Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

On basic sciences

Both Nobel Laureate Aaron Ciechanover and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have expressed concern over the lack of interest among students in basic sciences (Jan. 4). The proposed increase in the annual expenditure on science and technology may not solve the problem of declining research in the field. If the people at the helm are truly interested in developing basic sciences and other conventional branches of technology, they should make them more attractive in terms of monetary benefits.

V.S. Venkatavaradan,
Salem

There is still a long way to go before basic sciences get their due. The additional investment should be used to attract the best minds in India to pursue a career in research. The Government should create awareness among parents, so that they do not stand in the way of their children becoming scientists instead of software professionals.

D. Rajesh,
Karaikudi

The best talent in the sciences has always looked outside for the right opportunities and recognition. Scientists do not have any meaningful place in policy and decision making process. Many deals are signed on one-sided and even humiliating conditions. The much talked about Indo-U.S. nuclear deal won't be any different. The general belief remains that the country has to import technology for whatever it wants to do.

India remains a fiefdom of bureaucrats. It is perhaps the only country where the work of scientists and technologists is assessed by babus. So when the Prime Minister exhorts the scientist community to bring about a change, the talk sounds like rhetoric. It is ritualistic in the absence of concrete follow-up and course corrective action.

Seema Garg,
Tiruchi

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