The Hindu Business Line : <I>Tongue-lashing by the President </I>

The President, Mr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, is well-known for the fresh thinking he brings to bear on issues of national importance and his constant efforts to "ignite" (his favourite word) the minds of those in power, the elected representatives, the professional and academic community, and the people at large. He has made a -hink tank of Rashtrapathi Bhavan and transformed what was taken to be a sinecure into an invigorating spring of new ideas.

No other public figure, barring Jawaharlal Nehru, had captured the imagination of the younger generation, especially the students, as Mr Kalam has done, building up their self-esteem and motivating them to channel their talents, skills and energies so as to make India a developed nation by 2020. Indeed, by his infectious enthusiasm and unshakeable faith in the youth of the country, he has succeeded in implanting the conviction that this goal is not only achievable but also inevitable.

His address to the scientists at the Indian Science Congress held at Chidambaram (Tamil Nadu) was true to form: Forthright and stimulating. Earlier, at the same Congress, the Prime Minister had made a grandiose announcement of increasing the budget for Science and Technology (S&T) from less than one per cent of GDP as at present to two per cent (or Rs 64,000 crore) in the next five years. Any heartening effect this might have had was neutralised by Mr Kalam's startling revelation, which must have been news to many, that more than 20 per cent of the allocations in the budget for S&T had remained unutilised in 2005-06. The scientists must have squirmed in their seats when he made the biting comment: "...what you have utilised is only 0.25 per cent of GDP. Where is 2 per cent (against 0.25 per cent)?"

Perspective plan

Making no secret of his dissatisfaction with the absence of "a clear vision for the development of S&T in the country", he called upon the scientists to set up a committee of scientific and other experts to work on an integrated programme for S&T development, including basic and applied research, science education, training, technology induction, absorption and application and establishment of laboratories, laying down specific milestones to be reached within definite timeframes.

It should actually be a perspective plan for 20 years, broken into five-year segments, because scientific research as also many of the construction projects, especially in the energy sector, have long gestation periods. Any plan of the type the President has in mind should take account of the totality of financial investment and demand for human, technical and material resources for the entire period they are likely to take for completion.

The tongue-lashing the President administered to the scientists was well-deserved. Nobody can question his credentials to do so, as he had been, and still regards himself, one of them. Thus, it can be expected that his remarks will be taken more seriously than the ghost-written exhortations by lay persons, however high-placed.

There can be no two opinions about the need for scientists to be eternally vigilant against letting scientific institutions become replicas of stultifying bureaucracies or tying themselves to the apron-strings of political or governmental power structures. One Lysenko is enough for the entire history of science. The warning becomes necessary because, on the issue of the nuclear deal, eminent atomic energy professionals were initially content to be in the sidelines, as if hesitant to oppose the official line, and did not come out with their views until long after critics outside the scientific community had taken cudgels against it.

B. S. RAGHAVAN

More Stories on : Science & Technology | Offhand | People

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Urban coop banks deserve saving

Irrational responses to asset price changes

A place in Indian sun for the poor and bright

Tongue-lashing by the President

Great expectations from public services

Nuclear deal

Basic sciences ignored