Dr Anil Kakodkar speaks at the programme.
PANAJI
India has the intelligence, capability, and potential to lead the world in today’s knowledge-based economy that requires the application of science and technology in all sectors to elevate economically to be a powerful nation. We only have to focus on few things to reach this goal of becoming a ‘Vishwaguru’, stated eminent nuclear scientist, Dr Anil Kakodkar, while speaking on ‘Indian Science: 75 years and beyond’ at the ‘Vicharvedh’ lecture series sponsored by Fomento at Gomant Vidya Niketan, Margao.
The nuclear physicist who is associated with India’s atomic energy programme for six decades has been awarded Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan by the government of India and Gomant Vibhushan by the Goa government for his major role in nuclear energy research.
Delivering the late Srinivas Naik lecture in Govind Kare auditorium, Dr Kakodkar stated that science has played an important role in human evolution, enabling us to observe nature, think and create comforts and resources by value additions. Respecting India’s traditional knowledge of science and medicinal plants, the scientist of Goan origin said that till 1700 Indian GDP was largest than any other country in the world.
“We traded with many other civilisations in the East and the West when some of the countries like US didn’t even exist. But for variety of reasons, foreign rule and exploitation, and other hurdles we missed the industrial revolution and slowly started retracting. We were at our lowest in 1947 with very low GDP percentile. But as we celebrate ‘Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsava’ we are in the Amrut Kal, and far ahead in today’s knowledge era,” he said.
“So, if we question ourselves, can India regain its past glory and become number one, the answer is yes. Blessed with demographic dividend, if we build products ahead of other countries applying cutting-edge technology, our economy will grow. Growth of economy is a natural thing to happen, but quality of average Indian should be comparable to the best of the world. And to me, that is real development,” said Dr Kakodkar.
If GDP has to go up, India needs to fulfil certain requirements. The country has great academic institutions, but the ranking of our universities is low compared to world standards. Our scientific publications and output is the fastest in the world, but most of our scientific interest is driven by the western world. We need to do research to solve problems and challenges in our own country. India is large, we can create a pool of researchers. Collaborations with the west are important but the focus should be to develop our own products that can be useful to India. We have fundamental challenges, so we must go through socio-economic transformations to translate technology into scientific progress, said Dr Kakodkar.
India has the best of doctors, engineers, scientists and other professionals, and there is progress, but that’s not enough. We need to instil confidence in ourselves and shed our fears of failure. India has done much progress in space, missiles, atomic energy fields because we were forced to do research, as others would not share their technology with us. Now we are ahead, though it took us 20 years. Today Brahmos is the most powerful missile in the world, these are knowledge-driven products. Exports are happening on a large scale. Should that make you a powerful country, he asked.
When the country becomes economically powerful, we need a mission, a mindset and people who leverage the economy to the larger communities. Pointing to Artificial Intelligence, cognition and genetics as the key technologies, Dr Kakodkar said that India needs to have inhouse R&D technology that is globally competitive. To move into that era, we need money, support system and government policies – all going hand in hand. India has missed the semi-conductors 20 years ago, despite having knowledge. But we didn’t have investment from the industries and the government. New areas require platforms, additional conditions, and ecosystem. India needs Triple Helix architecture, where research, industries and government work together to create conducive atmosphere for the country to grow, stated the scientist.
R&D should provide a roadmap for translating opportunities into reality and industries should step forward to invest while policymaking should support and do concurrent working, and the trio should take risk together. At a time when artificial intelligence is taking control of your life, India has the market, data and people. India is the largest custodian of data. We have to be conscious, be in the race but not become vulnerable otherwise we could create cultures of very different kind. Looking at these things only fundamentally will be short sited, warned the Padma Vibhushan awardee.
We talk of diversity, and say that we must preserve it even in Nature and avoid monoculture. Our education system should recognise this diversity too, and understanding that no two persons are equal, we must allow students to learn at their own pace, and create a student-centric education system. Students have different capabilities, some are weak, slow and need remedial action, but we should not hold someone back because he cannot compete with others. The curriculum needs to be evaluated and made learner-centric, suggested Dr Kakodkar.
We need to address issues at multiple levels and make different minds come together. Indians are intelligent as individuals, but we need to create an environment that Indian superior minds should think of performing in India. Indians are welcomed abroad where there is talent search policy. But they should contribute their knowledge for the betterment of their own country. As we approach Amrut Kal, we should grab every opportunity to regain the past glory and make India walk towards being a ‘Vishwaguru’, concluded the atomic researcher.
