Dr. Sandipan Dhar

National Policy Statementson

Science & Technology

Science mankind’s greatest enterprise today.

Science has altered not only material environment, but given new tools of thought and extended man’s mental horizon. It has given civilisation a new vitality and dynamism.

Intense cultivation of science and its application has given to common man unprecedented standards of living.

Scientific approach and method has provided basis for a welfare state.

• Pace of scientific developments increasing. India should put utmost effort in bridging the gap.

• Technology key to national prosperity; technology the most important factor; more important than material and capital.

• Science policy aims at, interalia,:- cultivation of science and scientific research- encouraging initiative, discovery, academic freedom- securing benefits of Scientific knowledge for all people.

• Technological self-reliance• Resist imposition of technology from

outside (obsolete or unrelated to our specific requirements).

• Technology must impact on lives of ordinary citizens.

• Considerations in choice of technology- indigenous development- international competitiveness.

• Technology advancement seen as a social and political tool. Economic context, though tacitly understood, is not emphasised.

• Technology development and utilisation is being seen as occurring largely in public sector. Accordingly public policy goals are imposed on technology.

Note of growing satisfaction with the S&T infrastructure, and technological achievements.

Science and Technology becoming more complex, requiring large resources, multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional and multi-country participation. It is no longer an individual’s enterprise; it is big corporate effort.

Knowledge as a source of economic growth and power frontally recognized, and therefore the IPR issues come centre stage. From an earlier view of science being property of entire humankind, now global view of IPR is accepted.

The previous concerns of S&T benefitting the common man, and environmental concerns repeated but new emphasis on creating wealth and global competitiveness.

To advance scientific temper, emerge as a progressive and enlightened society, enable people to participate, and application for human welfare.

To ensure food, agricultural, nutritional, environmental, water, health and energy security.

Alleviation of poverty, enhancing livelihood security, reduction of regional and rural/urban imbalances, and generation of employment

To vigorously foster scientific research attract the brightest to careers in science and technology, Also Centres of Excellence in selected areas to the highest international standards.

To promote empowerment of women in S&T activities and their full and equal participation.

To provide necessary autonomy and freedom for all academic and R&D institutions., while ensuring social responsibilities and commitments[c1] .

To protect, preserve, evaluate, update, add value to, and utilize the extensive knowledge acquired over the long civilisational experience of India.

To accomplish national strategic and security related objectives.

Jawaharlal Nehru strongly believed in two wonderful concepts; freedom of speech, and a concept he had coined, a nation with a “scientific temper”. That term, a “scientific temper” is a wonderfully succinct way to describe a broad concept. By speaking of a nation with a “scientific temper”, he wanted to speak of the people of a nation who would be able to think independently, understand and practice the scientific method in their daily lives, analyse and not take statements at their face value, and avoid simplistic reasoning. Of course, it has been easier said than done to create that atmosphere in a nation where superstition, religion, rumor, myth and innumerable beliefs abound.

• Scientific method consists of systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses.

• Scientific inquiry is generally intended to be as objective as possible, to reduce biased interpretations of results. Another basic expectation is to document, archive and share all data and methodology so they are available for careful scrutiny by other scientists, giving them the opportunity to verify results by attempting to reproduce them.

• Science communication generally refers to public media aiming to talk about science with non-scientists. This often involves professional scientists (called 'outreach' or 'popularization') but has evolved into a professional field in its own right. It includes science exhibitions, science journalism, science policy and science media production, among other things.

• Science communication can also simply describe communication between scientists (e.g. through scientific journals) as well as between non-scientists.

Development of Scientific temper is a Fundamental duty of every Indian citizen as per the Constitution.

(a) To abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem.

(b) To cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspired our national struggle for freedom.

(c) To uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India.

(d) To defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so.

(e) To promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities; to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women.

(f) To value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite

culture.

(g) To protect and improve the natural environment including

forests, lakes, rivers and wild life, and to have compassion

for living creatures.

