Discussing about the Indian Government policies on science and technology, Nobel Laureate Prof. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, President of the Royal Society calls the Indian science congress a “Circus”. In addition, he has adverted that India can become a science powerhouse by 2030, if the approach to scientific research in India is altered and they do it rightly.
He is optimistic and has mentioned that scientists do not need a permission to discuss the results of a public-funded published work with the media.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently said India will be among the top three countries in science and technology by 2030. Do you think it is at all possible given the low funding for science in India?” Source – The Hindu, Education Plus.
He thinks that culture of innovation has to be cultivated by investing more in private R&D. If scientists want to do an innovative work they need flexibility and money to show up on time, he says. People should be given enough autonomy and funds at a younger age when they are bold and creative. Demography is in favour of India to become stronger in scientific power, if there is enough sustained commitment to science, good governance, flexibility and autonomy for investigators.
CSIR Laboratories have been getting funds for decades and it is quite difficult to get them released. They were originally set up to help the industry, like people in the west doing it all the time. Industries need to collaborate with the scientific expertise, since many industries are at the stage of implementing technologies developed somewhere else as per his impression, says Professor Ramakrishnan.
India needs sustained commitment to R&D, like China and South Korea, if they want themselves among top science countries by 2030. He explains about the Holding principle, which is being adapted by the government in Britain since 100 years. In this, government do not have the right to interfere with the scientific implementation and in to the work of scientists to achieve the goals,but can set priorities which are in the control of elected government.
If India wants to develop more in science, they need to spend their money and time on basic research, and not all on the applied science as basic science is somehow a baseband of it. He talks about the menace of predatory journals, since India is a home to most of these bogus journals. He adds that the Royal Society, the French Academy and the German Academy have developed the rise of predatory journals after discussing the issue in a meeting. People talk about shortcuts to publish papers in the journals which creates a very bad impact. If you publish your nice piece of work in a good solid journal and not published in a high-impact journal, it is system’s failure if it cannot evaluate your work.
Every scientist is not a good communicator, but if some of them are then it is their duty to explain why public money is being spent on various things, but scientists should not be forced to do so to be a bit flexible. But scientists should be free to talk about their work with media and public. For example, in the U.K., if you are representing your organization views, it should be cleared, but they can certainly talk about their own published work as well.
There is no reason in giving permission to the scientists and researchers to talk about their work unless it is classified for example - an institute is in the process of filing a patent. In that case they can’t talk to the media about it. But in case of a published work, he has no issues in discussing it with the public, says Professor.
