High-Tech Titan Plagued by Potholes

India is known for producing the world's best engineers yet the country's infrastructure is suffering from a lack of civil engineers. India is spending, "$500 billion on infrastructure by 2012 and twice that amount in the following five years" to improve roads, railroads, and power grids. While the government is embarking on its largest infrastructure project since its independence there are not enough skilled civil engineers in India. Many civil engineers find themselves working for commercial software companies that pay entry level employees three times that of construction firms. In response, the prime minister has announced the nation building thirty universities to draw more civil engineer students.

Developing countries such as India need modern infrastructure to compete in globalization trends as well as to improve the welfare of its citizens. While India is educating the brightest engineers it is not maximizing their potential to improve India. Instead, India's engineers are moving to other countries or working for private firms for greater pay. A country with over one billion citizens and a young population that is expected to grow by 250 million within the next 50 years needs to have an infrastructure to support that many people. I think the building new schools is an initial step in the right direction. However, the real issue is developing more civil engineers and keeping them within the industry.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/business/global/26engineer.html