Appeal Science has made tremendous advancement today and is playing a crucial role in the modern society. In spite of this progress, scientific consciousness of the people in our country is very much lagging behind. A large section of the people in our country is still entrenched in age-old unscientific beliefs and superstitions. Casteism, communalism and religious bigotry still dominate in the cultural landscape. Practices like witchcraft, black-magic, etc. still exist today. Banking on insecurity in people’s lives astrologers and palmists are doing roaring business. In spite of the spread of science and technology, people in general are even today more inclined to believe than to question. Many still reflect the mind-set of the Middle Ages. It is normally believed that spread of science education would automatically dispel the unscientific beliefs and would nurture a rational bent of mind. Clearly that is not happening in India, as we often come across scientifically literate people harbouring untested beliefs. Many practitioners of science express irrational opinions and lead their personal life adhering to age-old customs and unscientific practices, even though inside their laboratories they have to adhere to demands of objectivity. This implies that our education system is not really imparting scientific education as it is failing to inculcate a rational, scientific bent of mind among those who receive this education. Often the leaders in administration and politics directly or indirectly patronize unscientific practices. Ministers take oath on an “auspicious” day as dictated by astrologers. The government funds the performance of yagnas to appease the rain gods. The Archaeological Survey of India undertakes excavations for buried treasure, believing in the “dream” of a sadhu. The Chief of the Indian Space Research Organization offers prayers to invoke success for a scientific project. These practices from the seat of power negate the efforts to build up people’s confidence in science. Though we live in the 21st century, science has not yet penetrated our minds. We still live in an unscientific cultural environment reminiscent of the Middle Ages. And such traits are becoming more and more manifest in our society. Even in the time of spectacular development of science and technology millions of people are still living in hunger, suffering from malnutrition. Millions of poor families are still deprived of potable drinking water, basic medical amenities, proper dwelling housesanitation, electricity, roads etc. Every year agricultural production is being hampered by natural calamities and unscientific agricultural policies. Common people are being deprived of the benefits of the progress of science and technology. Why this sorry state of affairs? We know that India has a rich history of making significant contributions to science. It was in India that the concept of zero and the decimal number system originated. Indian scholars like Bhaskara, Sridhar Acharya, Aryabhatta, and others made seminal contributions in algebra, astronomy and metallurgy. Charaka and Sushruta developed manysurgical procedures and took the science of medicine to a new height. Yet, after the tenth century AD, Indian science was eclipsed by a wave of religious bigotry and the sway of casteism. The history of Europe was also similar. The spectacular advancement of Greek science was eclipsed during the Middle Ages to give rise to a culture of blindness and religious bigotry. But the Renaissance that took off in the fifteenth century opened up peoples’ minds, leading to the emergence of scientists like Galileo, Newton, Lavoisier, Darwin, etc. Freed from the age-old mental roadblock, European science advanced in rapid strides which led to the Industrial Revolution. In India, in the first half of the 19th century, the first people to understand and appreciate the importance of modern science were the Indian Renaissance personalities like Rammohan Ray and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, who struggled to bring the light of rationalism and science into the Indian educational and cultural scenario. Within a short period, modern science was born in India and produced great scientists like J. C. Bose, P. C. Ray, S. Ramanujan, C. V. Raman, M. N. Saha, S. N. Bose, and others. It was a time of struggle between rational scientific ideas and age-old blind beliefs. The scientists of that time were fighters in that struggle. But this fight for establishing a scientific culture in India got thwarted by a wave of religious revivalism and by the compromising role played by the section of social and political leaders who dominated the national freedom movement. They virtually compromised with the maladies of cast, creed, religious bigotry, and the remnants of feudalism. The struggle of science against unscientific beliefs and superstitions became subdued, barring a few laudable individual efforts. The result is what we see today. In a country that boasts of a tradition of such great scientists as mentioned above, why is it that all of them did their work in the pre-independence period and path-breaking work of similar standard are not coming from Indian scientists nowadays? The fact is, these great men viewed science as a way of serving the nation, to give India a revered position in the world of science. In contrast, today the scientists commonly view science merely as a profession. A student today learns science only as the gateway to building a career. As a result, selfless devotion to science is largely absent in our scientific culture. Add to this the absence of a socio-cultural struggle, particularly a determined effort by the scientists to build up a scientific bent of mind among the people, and we have a recipe for a culture devoid of scientific content. What is needed today is to re-start the movement to establish a scientific culture, with the motto of Science for Society, Science for Man, Science in Thinking. With this objective, an All India Science Conference is going to be organized in Bangalore on 17-19 October, 2014. In the conference, eminent scientists will deliberate on issues like science education, science policy, and ways to counteract the wave of blind beliefs and religious bigotry that we see in the country today. We request all science loving people to participate in the conference and to lend support in all possible forms to make it a great success. Dhruba Mukhopadhyay and Soumitro Banerjee On behalf of the Preparatory Committee All India Science Conference Organized by Breakthrough Science Society
Posted on: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 16:32:39 +0000