If HRD Minister Arjun Singh pays his first visit to the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR)—a deemed university and a national centre for frontier research in nuclear science and mathematics—he will learn why the proposed quotas with a mandatory seat hike may not work on this Mumbai campus that struggles to find quality students despite scouting via a nationwide entrance test at the BSc-level.

In this autonomous institute funded by the Department of Atomic Energy, the nation’s future top scientists gain entry based on their knowledge of basic sciences—not college grades, reservations, or an arbitrary seat strength.

‘‘We don’t know how quotas will be implemented,’’ says G Krishnamoorthy, Dean of Graduate Studies. ‘‘So far, our research does not depend on grades or quotas or a notional number of seats. Why people are not coming to science is a much bigger crisis for scientific institutions than reservations, and it needs to be addressed. Students from the deep south have almost vanished from science, they go to IITs.’’

The concern here—also faced by top science institutes nationwide—is not the number of seats, but finding, as TIFR advertises, ‘‘exceptionally talented, strongly motivated’’ students despite a competitive, merit-based selection system extended up to Siliguri, West Bengal, last year. Candidates are encouraged to walk-in for the test without prior notice.

‘‘Every year, we find it more and more difficult to get a fairly acceptable number of good quality students. We’re worried, it’s hurting our experimental programmes,’’ says Krishnamoorthy, who’s coordinating selections for 2006.

This year, about 60 PhD-level candidates were selected from 6,105 applicants, but the Institute ‘‘hopes’’ at least 30-35 accept and join. On an average, only ‘‘50-60 per cent of students selected’’ turn up to join the programmes, with others preferring the IITs or more lucrative options.

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