Scientists asked to develop low-cost knowhow

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, JAN. 20. The Union Minister for Human Resources Development, Prof. Murli Manohar Joshi, has called upon scientists to look beyond the horizon and pursue original research in frontier areas such as the Physics of Consciousness.

It was unfortunate, he said, that Indian scientists tended to look toward the West for inspiration unmindful of the vast treasure of scientific knowledge available in Sanskrit texts.

Prof. Joshi was inaugurating a two-day conference of Directors of the 40-plus Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) institutions here on Saturday. The Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), where the conference is being held, the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) and the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) are jointly organising the meet. The Union Minister of State for Science & Technology, Mr. Bachi Singh Rawat, presided.

Prof. Joshi dwelt upon three aspects - need for scientists to do original research, strive to evolve low-cost, low-energy technologies suitable to country's needs and tap the fund of knowledge in ancient treatises.

Energy and financial resources - inputs so vital for development and progress - were not plenty. With the country straining its resources to foot the petrol bill, he said, scientists should turn their attention on tapping solar energy (``We have enough to last one billion years''). Germany was planning to stop nuclear energy production and switch to solar energy in 10 years. With focussed goal and approach, it was possible for India to solve its energy problems in 7 to 10 years.

It was time, he said, the country revived its old strengths and developed low-cost, low energy technologies. India produced 4 times more iron and steel than the West until the British arrived. ``They killed our industry and threw thousands out of jobs by getting it from Manchester and Liverpool. Today our production is less than the output of a factory in Korea.''

Again, in the sphere of ayurvedic medicine, India had the technology, but it was China and Thailand which reaped rich harvest of this knowledge. Cheap technologies were available in the rural areas, where people used clove oil to rid tooth-ache and the local material to clean brackish or smelling water in wells.

Prof. Joshi, who is also vice-president of the CSIR, appealed to scientists not to dismiss Sanskrit works as `mythology.' If they did not follow the language, they could recruit Sanskrit consultants in every laboratory to help them.

He also paid handsome compliments to the Indian scientists, saying he was looking forward to the day when India would put a man on the moon.

Mr. Rawat wanted the CSIR to play a vital role in making India a global knowledge power, besides developing technologies that were internationally competitive.

Dr. R. A. Mashelkar, Director-General, CSIR, welcomed the gathering and Dr. K. V. Raghavan, Director, IICT, proposed a vote of thanks.

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