Research is only path to a better India and world, says Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy
Bengaluru (PTI): IT industry veteran N R Narayana Murthy on Wednesday emphasised the need to strengthen India's national and institutional focus on research, saying it is the only path to make the country and the world a better place.
He called on India to create an aspirational, meritocratic and competitive research ecosystem that offers a rewarding environment for scientists, engineers, economists, mathematicians and humanists.
Speaking at the announcement of the Infosys Prize 2025 here, Murthy quoted Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, and said research represents “the broadening of the mind” that leads to unravelling the mysteries of nature, seeing what others have not yet seen, and finding plausibly impossible solutions to the problems faced by humankind.
“The need of the day for our country is to strengthen our national and institutional focus on research for a better India and for a better world,” he said.
Murthy cited former US President Franklin D Roosevelt’s letter to Dr Vannevar Bush, head of the Office of Scientific Research and Development under his administration, saying it led to a monumental report titled "Science — The Endless Frontier" and to the formation of the National Science Foundation in the US.
He further said the report paved the way for America’s leadership in scientific and engineering research productivity, its space explorations, uninterrupted research funding, and the success of its universities, laboratories and corporations — making the US a superpower.
Quoting a range of thinkers from Jawaharlal Nehru to Richard Feynman, Alan Turing, Thomas Alva Edison and Jennifer Doudna, Murthy said curiosity, imagination and persistence form the bedrock of scientific discovery.
"Research in universities, laboratories, libraries and companies is born from such curiosity, imagination, Socratic questioning, daring and humility. Research effort needs audacity, daring, unbridled imagination and the ability not to be cowed down by failures,” he said.
He emphasised that research is also about not feeling defeated by failures, learning from them, avoiding mistakes in the future and improving continuously.
Murthy recalled that the much-respected economist-philosopher Dr Amartya Sen believed that development is freedom and conducted extensive research on how these two ideas are linked.
“Research in economics and social sciences guides us to understand how science and technology translate into prosperity, justice, equity, freedom and dignity. Research in the humanities reminds us that knowledge must always serve an ethical purpose.”
According to him, the voices of Franklin Roosevelt and Vannevar Bush, Jawaharlal Nehru and Richard Feynman, Alan Turing and Thomas Edison, Joseph Fourier and Manjul Bhargava, Milton Friedman and Amartya Sen and Charles Darwin and Jennifer Doudna underline a common theme — that research is humanity’s noblest collective enterprise.
“It demands courage, persistence and imagination. It bridges science and society, reason and values, and ethics and dignity,” he said.
Murthy said India must recommit itself to nurturing research ecosystems. “Such nurturing requires us to make this country an aspirational, meritocratic, competitive, welcoming, exciting, comfortable, rewarding and enjoyable place for researchers and their families — among our young scientists, engineers, economists, mathematicians and humanists," he said.
"It is our sacred duty to ensure that these role models find a highly competitive intellectual environment that reveres a hierarchy of ideas rather than a hierarchy of titles and offices."
Murthy observed that creating such an ecosystem for research is an unfailing national duty, as research is the only means to make India and the world better places.
“This is the only way we can fulfil the dreams of our founding fathers, who sacrificed their lives to create an India where the poorest child in the remotest village would have access to nutrition, healthcare, shelter, education and an opportunity to lead a fulfilling life. That responsibility of fulfilling their dreams lies on the broad, daring, imaginative and caring shoulders of the Infosys Prize laureates of 2025,” he added.
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Texas halts H-1B visas at state universities, agencies; to affect Indians
Houston (US) (PTI): Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered state agencies and public universities to immediately halt new H-1B visa petitions, tightening hiring rules at taxpayer-funded institutions, a step likely to impact Indian professionals.
The freeze will remain in effect through May 2027.
The directive issued on Tuesday said that the state agencies and public universities must stop filing new petitions unless they receive written approval from the Texas Workforce Commission.
The governor's order, in a red state that is home to thousands of H-1B visa holders, comes as the Trump administration has initiated steps to reshape the visa programme.
“In light of recent reports of abuse in the federal H-1B visa programme, and amid the federal government’s ongoing review of that programme to ensure American jobs are going to American workers, I am directing all state agencies to immediately freeze new H-1B visa petitions as outlined in this letter,” Abbot said.
Institutions must also report on H-1B usage, including numbers, job roles, countries of origin, and visa expiry dates, the letter said.
US President Donald Trump on September 19 last year signed a proclamation ‘Restriction on entry of certain non-immigrant workers’ that restricted the entry into the US of those workers whose H-1B petitions are not accompanied or supplemented by a payment of USD 1,00,000.
The H1-B visa fee of USD 1,00,000 would be applicable only to new applicants, i.e. all new H-1B visa petitions submitted after September 21, including those for the FY2026 lottery.
Indians make up an estimated 71 per cent of all approved H-1B applications in recent years, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), with China in the second spot. The major fields include technology, engineering, medicine, and research.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is the second-highest beneficiary with 5,505 approved H-1B visas in 2025, after Amazon (10,044 workers on H-1B visas), according to the USCIS. Other top beneficiaries include Microsoft (5,189), Meta (5,123), Apple (4,202), Google (4,181), Deloitte (2,353), Infosys (2,004), Wipro (1,523) and Tech Mahindra Americas (951).
Texas public universities employ hundreds of foreign faculty and researchers, many from India, across engineering, healthcare, and technology fields.
Date from Open Doors -- a comprehensive information resource on international students and scholars studying or teaching at higher education institutions in the US -- for 2022-2023 showed 2,70,000 students from India embarked on graduate and undergraduate degrees in US universities, accounting for 25 per cent of the international student population in the US and 1.5 per cent of the total student population.
Indian students infuse roughly USD 10 billion annually into universities and related businesses across the country through tuition and other expenses – while also creating around 93,000 jobs, according to the Open Doors data.
Analysts warn the freeze could slow recruitment of highly skilled professionals, affecting academic research and innovation.
Supporters say the directive protects local jobs, while critics caution it could weaken Texas’ competitiveness in higher education and research.
The order comes amid broader debate in the US over skilled immigration and state-level interventions in federal programmes.
H-1B visas allow US companies to hire technically-skilled professionals that are not easily available in America. Initially granted for three years, these can be extended for another three years.
In September 2025, Trump had also signed an executive order ‘The Gold Card’, aimed at setting up a new visa pathway for those committed to supporting the United States; with individuals who can pay USD 1 million to the US Treasury, or USD 2 million if a corporation is sponsoring them, to get access to expedited visa treatment and a path to a Green Card.
