Breakthrough Science Society planning pan-India event on Aug. 9
Delighted by the global march on April 22 when a million people from the scientific community took out marches around 600 cities across the world demanding robust funding for scientific research and governmental policies guided by scientific evidence, Breakthrough Science Society (BSE) has planned similar rallies across India on August 9 to supplement the global efforts.
Addressing a media conference at Patrika Bhavan here on Friday, Abhaya Diwakar, president of BSE Kalaburagi chapter, and Ramesh Londonkar, head of Bio Technology Department at Gulbarga University, appealed to science and technology enthusiasts to participate in the rally. They said that poor budgetary funding had been adversely affecting scientific and technological research and innovations in the country.
“Israel and South Korea allocate 4.2% and 4.1% of their Domestic Product (GDP) respectively to the field of science. Japan and America spend more than 3% of their GDP. India, however, spends only 0.85% on science and technology. It needs to be raised to at least 3%,” Ms. Diwakar said.
She criticised the government for its efforts towards transforming country’s premier research institutes such as Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, and Indian Institute of Science from State-funding-based to self-reliant.
“The policy changes in the name of making scientific research institutes financially self-reliant would affect research prospects. If the government asks National Institutes of Technology to generate 50% of the financial requirements locally, the burden would ultimately be shifted to students, which would be around Rs. 2.5 lakh on each student. In a developing country like India, such policy moves would hit scientific and technological research which in turn would affect the country’s overall development. Thanks to such irrational efforts on the part of government, institutes such as Council of Scientific & Industrial Research are now on the verge of collapse,” Ms. Diwakar said.
Education
Pointing to the disinterest among students in opting for basic science as their career option as one of the major reasons for India’s relatively poor performance in the field of science and technology as compared to developed countries, Mr. Londonkar demanded governments to come up with policies and programmes to attract students and parents towards the study of basic science.
“The number of students aspiring for the study of basic science has drastically reduced over the last few decades. Students and parents prefer applied sciences such as information technology and biotechnology as they fetch them lucrative job opportunities. The governments should address the issue before it is too late,” Mr. Diwakar said.
He also demanded that the State government present an anti-superstition bill in the legislature and supply revised textbooks as a step to make the education system more scientific and rational.
BSE functionary Sneha Kattimani was present.