We followed the world in 4G, we marched with the world in 5G, but we will lead the world in 6G. That’s a refrain one always gets to hear from the Union Minister of Communications, Jyotiraditya Scindia, at industry meets, press conferences and discussion groups. In November last year, in an interaction with a Delhi newspaper, the minister’s claims became grander: India would be leading the 6G pack and setting the standards for 6G worldwide..How does one view such statements? Political propaganda, wilful ignorance, or an implacable belief that India cannot but be the leader in this field, despite evidence to the contrary? Let’s take 5G first. India launched this on October 1, 2022, three years after South Korea kicked off the superfast era of connectivity. During that period, at least 70 other countries had deployed 5G in close to 2,000 cities. India was the late entrant, its adoption of 5G stymied by bungled policies and poor infrastructure (see “India is patently way behind on 5G”, Down To Earth, 16-31 October, 2022)..As for 6G, India is several leagues behind key players who have positioned themselves strategically in the field and are already setting the rules for this technology. When Scindia spoke of leading the world in 6G, surely he must have been aware that months earlier, China had made news, and big news at that, by establishing three pivotal 6G technology standards under the auspices of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)? Experts said the development marked “a significant advance in setting the international framework for next-gen telecommunications”..Why is this important? Each evolution in telecom, currently from 5G to 6G, needs standards to be set—reference points that all players have to follow. Early birds get to set the rules and gain a competitive edge in the market. That’s why it is important to be part of ITU’s standards-setting group which looks at how future networks should operate. Involved in the 6G deliberations was Hu Honglin of the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute (SARI), who is a leading expert in information-centric networking, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and China Telecom. The last is a publicly traded state-owned company that is one of the largest fixed line and mobile service providers. Does India have the expertise of a Hu, or a research institute with the reputation of SARI, or a telecom company of the calibre of China Telecom? These are perhaps irrelevant questions when India believes it’s destined to be the global leader..An unfortunate fallout of the muddled thinking in government is an obsession with patent numbers. Policymakers, from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a clutch of ministers, primarily Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal, and sundry bureaucrats have been celebrating the rise in patent applications—yes, applications—along with patents granted as an end in itself. In 2023-24, the Patent Office granted over 100,000 patents, which was almost a three-fold increase over the previous year. But what exactly is India celebrating with these numbers? It has no worthwhile technological breakthroughs to boast of at the end of day. No exercise has been undertaken to evaluate in which sectors we are making an impact. There is no analysis to evaluate the impact of the rise in patenting on our scientific endeavours and to identify which sectors are falling off the innovation map..In recent months, Scindia has been setting 6G patent targets for the country. Whatever the global total, the Bharat 6G Alliance—this comprises the private sector, researchers and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs)—is committed to contributing 10 per cent of the patents. How such a target is to be achieved is baffling, but it is all of a piece with the numbers game on patents that is being played out in the country in recent years, completely eschewing the questions of quality and utility..Why are we, as a nation, so cocky about our scientific prowess even though we are clearly way behind in cutting-edge technology? A random thought triggered by the general smugness of conservative Indians, whose views dominate the current narrative in various forums, took this columnist to a classic work on Indian science, its excellence and its drawbacks written in the 11th century. A sociological study that is unmatched in its understanding of all aspects of life in those times is the book popularly known as Kitab al Hind—its original Persian title is too long and complex—written by Alraihan Muhammad ibn Ahmad Alberuni, better known as Al-Biruni, the celebrated Persian scholar and polymath. Al-Biruni travelled to India in 1017 and spent 13 years here to study the religion and the sciences (mathematics, astronomy and astrology) of the Hindus to produce a matchless sociological study that he takes pains to emphasise is “a simple historic record of facts” and “to place before the readers the theories of the Hindus exactly as they are”..Edward C Sachau, professor at the Royal University of Berlin, who translated the book into English as Al-Biruni’s India, says the Persian scholar thought Hindus were excellent philosophers, good mathematicians and astronomers; but he was also a stern judge of himself and others when there was an attempt to cover up ignorance or to make absurd claims. Al-Biruni has our national character down to a tee, as a striking passage from the opening chapter of his book reveals: India has taken to celebrating the rise in patent numbers. But there is no analysis to evaluate the impact on scientific endeavours and to identify which sectors are falling off the innovation map “Folly is an illness for which there is no medicine, and the Hindus believe that there is no country but theirs, no nation like theirs, no kings like theirs, no religion like theirs, no science like theirs. Their haughtiness is such that if you tell them of any science or scholar in Khurasan and Persia they will think you to be both an ignoramus and a liar. If they travelled and mixed with other nations, they would soon change their mind, for their ancestors were not as narrow-minded as the present generation is…”.Speaking about the similarity of Indians with Greeks, Al-Biruni notes a crucial difference: “Think of Socrates when he opposed the crowd of his nation… The Hindus have no men of his stamp both capable and willing to bring science to a classical perfection. Therefore, you mostly find their so-called scientific theorems are in a state of utter confusion, devoid of any logical order, and in the last instance always mixed up with silly notions of the crowd.” It has been 10 centuries since these observations were made. How little has changed in this nation.