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Journalism of Courage
It is always a wondrous day when deliberations on how to structure a scientific revolution knock off the daily dose of political bickering from prime news slots. But it is a telling comment on the countryacirc;euro;trade;s scientific establishment that reportage on the 88th Indian Science Congress in New Delhi resonates as much with prescriptions as with ego tussles and long lists of eminent scientists who decided to give the event a miss. It is also tempting to pass off the Congress as yet another talking shop, as an opportunity for greying eminences to bask in Delhiacirc;euro;trade;s pale winter sun. If such cynicism is unwarranted as one dearly hopes it is the onus lies with the assembled gathering to prove us wrong. The onus of cobbling together a sincere effort to bring India into the Samp;T loop lies with the government, various scientific organisations, Indiaacirc;euro;trade;s cutting edge institutes of higher learning as well as research and development and private organisations caught up in the race for patents.
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has identified three areas for immediate attention: the genome, food security, information technology. In each field, securing spin-offs from current breakthroughs will require cooperation and facilitating investment in Ramp;D. It will also require accountability and nimbleness to swoop in and seize the advantage. With the mapping of the human genome virtually complete, with most of this information out in the public domain, the healthcare benefits that could accrue are seemingly infinite. And the stakes are huge. With pharmaceutical companies and scientists around the world chasing the patents at the end of the genetic rainbow, the challenge in India lies in easing bureaucratic controls and guiding private and public sector researchers towards a plethora of applications. In information technology, on the other hand, India has already emerged as one the biggest suppliers of technical personnel. If it is estimated that more than one-third of software personnel in the SiliconValley are Indian a figure that is bound to increase with Washingtonacirc;euro;trade;s stated intent to increase its IT visa quota more than 200 of the Fortune 500 companies are said to outsource their software needs to Indian companies. This is a sector, then, worried not so much by lack of opportunities but by the gap between the demand and supply of technical personnel. The Indian education system just has to get more people on to the information highway.
