Performance and growth pattern of manpower in Mathematics in India

Avinash Kshitij, Swarup Chattopadhaya, Sujit Kundu & Harish Netam

The scope of mathematics is generic in nature, it is extremely important for academic research in pure and applied mathematics and it is equally important for socio-economic research. Several advanced countries including USA and European countries improved their capability in mathematics research. This section looks into the performance and growth of manpower in mathematics in India from school level to research level. This section will not look into performance at under graduate level education.

School level education in Mathematics Mathematics is most generic in nature, it is vital for all those who opt for science and technology as core subjects and as well as for those who opt for economics, banking or other socio-economic subjects.

Fig 1. State-wise percentage of total science studying students who opt for mathematics
Source: State and Central Senior Secondary Boards

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Fig 2. % of student scored 60% in mathematics at 12th level

Source: State and Central Senior Secondary Boards

Fig 3. % of student scored 80% in mathematics at 12th level

Source: State and Central Senior Secondary Boards

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Fig 4. % of student scored 95% in mathematics at 12th level

Source: State and Central Senior Secondary Boards

From the above figures it is clear that Kerala is the state where maximum percentage of students studying science, opt for mathematics in 12th standard and a large percentage amongst them secured more than 95% in 2007. 2010 data is not available for WB (West Bengal), JK (Jammu & Kashmir) and MP (Madhya Pradesh). 2007 data is not available for Gujarat and Goa. Enrolment of students in mathematics at class 12th level decreased gradually over the years 2007 2010, in most cases.

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Fig 5. State wise % of students studying Maths in 12th in CBSE board

Source: CBSE Board

Figure 5-8 exhibits the percentage share of performance and capability of students studying mathematics in 12th level in Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), spread across country.

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Fig 6.

% Share of students who secured 60% in Math in 12th in CBSE board

Source: CBSE board data

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Fig 7.

% Share of students who secured 80% in Maths in 12th in CBSE board

Source: CBSE board data

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Fig 8.

% Share of students who secured 95% in Math in 12th in CBSE board

Source: CBSE board data

Figure 9 shows the percentage of 15-19 year age group population studying mathematics. 1519 year age group population taken from www.indiastat.com based on 2001 census data, and it is considered that age of student studying in 12th is 15-17 year. Kerala leads with 5.2% of population studying mathematics. In gender distribution, percentage of female students studying mathematics is little higher in Manipur (figure 11). Overall it is a very alarming situation that in such a vital and generic discipline the enrollment percentage is so low.

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Fig 9.

% of 15-19 year population studying mathematics at 12th level in 2010

(CG : Chhattisgarh)

Fig 10. % of 15-19 year population studying mathematics at 10th level in 2008
(UP : Uttar Pradesh)

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Fig 11. % of 15-19 year age group population studying mathematics at 12th level in 2010

Fig 12. Medal statistics in IMO, 1989-2009

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Level of student education in mathematics is measured through performance in International Mathematical Olympiad. In last 20 years India wins only 8 gold medals where as China wins 100 gold medals in International Mathematical Olympiad. Lesser number of gold medals reflects that the participants are not at par with China or USA.

Research in Mathematics in India Figure 13 exhibits the annual research output of Indian researchers and annual involvement of number of authors as reported in MathSciNet and percentage change over the year. Annual publication growth rate is not promising, only 2005 and 2006 data shows 12 and 18 percentage growth rate. Authors are identified based on their names. Table 1 shows the presence of Indian mathematics researcher in top-2000 best cited papers globally.

Table 1: No. of authors in top-2000 best cited papers in Mathematics Decade 1970-1979 1980-1899 1990-1999 2000-2009
Source: SCOPUS

No. Author (Indian) 14 12 19 61

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Fig 13. Annual productivity and number of authors and % changes over the year
Source: MathSci

