Former Chief Justice of India M.N. Venkatachaliah on Tuesday called for an allocation to the tune of Rs.1,25,000 crore to promote science and scientific temper.
Delivering the memorial lecture organised by the newly inaugurated N. Ramachandran Foundation here, Justice Venkatachaliah said the collapse of the feudal social order, changes in attitudes, mindset, and the way of life that science and technology developments were causing, and the advent of a middle income emerging economy were the three major challenges that India was facing.
He also wanted the corporate bodies to contribute their mite towards promoting science and scientific temper.
ADVERTISEMENT
Referring to the role of the press in a democracy, Justice Venkatachaliah, who has also made his mark as a human rights campaigner and spokesman of free press after laying down office, said democracy was inconceivable without a powerful media.
Justice Venkatachaliah also presented the first N. Ramachandran Award for Excellence to N. Ram, former Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu and chairman of Kasturi and Sons, publishers of The Hindu.
In his award-acceptance speech, Mr. Ram stressed on the importance of setting up an independent news ombudsman as part of the attempts to find a solution to the question of regulation.
ADVERTISEMENT
“The time has come for journalists to find a solution from within. The institution of news ombudsman might not solve the problem but it will restore the credibility of newspapers,” he said.