100 Years of Indian Science Congress

The Fate of Scientific Enterprise as Indian Science Congress turns 100:  Reported by FORBES 

 

First Indian Science Congress, 1914

1. Keep open house discussions on big science projects/themes: If at all the Congress is to be the place to make policy announcements, then make it also the place where its rationale is discussed. Almost every policy today is inseparable from technicalities – energy, healthcare, education, defense, communication, etc. Choose big subjects, get the most relevant and renowned people in the field to present the most updated data and discussion. For instance, take one space mission or a new technical area (say, the cryogenic stages of GSLV which have gone through ups and downs or, why ISRO needs cross fertilization with the industry), get the people working on it to discuss the challenges and scope of these programs. Similarly, it could be about nuclear power (After protests in all corners of the country, the least nuclear scientists can do is have town hall meetings on these subjects), shale gas exploration or new solar energy strategy. 

2. Feed science/tech into evidence-based policy making: Science is supposed to advice public policy. But is that advice based on evidence today? Perhaps sometimes, but not always. Let me cite an example. The Toronto-based epidemiologist, Prabhat Jha has been long running this research called Million Death Study and using data from the first 250,000 deaths, his team has showed that 1 million people are dying in India from smoking related diseases. It forced the govt to step up the gas on using warning labels on tobacco products. It also showed 100,000 people were dying from AIDS, nearly a quarter of the number that UN was advocating. Resources have been (or are being) reallocated as HIV treatment is expensive. Similarly, snakebite deaths amount to 50,000, the total number for worldwide cases according to the WHO, forcing government and primary health care centres to focus on stocking venom and other necessary medicines.

3. Open up govt data with immediate effect: There’s a worldwide trend to make govt data available online in open formats and licenses that allow people to use it freely. India too made its beginning. But even a few months after the beta launch of the India data portal, it looks almost devoid of any useful data. While a long list of suggestions from users is already up there, it’d be worth anybody’s while if all ministries and public institutions worked in a coordinated manner to make their data available. Opportunities are particularly big for entrepreneurs in healthcare, energy, urban planning, and other natural resources. As Vijay Chandru, founder-chairman of bio-informatics company Strand Life Sciences says, it is the “Y2K moment” for companies in India.

4. No separate Academy for young scientists and engineers: The PM last year said a proposal has been mooted for a separate Academy for the young. To my mind, that would create wider divides. Instead, give 40 percent seats in the existing Academies to scientists/engineers under 40. Besides removing some deadwood, it’d infuse energy in the remaining members who also need to change with time, especially now when nobody retires; people move from one role to another.

5. If ISC cannot reinvent or reform itself, it should shut shop, just end: It serves no academic or practical purpose. And like all legacies, is hijacked by governmental science.

On Jan 3, 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru, who was then a member of the Interim Government and was to become the PM eight months later, had said:  “Governments normally are very slow and the only thing that moves them is some immediate outcry which affects their future indirectly. Therefore, I should discourage among the scientists a reliance always on what Government may or may not do.” Was Nehru prescient or intuitive?
When I asked Balaram whether he is optimistic about the fate of scientific enterprise in India or pessimistic, his response was neutral: “Matters take care of themselves over time, that’s how it happens in biology…”

Science in India: Reflections on the Anniversary of a Congress: Editorial by P. Balaram in Current Science 

(http://www.currentscience.ac.in/Volumes/103/11/1255.pdf)

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