Jorhat, March 18: Bharat Ratna awardee and scientist C.N.R. Rao, while admitting that the Northeast was lagging behind the rest of the country in scientific research and education, said here today that more needs to be done to better the situation.

Rao, who is here to deliver the 54th foundation day lecture of the North East Institute of Science and Technology, said barring this research facility and an IIT that has recently been set up, there was very little do with pure research and science.

"There has to be a sitting and a plan chalked out as to how this can be done especially to reach out to the interiors. Many more institutes are required," he said at the end of the lecture.

"Whether it is Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland or Assam many more educational institutes are required here to foster scientific temperament," he said.

On whether Modi's Make in India concept would be successful, Rao said this was a political question which he would rather not answer, but the concept could only be successful in the long term if the foundation of what is made is based on science and technology.

"If we just make something and start selling then it will only be for a short while. If it has to be successful in the long term its foundation has to be science and technology," Rao said.

He said poor industry involvement was another reason why India was lagging behind other neighbouring countries like Japan, South Korea and China in education and science.

"There is almost a 50 per cent investment by industry in other countries but in India it is negligible with the government contributing 90 per cent. Even the government's investment in those countries in education is as high as 4 to 8 per cent of the GDP whereas in India it is less than 1 per cent," he said.

Earlier, in his hard-hitting speech liberally interspersed with quotes by Rabindranath Tagore, Michael Faraday and Robert Frost, Rao said jealousy and envy by senior researchers towards bright and better juniors played a great hindrance to the development of science in society.

"In India it is often seen that a junior researcher who is better is not allowed to come up to his potential by his seniors who try to pull him down and this could be very detrimental. This should change and it is they who should be recruited and allowed to compete with their peers of equal calibre," he said.

Rao said society should encourage science all the way as no economy can grow without a scientific foundation. He also questioned the values of today's parents and children, expressing concern about the future generation.

"In our time, parents were very happy when we returned from stays or studies abroad. Today a parent proudly states that all their children reside outside the country," Rao said.

"We should not hanker after wealth and luxury always but should be able to make do with less and be happy. That is very important and one should never fight otherwise research cannot be done," Rao said, adding that in his 55 years of marriage he has never fought with his wife.

"Moreover, when I see the youth of today, haggard and exhausted at 25, I wonder about the future of these people," he said.

Rao's wife Indumathi, educationist and geography expert, also addressed the gathering.