Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said Wednesday that he would love to do a doctorate in Physics if life gives him another opportunity.

"If I was given an opportunity again in my life to select a course probably I would select a Ph.D. in Physics," Parrikar said.

Parrikar, who is India's first IIT-educated chief minister, was speaking at the fag end of INSPIRE (Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research), a programme organised by the Goa-based National Institute of Oceanography to popularise science in the state.

The chief minister said that India needed nationwide awakening to revitalise the manner in which professional education is conducted.Parrikar, a graduate in metallurgy from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mumbai and a self-confessed lover of science, also said that quality education in basic sciences was imperative for India.

"There is a need for the nation to create a pool of talent in pure sciences," said Parrikar, who's is also Goa's education minister.