(h) To develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of

inquiry and reform.

(i) To safeguard public property and to abjure violence.

(j) To strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and

collective activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher

levels of endeavor and achievement.

(k) every parent or guardian to ensure that their child or ward was provided opportunities for education between the ages of six and fourteen years

Activities aimed at Science Communication and building scientific temper are, therefore, not just a mere desirable objective; indeed they are a constitutional obligation, on every citizen as well as the government.

The Government cannot simply pay lip service to science communication; it is obligated by the Constitution to propagate science communication. The Government must reflect this obligation through adequate funding and promoting a large diversified programme. S&T Policy, 2003, recognises it.

Conceptual Differences and connectivity between Science & Technology

SCIENCE Quest for understanding

objective laws governing natural phenomena

Pursuit of truth itself; Know-Why

Not concerned with potential for application; theory the raison d'être of science

Paradigmatic Disseminated freely.

Published. Other scientists are expected to replicate & verify findings.

TECHNOLOGY Quest for making

directly useful application of scientific principles to production

Know-How Tech has a direct

purpose in mind; providing practical solution raison d'être

Ecumenical Not disseminated freely.

Has a price attached. Is traded. Not published. Closely guarded.

Evaluated on intrinsic merit; on the explanatory merit & theoretical elegance.

Time-frame is medium to long term

Science seeks most precise data to support or refute a hypothesis.

Science research organisation mimics the structure of knowledge being added.

Evaluated in terms of contribution to desired economic & social goals

Time-frame is short; time-targets are set

Weighs precision against cost of obtaining data & other practical concerns

Tech research organised around problem foci; usually a matrix organisation

TECHNOLOGY: From instinctive adaptation to natural environment through trial and error; leading to crafts; leading to technological disciplines.

SCIENCE: Modern science came much later.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY now inseparable: Science leads to technology; technology leads to new science; the process goes on.

The future society is one in which science & technology will determine the direction of socio-economic changes – John Kenneth Galbraith

Rate of technological change is accelerating. Half-life of technology is constantly decreasing.

Human capacity to adjust to pace of technological change is comparatively limited although it is also accelerating. Mismatch creates resistance.

Society’s changing philosophical notions about change are interesting to examine. An important impediment in exploiting technology for human welfare has been the society’s discomfort with pace of technological change.

Parmenides: Nothing ever changes; All change is illusory – even birth and death.

Heraclitus:All things are constantly in the process of changing; change is the only reality. You cannot step into the same river twice.

Cratylus:You cannot step into the same river even once.

Oppenheimer: (in essays on Science and Society)…the world alters as we walk in it. The very notion of change is changing. We are witnessing a change which is not a minor reordering but of such magnitude and scope that the very basis of society, its structure, its institutions, its values are being altered so comprehensively in a single life-time, that we will not, and cannot, return to the past, to the old patterns of life and society.

Technology the dominant driver of Economic Growth

(1) Q = f (K,L); Earlier classical model Robert Solow in 1957 noted that capital and Labour did

not fully account for growth (output Q) and suggested another factor T that enhanced the productivity of K and L:(2) Q = T f (K, L,) However Technology was assumed to be exogenous in this formulation. Paul Romer in 1986 noted that technology was not exogenous but as a result of explicit effort: R&D and Human Capital. Accordingly,(3) T = f (R&D, HC)

Following a lot of empirical work, the new growth theory explains growth as a function of Capital, Labour and Technology (in terms of knowledge generation and its accumulation in human capital : R&D, and Human Capital):(4) Q = f (K, L, R&D, HC).

 

1. USA (1950-80) 87% (Chai)

2. USA (1950-80) 30-56% (Dogramaci)

3. Japan (1955-79) 29% (Hirano)

4. Japan (1980s) 65% (Hirano) Broad Consensus among all studies

Quinn estimates: Technology contributes up to 70-80% of Growth in developing and developed countries

Contribution of technology to economic growth will rise significantly in coming years

• Knowledge economy – an economy that creates, disseminates, and uses knowledge to enhance its growth and development, and its competitiveness and “utilizes knowledge as a key engine of economic growth”.

