Science and the Prime Minister-Words vs Action

No doubt our Prime minister is a great communicator and it is his ability to connect with the citizens through inspiring words, carried him through in last last general election to become what he is to day. Though many honest citizens believe that his actions so far between May 2014 and February 2015, a relatively short period he is in power, are marked by many decisions or indecision which are opposite to what he promised the nation. There is still lot of good will for him among the common man and people may yet give him some more time before making a value judgment on his performance. As a scientist this Blogger gets an uneasy feeling that he does not mean what he is preaching some times and his recent utterances on .science and scientists at the Indian Science Congress might be well meaning but his inaction in taking action to appoint to the post of Chief of CSIR belies that hope. It seems he has forgotten that CSIR, with 37 laboratories, 39 field stations and 17000 scientists belonging to different scientific disciplines is one of the biggest scientific assets of the country requiring nurturing through encouragement, resource investment and full policy support.

It is more than a year since the last Director General of CSIR ( DG) retired and till yesterday government did not consider it a priority to fill up that post! Is this not a serious lapse as CSIR is the largest scientific body under the government and keeping it headless is like treating it like a bureaucratic set up affecting the morale of the scientific community as a whole! It was only recently that the government sacked the Chief Scientist in Defense research unceremoniously which reinforces the impression that science has been put on the back burners, at least for now.Only to day there was an announcement that a new DG has been given the task of leading CSIR. Dr M.O.Garg the new appointee will have an arduous job on hand and how he can exert influence on this PM to get the needed resources and inspiration from him to run CSIR is a million dollar question. Have a look at PM's speech at the Science Congress on January 3 this year at Mumbai which is quoted below:.

"Prime Minister, Narendra Modi on Saturday morning inaugurated the 102nd edition of the Indian Science Congress hosted by the Mumbai University. Modi called for the need to rekindle the love for science and technology and the relaxing excessive regulations and cumbersome procedures for our universities to give a boost to research. Our scientists should be able to explore the mysteries of science and not get stuck in government procedures" said Modi. He added that our research is restricted to central agencies but it must be made broad based. "We have to place the university system at the cutting edge of the research and development activities in the country," he added. Speaking about the great work of Indian scientists, Modi said, "Just as children see sportsmen as role models, scientists should also be the same. Parents should feel pride in their children becoming scientists." He also lauded the work by ISRO for putting Mangalayan in the mars" 

PM's words about University system may be very apt but his minister for HRD does not inspire much confidence among the scientific community with her limited qualification, lack of experience and inadequate vision. University Grants Commission which controls the financial strings vis-a-vis Universities require urgent overhaul if the higher education system is to contribute any thing in the scientific research area. In sharp contrast to Universities in other countries like the US or Europe our Universities are a pale shadow of their counterparts. Most of them lack world class infrastructure for training and research in different areas of science and technology. The example of ISRO, which is role model for scientific achievements, must be emulated, simulated and duplicated in various scientific fields and this agency proves that our scientists are capable of delivering results if targets are well contoured and adequate resources are kept at their disposal. 

Another worrying factor is whether there is a possibility that indigenous research will be discouraged in the face of this PM's over drive to project India as a welcome destination for foreign players to pitch their tent in the country? Naturally they are bound to try to sell all types of technologies in the country, sidelining the efforts of Indian scientists which can be disastrous by doing a lot of harm to the scientific temper among youngsters of future generation. What the present government is missing in its pursuit of foreign technologies is that even to understand and evaluate the feasibility of foreign technologies under Indian conditions, technical expertise of a high order is required and if domestic research is neglected this capacity is bound to be degraded gradually making India a dumping ground for junk technologies of irrelevance to the needs of the country. One can only hope better sense will prevail on the part of the present government and science is given its due place as a priority area of action.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

THE DIAMOND JUBILEE-BUT NO TIME FOR JUBILIATION!

