Yes Prime Minister

30/01/2002

a b banerjee
general secretary, Indian Science Congress Association, Kolkata
It is a coincidence that some of the people invited here are involved in the field of defence. Abdul Kalam is an eminent scientist regardless of the fact that he is also involved in defence. More emphasis can be given to research in the health sector and it is for the government to do so. Circumstances have forced us to focus more on the defence research. But it has to be taken into consideration that this research should be of use to the common people though it might be of immediate use to the military only. It is imperative that our sovereignity is maintained.

v s chauhan
director, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, (New Delhi component)
Health research has not been a big tradition in this country. This is mainly because of lack of facility in the hospitals. But the last 15-20 years have seen tremendous improvement in the research facility for diseases like malaria and tuberculosis. It is true that people here are still dying of diseases like diarrhoea but it is true of all poor countries. The issue is very complex and there are no cut and dry answers to it. May be more money is being pumped into areas like defence and space. But the government has its own priorities. This doesn't mean that sectors like health have been totally neglected. At least a dozen institutions in India are carrying out first rate research on infectious diseases. The credit should go to the successive governments.

m g k menon
distinguished professor, Indian Space Research Organisation
The PM spoke what was topmost in his mind. It is not strange or unusual to focus on terrorism because it is one of the biggest problems faced by our country and can destabilise our existence. On the other hand, health is a long-term issue. At the Indian Science Congress, there were plenty of sessions on health as well as biotechnology. It is not right to say that health was sidelined. The need of the hour is more investment and allocation on all sectors including agriculture, health and biotechnology. India has an enormous infrastructure with huge capabilities which even the developed countries do not possess. There is far too much media attention on unnecessary issues. We need value systems. The new science and technology policy will look into this issue. Private sector should also involve itself in scientific research.

ashok jhunjhunwala
professor, department of electrical engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai
It is not true to say that research in India is defence oriented. There is a slight focus on the defence but it is not too much. Unlike health, private sector is never involved in defence research. I would agree that at present health care is affected by lack of funds. One way of ensuring that health care is not affected is to involve more private companies. Also, lack of government support does not mean that the health sector will suffer.

ashok parthasarthy
former chairperson, Centre For Studies In Science Policy, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
The Science Congress was not focused on issues of defence. There was a major treatment of health security, ecological and environment Security and nutritional Security. As to where critical issues like health stand in the scheme of our scientific effort, the financial outlay on the research by Indian Council of Medical Research has been increasing over the years. As for science and technology, it will continue to remain a broad-based effort with programmes in all major areas. Meets such as these are not really reflective of the totality of our scientific and technological research and development. This is because participation is dominated by the academic sector.

Tags:
- Politics

India Environment Portal Knowledge for change

Browse by subjects