• KE is not just high-technology industries or ICT. More appropriate to look broadly – an economy that harnesses and uses new and existing knowledge to improve the productivity of agriculture, industry, and services, and increases overall welfare.

• An economic incentive, policy, & Institutional regime for efficient creation, dissemination and utilization of knowledge;

• Educated & Skilled workers capable of upgrading and adapting continuously;

• An effective innovation system of firms, research centres, universities, consultants and other organizations; and

• A modern and adequate information infrastructure for communication & dissemination

In Western epistemology: Knowledge – “Justified True Belief” that fulfills

the– truth condition (The proposition is true)– belief condition (The individual must believe that the

proposition is true)– justification condition (belief must be justified)

Pursuit of knowledge is heavily laden with Skepticism. Everything can be questioned except the existence of the questioner. Hence the famous phrase by Descartes, “ I think, therefore I am” (cogito, ergo sum)Search for knowledge is dictated by: experimentation and justification/demonstration of truth to external observer (objective knowledge).

Indian Philosophical tradition does not insist on external justification.

The process of knowledge acquisition: Chintan, Manan, Dhyan, and Darshan, does not necessarily require experimentation and demonstration.

A totally internal validation within knowledge seeker’s own reference frame also constitutes generation of knowledge (subjective knowledge)

Is objective knowledge alone relevant for knowledge economy? Can subjective knowledge also qualify?

The answer may well be linked to how knowledge economy is viewed: only in terms of the three elements of generation, dissemination, and utilization, or broader?

Is there a cultural dimension to Knowledge Society also? Social structures, cultural patterns, and the value systems that provide an environment in which knowledge economy functions, and may determine the very nature and ultimate success of knowledge economy, are shaped by subjective knowledge.

In knowledge generation should utilization be a necessary condition?

Knowledge is a fluid mix of framed experience, values, contextual information, expert insight and grounded intuition that provides an environment and framework for evaluating and incorporating new experiences and information. It originates and is applied in the minds of knowers.

Technology is the engine of Knowledge Economy. Sciences & Technology therefore crucial.

Social Sciences and Humanities are equally important. Indeed knowledge of social sciences and humanities must inform the process of ‘ (S&T) knowledge creation, dissemination and utilization’ which is at the core of Knowledge Economy.

Ultimate object of all development is ‘people’. Economic Development alone is not enough. Societal development therefore a key touch stone of the success of a Knowledge Economy.

Societal Culture &

Science Communication

The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought.

GEERT HOFSTEAD – Culture is the collective programming of the human mind that distinguishes the members of one human group from those of another. Culture in this sense is a system of collectively held values.

EDGAR SCHEIN – Culture is the deeper level of basic assumptions and beliefs that are shared by members of an organization, that operate unconsciously and define in a basic ‘taken for granted’ fashion an organization's view of itself and its environment.

EDWARD B. TAYLOR – Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.

CLIFFORD GEERTZ – Culture is a historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes towards life.

• Human societies have developed their cultural systems based on observation over millennia, accumulated empirical knowledge, passed them on through tradition, and converted them into beliefs and values.

• You cannot run head-long into cultural systems even if some beliefs and values are non-scientific.

• Do not be a Bull-in China-shop.

• Reduce impedance mismatch.• Slow, gradual, and repetitive

enforcement• No Chamatkars, please! Resist the

temptation of replacing chamatkars of charlatans with scientific chamatkars.

• Inform, demonstrate, and allow value-proposition of scientific knowledge to be recognised. Technological demonstrations could have easier acceptance.

Do not reject every traditional belief. Be Agnostic. This is scientific. There are three states of knowledge: true, opinion, false. A scientist does not accept or reject any proposition merely on belief. All three conditions of truth in epistemology must be satisfied. Experimentation and justification are essential even to reject a seemingly unscientific belief.

Thank You!