October 21, 2010 is supposed to be a landmark date for the once famous food research institute in Mysore under the CSIR, set up 60 years ago because of the farsighted vision of Pandit Nehru, independent India's first Prime Minister to make the food processing industry self-reliant as far as possible without depending too much on imports. The present head of the institution, (glorified wrongly as the first Kannadiga Director by a National News Paper), is bringing the central S & T Minister to "inaugurate" the Diamond Jubilee "Celebrations", under the benign presence of the so called "Father" of Green Revolution. Unfortunately a look back at the developmental achievements of this organization during the last two decades can only create despair and anguish amongst honest citizens of the country for wasting enormous opportunities for pitchforking itself as a world class food research set up that could have been a beacon of hope to not only millions of Indians but also to whole of the world.

If the PR materials provided to the media are carefully gleaned, it may be difficult for any one with an acquaintance with the past work of this institute to see any thing new in what is being propagated as present achievements. The much touted Amul baby food developed and productionized in 1960's under the inspiring leadership of late Dr V Subramanian and Dr H A B Parpia, the pitamahas of food technology in the country, is being projected as major achievement, clearly showing that the cup board of high quality industrial innovations is totally empty. It is sad that the origin of not even one new successful product in the market to day can be traced to this institution. Present management proclaims from the house top that it had helped victims of Tsunami and Gujarat earth quake by supplying "foods" ignoring the fact that it is the food industry which should have done this job using the technology from the institute. How far the claim can be substantiated and how far it was relevant and effective, only a critical appraisal can bring out.

Another area of tall claim is about the training programs being organized, obviously for the benefit of the food industry in the country. Again it is conveniently forgotten that these programs were established way back when the institute was under the able stewardship of Dr HAB Parpia and Dr BL Amla who must be saluted for their vision and far-sight. Of course the only area where it has emerged as a major center is for "producing" Ph.D scholars in areas of least relevance to food science or technology or to the industry. The claim that it has 400 "food scientists" on its role is at best a joke because there are hardly a couple of dozen qualified food technologists, all others being auxiliary personnel mostly in fringe areas. It is understandable that teaching is a part of the functions of a scientist in any national laboratory but the same cannot be the major activity because there are dozens of universities in India providing training facilities in food science, technology, engineering, nutrition etc. Producing 15-20 food tech graduates in an year which is less than 10% of the graduates emerging each year in the country cannot be a justification for the working of a national laboratory.

In stead of expanding its domain of influence by injecting more young scientists and diversifying into uncharted areas of research, the drift and uncertainties of the present management, allowed shrinking of the personnel pool and the current strength is not considered to be of "critical mass" to achieve any thing substantial. Regional Research Centers built up painstakingly during 1960s have been systematically dismantled or made dysfunctional cutting off vital links with the people out side Mysore and it has become a Mysore-centric organization making itself irrelevant to the country as a whole. No wonder GOI decided to write off the organization and establish the National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management in Haryana besides upgrading other existing institutions through large infusion of public funds to serve Indian food industry. Absence of the minister in MFPI of GOI at the Diamond Jubilee function will only confirm this surmise.

There appears to be an impression that activities like bringing out glossy reports, building arches, gardens, ornamental gates, painting the building every year at enormous cost, holding press conferences, cultivating selected journalists, treating VIPs with royal aplomb, filing useless and unwanted patents, delivering special lectures and key not addresses in public functions, touting academic publications etc justify the existence of a public funded research organization. Ignoring the need of the users mainly micro enterprises, SMEs and the main stream industry consistently during the last 15 years, as vouchsafed by the industry, cannot be condoned easily and probably on this occasion of the Diamond Jubilee, GOI must take to task such redundant organizations for wasting public money. May be an in-depth assessment of this organization vis-à-vis its technical achievements and usefulness to Indian food industry during the last 15 years by a competent committee constituted with a set of unbiased experts can only bring out the real picture regarding the impact of this institute after guzzling public funds to the tune of approximately Rs 300 crore during the last 15 years. Till such time for the hapless citizens of this country the Diamond Jubilee milestone cannot be an occasion for jubilation but despair and frustration!

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com