For popular science in India, it has been a roller coaster ride from ‘Vigyan Mandir’ experiment of 1953 to upcoming ‘ Vigyan Sarvatra Pujyate’ week-long celebration being held from February 22 to 28 simultaneously in 75 locations across the country. India is perhaps the only country in the world to adopt ‘scientific temper’ in its constitution. Article 51A(h), under Fundamental Duties, states, “[It shall be the duty of every citizen of India] to develop scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform.” The Science, Technology and Innovation Policy of 2020 states that in order for India to “march ahead on a sustainable development pathway …towards achieving an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, a greater emphasis may be needed on developing traditional knowledge systems, developing indigenous technologies and encouraging grassroots innovations”.
Perhaps the implementation methodology of ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyan’ is by celebrating various achievements in the field of science and technology over the 75 years, as being done over next week. It is refreshing to see popular science discussions are going to be held in various Indian languages, including Kashmiri, Dogri, Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telegu, Odiya, Bengali, Assamese, Nepali, Maithili, and Manipur. The event would display the country’s scientific legacy and technology prowess that has helped find solutions to defence, space, health, agriculture, astronomy, and other sectors. The event is jointly being organized by the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Biotechnology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Department of Atomic Energy, Department of Space, Indian Council of Medical Research, All India Council for Technical Education, and Defence Research Development Organisation.
Vigyan Sarvatra Pujyate also aims to inspire India’s youth and help them navigate into building a progressive nation; bring to the fore stories of people in science and their achievements; reinforce the commitment of the scientific community towards the economic and social development of the country. It also highlights the work being done by the R&D organizations from across the country. In this post-COVID-19 world, it is absolutely certain that popularity of science has to reach grassroots in regional languages for any society to thrive.
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