Past laurels won't help India's S&T aims

The growth story of India depends on its achievements in the S&T sector. There is a need to revolutionise the landscape of Indian science and technology and this is only possible if the scientific community is allowed to work ‘professionally and scientifically’ without burdening them with the baggage of the past, says Ajey Lele.

Aircraft were first were invented in the Vedic Age by a sage! This information was made available during the ongoing (January 3-7) Indian Science Congress to the participants. The veracity of this’ new knowledge’ about India’s past is difficult to judge. However, the main question which needs to be raised is ‘so what’?

Would India being a great civilization in the past, help it to build its future? Will going back to age-old scriptures actually help the growth of science in near future? For India, science is a tool for socio-economic development. Is chest-thumping about our so called historical past going to immediately provide us the solutions for modern day challenges. Do we have answers say for restricting climate change or tackling diseases like malaria, Ebola etc in our mythologies?

Is there a way shown which could help reduce the malnutrition in the country? Could we get any scientific inputs to manage our agriculture better? Do we have mathematical formulations available which could help us design new age air or space-craft? Do these records offers solutions to improve the energy security? For many years few individuals and groups are meticulously studying various old scriptures but still we are yet to have a ‘Eureka moment’. The only opportunity which our glorious scientific past probably offers us today is to recommend some of the names of ancient Indian scholars for the award of Bharat Ratna!

It is very important to have the knowledge of history but at the same time it may not be proper to get stuck in the history. History has habit of reinventing itself. There is certain amount of subjectivity in every form of history. History has been and will be deciphered and told ‘suitably’ by some and the same holds true with the science of history too

Science is about exploring the unknown. We invest in science for the betterment of life and for progress. We look into the history of science to take clues for future developments. The citizen of any country would be always pleased to know that their ancestors were intelligent and achievers. But, what is the charm to gloat into the past only for the sake of national pride? The knowledge from the past should find utility for scientific and technological developments.

Today, various reports presenting the analyses of performance of various states in science and technology do not present a very encouraging picture about India’s present day achievements. One method to judge the value of any scientific community is to assess the global acceptance of their work.

For this purpose normally the citation impact of papers emanating from India is studied. Various studies reveal that many of the Indian research papers remain un-cited. In regards to innovation capabilities as per the Global Innovation Index (GII, 2014) survey India is on 76th position in the world (was on 66th position in 2013). The Times Higher Education's ranking of the world's best universities demonstrates that only two Indian universities belong to the top 300 in the world (IISc Bangalore and Panjab University). Only few of the Indian Institutes of Technology manage to figure in the 351-400 ranking band.

It is important to appreciate that in the 21st century, whether India was good in S&T during the Stone Age has no meaning. Our worth would be judged on what we are today and not on any glorious past. There is a danger in wasting time to relate Indian science with mythology and boasting on the achievements of the yesteryears. This would not help us in preparing for the future.

It is a reality that we do not have a ‘native’ Indian yet who has won a Nobel Prize in the science stream. This is not to argue that winning Nobel is the only symbol of scientific achievement but definitely to a certain extent it does matter. Indian scientific community particularly in the nuclear, missiles and space sector have leapfrogged but still more needs to be achieved in comparison with the global standers.

There is a need for rapid progress in the arena of nuclear energy, material sciences, chip manufacturing, heavy satellite launchers etc.  There are various other fields’ particularly related to medicine, clean energy etc where India need to do much more. Possibly, where India essentially lacks is in the field of pure sciences.

It is not understood that when India has already reached the moon and mars, why we need to take the crutches of the unknown past to move forward. Particularly, the Indian Science Congress cannot become a platform for the same. Actually, such lopsided assessment of history takes the attention away from the important theme of thecongress -- science & technology for human development.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his inaugural address highlighted very important and relevant issues and it is important to take these issues forward and not to gloat about some relics of (mythological) history.

The global landscape of science, technology and innovation is changing very fast. India has actually articulated its vision in this regard in the recent times. India’s science, technology and innovation policy was announced at the 100th Indian Science Congress during Jan 2013 at Kolkata. The word innovation was added for the first time during this Congress in what was routinely known as country’s science and technology policy.

India is observing 2010-2020 as a decade of innovation and 2013 policy innovative was congruent to this theme. This policy addresses the issues of ruler and urban India and voices for improving research and development infrastructure and need to undertake skill development in the country. It lays emphasis on recreating the old tradition of innovation in the country and need to engage the Indian Diaspora constructively. The policy emphases the need for scientific community working in private and public enterprises to take some time out undertake teaching in universities and colleges.

Modi’s speech in the 102th Indian Science Congress develops on this theme further. He articulates the need for India’s S&T to help reduce poverty and advance prosperity; fight hunger and improve nutrition; conquer diseases, improve health and give a child a better chance to survive; spread education and awareness; and, give clean energy that can make the habitat more sustainable.

He talks about making the agriculture more resilient and yield more; to develop appropriate and affordable technologies for rural areas and judicious use of water. Another important feature of his articulation was to reduce the ‘red-tape’ in clearing various scientific and funding proposals. He has also told that corporates should recognise that investments in S&T activities is very important they should also become part of their expenditure on corporate social responsibility.

The growth story of India depends on its achievements in the S&T sector. There is a need to revolutionise the landscape of Indian science, technology and innovation and this is only possible if the scientific community is allowed to work ‘professionally and scientifically’ without burdening them with the baggage of the past.