NEW DELHI, May 25: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee wants scientific institutions in the country to be freed from stifling bureaucratic controls, accompanied by a radical change in the mind-set of science administrators.Outlining a nine-point agenda to create an enabling environment for science and scientific temper to flourish, Vajpayee told scientists here that translating his newly-coined motto of ``Jai Vigyan'' into action required an ``Innovation Movement'' to inspire newness in thinking and action.In a surprisingly sharp attack on the current scientific set-up in the country, the Prime Minister said it was not lack of funds which was coming in the way of progress as much as the ``bureaucratisation of the institutions''.Urging greater recognition to highly talented scientists, Vajpayee said, ``Administrators and government officials should be facilitators, and not masters of scientists.''Vajpayee was addressing scientists at a function where he gave away the country's highest scientificawards the annual Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar awards to nine young and upcoming scientists from research institutions all over the country.Referring to the ``inferior status'' afforded to engineers in the country, Vajpayee said the drain of engineers to greener pastures abroad had to be reversed. ``As a result, areas such as manufacturing, original design and development of technology, and solving problems at the shop-floor have suffered,'' he said.Other priority areas that required urgent action included enhancing the role of industry in promoting investments in R&D, creating knowledge networks with universities, IITs, and national laboratories working in a ``Team India'' mode. Information technology, the Prime Minister said had to be made into a national campaign and the task was underway with the appointment of a task force to draft a National Informatics Policy.Supporting Union Science and Technology Minister, Murli Manohar Joshi's proposal to declare May 11 as ``Technology Day'', Vajpayee said thescientific community should select specific areas of research where it could show global excellence. Joshi's address at the function was along similar lines as that of the Prime Minister. He urged the scientific community to ``break out from the trodden and established path''. For too long Indian science and technology had sought to pursue the trodden path set by others, he said.
