-year student of Computer Science Engineering from IIT Ropar said, “Nowadays people don’t want to become engineers. All they want is to become IITians. However, one should realize that it is more important to have an inclination for engineering itself than an inclination for IIT. Only if you have the former, you must opt for this field.”

Interestingly, youngsters are driven towards this mad rush despite lack of job opportunities and certainly without any scope for fame. Since the recession hit the country, only a handful of engineering graduates from reputed colleges are picked up by companies for a handsome salary. Those from mediocre private colleges largely remain unemployed. As far as the fame quotient lies, there has hardly been any engineer who has earned himself a name amongst the who’s who of this mad-after-celebrity country.

Shubham Mittal, an engineering graduate from a private college in Uttar Pradesh believes that so much takers of this profession have deteriorated the conditions in the industry. He said, “Even after putting my blood and sweat in this course, I didn’t land up getting any job. People like me have no other option but to pursue higher education in management to get a respectable job. Engineering in this country is in a really pitiful state.”

The most deplorable factor that can be attributed for the miserable situation is the orthodox thought process of the country that is deemed to be an emerging super power. The society hasn’t evolved to a point where it can recognize or easily accept a male pursuing a liberal arts course. Certain professions have been linked to either genders and people find it difficult to deviate from the set guidelines.

While technical professions like engineering and medical are assumed to be for male bastion, those involving finer skills like literature, painting etc. are believed to be for their female counterparts. This is precisely the reason behind why apart from Birju Maharaj; the world has not witnessed any acclaimed male Kathak dancer from India.

The splendid fabric of Indian history is replete with myriad artistic tints. To its making have gone the mellifluous music of Tansen, the literary works of Tagore, the stupefying Kathak of Shambu Maharaj and great philosophies of Swami Vivekananda, among others. The country indeed has a remarkable legacy of liberal arts, which is fast being eroded with the upcoming trend of ‘engineer-o-mania’.

Unfortunately, those who try to break-free from the web of illusions the society has weaved, are criticized and discouraged to the point where they are completely shattered and broken. Very few go ahead to become the likes of great men who have earned themselves a reputation in liberal arts field.

Sagar Sachdeva, a student of English Literature in Sri Venkateswara College, Delhi University said, “Deciding to take up Literature as a subject for college studies meant a long struggle to convince family members. Even in class, boys are in minority. Though I was able to persuade my parents to allow me to take up this course, there are many others who want to do it but still don’t get an opportunity to pursue it because of their parents or other so called ‘practical reasons’.”

While education should primarily be seen as a value addition, existing competition make it impossible not to attach monetary expectations accrued from professional competencies.

However, whether running behind engineering to stay ahead of rat race will serve any purpose other than a life-long frustration of doing something one never believed in, is a larger dilemma, some are equally battling with.