New Delhi, Mar 21 (PTI) Colonial mindset “drained” Indians of their esteem of being scientific workers, and under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership that esteem is being “restored”, Union minister Jitendra Singh said on Monday.
Addressing a gathering at the launch of a book – ‘A Brief History of Science in India’ — on JNU campus, he recalled Lord Macaulay, a highly controversial figure of British India period, and said that the education policy formed by the British politician was framed in such a manner that it allowed a ‘British’ to be virtually “beneath the brown skin” of Indians.
“It was a subtle, intellectual, education-based, scientific transformation of a race that he was planning through our education policy,” Singh said.
The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology, said, it was a “subtle, intellectual warfare, intellectual aggression” to make the ‘British way’ become part of our “nature and work culture”.
The minister said India has its own rich history, scientific and other heritage, but it has not much takers today when it comes to doing scientific research.
He said the people with science and engineering background, attempt to explore other avenues, like civil services, and only when all doors close, they try to go for a PhD or other higher studies on scientific subjects.
“This mismatch is due to the colonial mindset, which drained us of our esteem, the esteem of being a scientist, the esteem of being scientific workers,” Singh said.
“Today, India is on the verge of becoming a frontline nation, primarily on the basis of its scientific pursuits. And, thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that esteem is sought to be restored,” he said.
Singh cited the National Hydrogen Mission, Swachh Bharat Mission, and start-up culture, to claim that science today has virtually entered every sphere of life.
Praising India’s rich legacy, he said, “India itself is an idea, and an imperishable idea, which has the potential to give birth to many more sub-ideas. And, therein lies the secret to its longevity.” The Union minister said India for ages has been under the rule of others, the British colonial rule till 1947, the Mughals before them, and others preceding the Mughals.
“In spite of all of this”, he said, “we have sustained that idea of India and sustained our identity as Indians”.
The minister, who also holds the portfolio of Earth Sciences, said Indians have a “natural scientific temper” irrespective of their literacy status.
He cited examples of illiterate people who can “sometimes forecast a storm very accurately going by behaviour of birds, almost as accurately as India Meteorological Department can,” to buttress his claim.
He also recalled the colleges and universities established by the British as well as the research institutions, and described India as “heterogeneous laboratory” that has given research resources to not just people in the subcontinent but the wider world.
Towards the end of his speech, Singh was briefly heckled by a female member sitting in the audience, who insisted on having a dialogue with the minister.
Singh replied from the podium that they could have a dialogue after his speech.
Vice-Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit, Sunil Ambekar, social Activist, and Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh, RSS, and many others were present on the occasion.
The JNU VC in her address said, “It is extremely important to construct alternative Indo-centric narratives, and JNU should be the centre for that”.
She said Indian civilisation has never been “anti-science”.
“We belong to a civilisation that does not believe in a human-centric, but rather a nature-centric approach,” she said.
The book has been authored by Sabareesh P A, a PhD research scholar at the Centre for Studies in Science Policy (CSSP), School of Social Sciences (SSS), JNU. PTI KND VN VN
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