Wake Up Scientists
Professor K VijayRaghavan, principal scientific advisor to the government of India, gave an inspiring talk yesterday called “Science, the fulcrum for social and economic change” as part of the ongoing series of kaapi with kuriosity organized by the wonderful International Centre for Theoretical Sciences
Science (and technology) enable social and economic change. But for this to happen, society needs to accept science. Why does society not accept science? What can we do for that? These are the questions Vijay answered and gave solutions to.
The answer is simple. Science needs to be more open and accessible. Science needs to work with society.
How to make it happen, though?
Stop complaining and start doing.
Yes. That is exactly what the principal scientific advisor asked the crowd to do. What Indians are really good at is talking about the problem whereas nobody wants to be part of the solution. If it has to change, the change has to start with each and every one of you.
You might say the government needs to change policies regarding science. But guess what? You are the government!
You need to be a citizen first and a scientist next. You need to influence policy. You need to create jobs. You need to innovate. You need to engage with industry. You need to communicate. You need to do things. That is the way we will make it happen.