Conf stresses on linking science with common man

Bhopal, Jan 17 (UNI) Linking science with the common man and assimilating Indian traditions and processes is imperative for the country's overall department, feel experts attending a three-day national conference that got underway in this City of Lakes today.

''Science willl prove its worth only when it creates scientific temper in Indians, 70 per cent of whom reside in villages. Land has to be linked to the laboratory,'' said the Banda-based Vigyan Shiksha Kendra's Dr Bhartendu Prakash at 'Propagation of Science for Progress and Empowerment', being organised by the Madhya Pradesh Council for Science and Technology and inaugurated by Governor Balram Jakhar.

Dr Prakash felt that the basic issues that should concern science trainers should be the origin of fire, the invention of the wheel, the beginning of agriculture and animal husbandry.

''The myth that science is only for the English-knowing urbanites has to be dispelled. State science councils must organise at least half of their programmes at local levels,'' said the Lucknow-based Central Drug Research Institute's Dr Narendra Mehrotra.

Pointing out that Ayurveda experts had outlined the cuisine ideal for the Indian climate, he added that even cooking thus had a scientific basis.

The Bangalore-based Vigyan Bharti Kendra's Dr Jai Kumar said that every type of research and scheme ought to be beneficial for the general public. ''Scientists should compulsorily visit rural areas for a first-hand study of the needs and problems there,'' he added.

''When a case pertaining to the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy reached the Supreme Court, the bench could not be provided clear statistics as scientists had not completed their analysis,'' said the Central Advisory Board of Education's Dr Anil Sadgopal while pointing out that an irrigation system is still awaited in 88 per cent of the country's cultivated area.

UNI