MathSci classifies its publication in more than 60 subfields, 3100 papers are indexed in statistics, and 2269 papers were index in quantum-theory and in general topology 1850 papers were published. 22% papers were published in 3 top subfields for the period 19912009. Indian researchers were putting more effort in statistics over the period; in 1991-2000 1488 (11.3%) and in 2001-2009 1634 papers (8.4%) were published in statistics. Quantum Theory is the second preference for Indian researchers as they published 1033 papers (7.85%) in 1991-2000 and 1236 (6.35%) in 2001-2009. Figure 14 shows the top 30 subfields in which Indian mathematicians are working and publishing. Table 2 shows the percentage change in the interest of Indian Mathematicians over the period 1991-2000 to 2001-2009. Mechanics of deformable solids have maximum change in number of paper in the first period it holds 15 papers and in next period it has 290 papers. But there is slight change in top subfield like statistics, quantum theory and general topology

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Fig 14. Indian Mathematics research covered in MathSciNet 1991-2009 classified by MathSci

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Table 2: % change in publication in two period 1991-1999 and 2000-2009

MathSci Classification 2010 Mechanics of deformable solids Dynamical systems and ergodic theory Game theory, economics, social and behavioral sciences Geophysics Information and communication, circuits Biology and other natural sciences Order, lattices, ordered algebraic structures Numerical analysis Combinatorics Calculus of variations and optimal control Mechanics of particles and systems Fluid mechanics Functions of a complex variable Mathematical logic and foundations Differential geometry Optics, electromagnetic theory Operations research, mathematical programming Relativity and gravitational theory Partial differential equations Algebraic geometry Statistical mechanics, structure of matter Abstract harmonic analysis Manifolds and cell complexes Number theory K-theory Table 3: Share of Indian publication by Indian institute in MathSci, 2001 Institute Name TIFR ISI Cal IISc Aligarh Muslim University University of Delhi IIT Kanpur IIT Chennai University of Calcutta Institute of Mathematical Sciences % of papers 5.82 4.59 3.71 3.30 3.30 2.95 2.95 2.68 2.63 % Change 1833.33 957.69 845.45 414.29 284.21 229.25 158.82 126.72 126.10 124.74 115.38 104.35 94.62 94.55 80.85 77.42 72.98 72.60 71.57 67.48 60.56 60.00 54.00 53.73 50.00

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IIT Kharagpur IIT Mumbai Jadavpur University HCRI University of Poona IIT Delhi Banaras Hindu University University of Rajasthan Jai Narain Vyas University ISI Delhi University of Mysore ISI Bang University of Kalyani Lucknow University PVikram University Ujjain University of Madras S. N. Bose National Center for Basic Science Anna University Panjab University

2.35 2.22 2.07 1.74 1.63 1.57 1.51 1.42 1.40 1.39 1.38 1.23 1.20 1.20 1.18 1.12 1.08 1.06 1.00

Fig15. Publisher wise distribution of Indian Mathematics Research

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Table 3 shows the percentage share of Indian institutions in Indian research output in mathematics as reported in MathSciNet database for the period 2001-2009. TIFR is having 5.8% of total publication and ISI Kolkata is having 4.6% of total publications followed by IISc with 3.7% AMU (3.3%), Univ. of Delhi (3.3%). Dedicated mathematics institute like Institute of Mathematical Sciences and HCRI, Allahabad holds only 2.6% and 1.75% share of Indian mathematics output. Figure 15 shows the distribution of output in Mathematics among the publishing countries (SCIE-Journal). 35% papers are published from USA alone. Only 9% papers were published in Indian journal. USA publishes not only core mathematics but also application oriented journals. India publishes few core mathematics journals. Poland publishes core mathematics journals.

Fig 16. No. of PhDs from Indian Institution (Indicative data only) Source: Vidyanidhi.org.in

Figure 16 shows the number of PhDs awarded from various Indian institutions. This is indicative data only. The data-source, vidyanidhi.org.in collects the data in participation and partnership with university and academic institutions. The trend in no. of PhD awarded is decreasing gradually for the period 1991-2009. Figure17 shows the productivity of cities in mathematics, through quality of research output (citations per paper) and PhDs awarded from T1 - 51

institutes in various cities in mathematics. Publication and citation data is taken from SCOPUS database. The coverage of SCOPUS is not limited to research in mathematics; it also includes other subjects such as biotechnology, life-sciences etc. Quality of research output is higher in Pune but number of PhDs award from Pune in the period 1991-2009 in none. Kolkata has maximum output in term of no. of PhD students but citation per paper is comparatively lower.

Fig 17. City wise quality of research output and number of PhDs

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