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In the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the role of structured Science & Technology advisory bodies continues to be reduced and redefined.
The appointment of K Vijayaraghavan, a well-known biologist, as the new Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) to the Union Government with a defined three-year term last week, seems to be another step by the Centre in this direction.
No Minister-level rank
For, the government has downgraded the PSA to the rank of a Secretary. The earlier PSA, well-known nuclear physicist R Chidambaram, held the rank of a Minister of State. His predecessor and the first PSA, APJ Abdul Kalam, for whom the AB Vajpayee-led NDA government created the position in 1999, was given the full Cabinet rank.
The Modi government inherited three S&T Advisory bodies in 2014 — the PSA, and the two-Scientific Advisory Committees to PM ( SAC-PM) and SAC-C (Cabinet). The SAC-PM was chaired by Bharat Ratna and eminent scientist CNR Rao. The two SACs became defunct when the government decided not to reconstitute them. Both the advisory bodies were co-terminus with the term of the government in powers. pOn the other hand, the PSA, when created, did not have a fixed tenure and was constituted as an office, said sources.
But in terms of impact of the PSA on the S&T policy or in its role as contributing to technology development, the office lost steam significantly in the past decade and more so in the last few years.
Chidambaram, a Padma Vibhushan and former Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, on the other hand, is credited with contributing in the areas of strategic affairs to the government.
The PSA story
Interestingly, Chidambaram who along with Abdul Kalam led the Pokhran-2 nuclear blast in 1998, managed to lead the office of PSA from November 2001 till the appointment of Vijayaraghavan on March 26. Chidambaram could skilfully steer the PSA’s office through three PMs — Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh and Modi (four years) during his extraordinarily long 16-and- half years, and contribute till the age of 81.
The Vajpayee government’s pro-active nuclear policies favoured Chidambaram’s rise to succeed Kalam in 2001. However, the dispensation brought down the grade to that of a Minister of State. The Congress-(I)-led UPA-1 with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh continued the advisory bodies. Manmohan Singh also relied on the expertise of Chidambaram and the atomic energy establishment, when he staked all to push through the India-US nuclear deal in 2006.
Setting new direction
Under the Modi government, efforts were made to find substitutes and a couple of top defence scientists who had retired were also shortlisted. But somehow a decision was not taken. Questions about the role, tenure, purpose etc were also raised about the PSA. In this background, the appointment of Vijayaraghavan with a defined term and rank gives an indication of the government’s intent to redefine the advisory bodies.
Vijayaraghavan had recently retired as Secretary, Department of Biotechnology. The 64-year-old at one time held additional charge of the Department of S&T, Department of Scientific & Industrial Research, and more recently, the Department of Health Research.
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