Nobel laureate Venki Ramakrishnan on Friday said lack of adequate funding, bureaucratic hurdles and shifting of research from State universities to Central institutions were some of the key factors holding back Indian science.
He was speaking at the launch of the Tamil translation of his book ‘Gene Machine: The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome’ at the Asian College of Journalism here. Responding to a question by N. Ram, director, The Hindu Publishing Group, on how science has progressed since 1971 when Mr. Ramakrishnan left the country, he said India produced world-class science before Independence.
Citing the works of C.V. Raman, J.C. Bose, S.N. Bose, Meghnad Saha and Homi Bhabha, he said such a trend persisted for a while after Independence mainly because of the interest of Jawaharlal Nehru, who funded and created institutions.
According to him, science stagnated for a while thereafter although people like C.N.R. Rao made efforts to improve it. Science wilted in State universities such as University of Madras, Bombay and Baroda and migrated to Central institutions. This shift meant that many students were isolated from where the main research happened. He said India’s science funding as a fraction of the GDP was much lower than many advanced countries, and even neighbouring China. He said China, which made tremendous investments in science, was seeing the benefits now. India must realise the direct connection between becoming a knowledge-based society and prosperity. Governments needed to have vision for 20 years and not next elections, he added.
In favour of GM crops
To a question by an audience member on genetically modified (GM) crops, he said he was generally in their favour, but monopolistic control by a few multinational corporations was likely. He said government-run agriculture institutes in India could create GM crops as altering the nutritional value of crops and making them drought and pest-tolerant could be helpful in addressing food security, especially in the context of climate change.
On the possibility of artificial intelligence replacing jobs, he said he was hopeful that human beings would eventually find new type of work although transitional period could be harder. He traced the journey of his research on ribosomes, leading to his Nobel prize in 2009 along with two others.
Mr. Ram said Mr. Ramakrishnan’s book was praised for its lucidity with which it presented complex science, compelling storytelling, unsparing frankness, honesty and wit. He lauded Kalachuvadu publication and translator T. Sargunam Stephen, and expressed hope that the Tamil translation would be well supported.
Articulating the need for updating the science encyclopaedia in Tamil, Mr. Stephen said he came up with many new scientific terms for the book, which could be debated and improved by the wider community.
Kannan Sundaram, publisher, Kalachuvadu, said though his organisation had published 1,200 titles, this was the first time it had translated a science book. He thanked Mr. Ram for bringing him in touch with Mr. Ramakrishnan for the translation. Writer and translator G. Kuppusamy said this was the first time a book by Nobel Laureate in science was getting translated into Tamil.
