The country must acknowledge the role of scientists who worked against the odds imposed during the two centuries of English rule that focussed on de-nationalising India more than colonizing it, National organizing secretary of Vijnana Bharati, Jayant Sahasrabudhe said here on Sunday.
History has largely neglected the contributions of scientists towards the freedom struggle since the 1757 Battle of Plassey that gave the British East India Company a decisive victory in the subcontinent, till 1947 when the country earned Independence, he said, while delivering the ‘Sir C V Raman lecture’ at the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB).
“Those scientists strived to regain the identity of India from the hands of the invaders,” Mr. Sahasrabudhe noted in his speech on ‘Freedom Struggle and Science’ organized on the occasion of the 133rd birthday of physicist Dr C.V. Raman.
“We stand on their shoulders in our continuing efforts towards progress,” he said.
At the function coinciding with the 75th year of the country’s Independence, Mr. Sahasrabudhe noted how the patriotic fervour exhibited by several scientists in imperial India added to the spirit of the nationalist movement.
“The British implemented scientific studies in India primarily as a tool to consolidate their rule. They belittled our culture, reiterated that Sanskrit was a dead language that promoted superstitions through its literature centred around mythology,” he said. He however said western thinkers such as Werner von Braun and Noam Chomsky had reiterated the richness of India’s contribution to global heritage, including language and science. RGCB Director Chandrabhas Narayana presided over the function.
