Dr Monika Koul
February is month of festivities and time to express love towards various relationships. Youth, youngsters and even married people are now joining the festivities by celebrating rose day, valentines day and friendship day. The markets, news channels, radio jockeys have been pitching hard to gain maximum out of these emotions by talking loud about these. But how many of us, especially, youngsters are talking about a very important day for us- the day to celebrate love and spirit of science? Why do people avoid science and the pursuit of scientific enquiry? The answer seems simple- science is not yet taken over by market. There is no Archies and Hallmark to promote it. There is so Bindaas and Channel V to showcase it. Is this approach right? The answer is clear “No” as science is the only rescuer and elevator for our country and we got to celebrate its every essence.
Science and scientific discoveries are influencing each and every aspect of human life. Science is helping to reveal so many mysteries on Earth. It is broadening our horizon and leading to newer insights to explore space beyond earth. Man has landed on the moon and is trying to explore the possibilities of settling colonies on Mars. Several satellites are orbiting around the earth. Man has in fact become a tourist in space. Great strides have been made in the fields of medicine, physics and chemistry. Agriculture is witnessing several new developments. Crops are tailor made and engineered to have desired genes. Genetically modified crops that produce higher yield are growing in farms. Through the application of method of science, human problems have been understood and solved. Scientific discoveries and inventions are leading to technological innovations. Computers have resulted in revolution in information and communication technology. Therefore, these aspects also need to be celebrated. Celebrated with more passion and affection as these concern entire society and social set up of which all of us are important components.
We are celebrating National Science Day, yet again to commemorate the scientific contribution made by well-known Indian Physicist Dr. C. V. Raman. In 1986, the National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC) asked the Government of India to designate 28 February as National Science Dayto mark the discovery of Raman Effect by the great Indian Scientist Sir CV Raman. For this discovery Nobel Prize was conferred upon him. Since then National Science Day is celebrated across India with great fervor and passion. Every year National Science day is celebrated around a focal theme to mark some important aspect that deals with the progress of science in general and society in particular. For the Year 2014 the theme selected is celebrating the “Scientific Temper.”It affects every aspect of human endeavour from ethics to politics andeconomics and is essential for ensuring human survival and progress. Scientific temper is just not joining science courses and learning science and technology subjects, and talking about science and technology. It is an attitude of mind. The first Prime Minister PanditJawaharLal Nehru once said, “The future belongs to science and those who make friends with science”. According to many proponents of science and scientific temper it is science only that can create a conducive and better atmosphere in a nation where superstition, religion, rumor, myth and innumerable beliefs dissuade people from following the path of enquiry and experimentation.
To develop scientific temper in society is a real challenge as there are so many myths prevailing in society. Awareness has to be raised by reaching the masses through print media, through electronic media and by one to one campaigning. Newspapers in education are playing a crucial role in making science popular among school children and it is perceived that the present generation is scientifically motivated. Academia has to play a proactive role in developing pedagogy and tools to propagate scientific temper. The growth of scientific temper can be measured by the extent to which ordinary people are using the methods of science to life. If vast majority of people areable to think independently, understand and practice the scientific method in their daily lives, analyze and not take statements at their face value, and are open to simplistic reasoning then only we can say that scientific temper is prevailing in society. It is a value and an ethics that has to be inculcated in every individual so that we live and lead a better life.
As suggested by imminent scholars scientific temper leads to the search for truth and new knowledge, the refusal to accept anything without testing and trial, the capacity to change previous conclusions in the face of new evidence, the reliance on observed fact and not on pre-conceived theory. All this is necessary, not merely for the application of science but for life itself and the solution of its many problems.The famous Indian poet ShriRabindarNath Tagore wrote few lines decades back to tell countrymen that the only thing that is going to take us forward is to come out of older clutches of superstition and to follow and love science from the core of heart. It is time for all of us to understand that all other things can wait but science. Valentinesday and rose day can add flavor to life only if we celebrate the festivities of science and its advancements. Let us all pledge that 28th February will not go unnoticed and scientific temper will be a discourse across and people will engage in debates and discussions on science and scientific temper. Let us all recall and salute what Tagore said and adopt scientific practices and foster scientific talent by various methods. Mark 28th February on calendar and make it more popular than any other day on the calendar.
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way,
into the dreary desert sand of dead habit,
where the mind is led forward by thee into
ever widening thought and action,
into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake.
Poem 35 of Tagore’s Gitanjali
(The author is Assistant Professor Hans Raj College University of Delhi)
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