SPEECHES / STATEMENTS 

PM’s address at the centenary celebrations of Indian Institute of Science

December 3, 2008, Bangalore, Karnataka

“It is an honour and a pleasure to be at this great institution. I wish to begin by paying tribute to the memory of Professor M C Puri, who was killed in a dastardly terrorist attack on this campus three years ago. We will be observing his third death anniversary a few weeks from now. That terrorist attack symbolized the nefarious designs of the enemies of our country and of our people.

They chose the Indian Institute of Science as their target because this great institution and this vibrant city, have come to represent the spirit of a resurgent India. No coward, no terrorist, no enemy of our secular and democratic Republic will ever succeed in destroying the unity of our country, the journey of our people towards a better life and the resurgent spirit of our nation.

The Indian Institute of Science was born in the cradle of our national movement. It is a symbol of a new India’s search for a new destiny, as a modern economy and a knowledge-based society. I salute the memory of all those great scientists and patriots who built and ran this great institution with such great distinctions.

We owe a special debt of gratitude to its founder, Jamsethji Nusserwanji Tata. He was a great entrepreneur, a great visionary, a great builder and, above all a great son of India. He transformed the face of modern Indian industry, and created the institutional basis for growth of research in the sciences.

The establishment of this institution was a product of what Jamsethji Tata himself called ‘constructive philanthropy’. He used the term to distinguish it from ordinary charity. Charity was important, but it could not by itself contribute to nation building. Jamsethji believed that industry and science would have to serve as two pillars of the modern Indian nation. Like a true pioneer he contributed to the growth of both. I sincerely hope that our business leaders of today and tomorrow will derive inspiration from the example of Jamsethji Tata to invest more in such ‘constructive philanthropy’.

Coming to Bangalore on this occasion I must once again compliment all those scientists and engineers who have worked together as a team for the success of our Chandrayaan Moon Mission. They are a source of tremendous inspiration for all our people. Their effort, their achievement and their example and their commitment to national goals should ignite young minds across the length and breadth of our country.

The completion of one hundred years is a major milestone in the history of any institution. On every count the Indian Institute of Science has served our great country admirably. This Institute is the most visible symbol of India’s presence in the arena of basic research in science and in engineering.

On this occasion I take great personal pride in saying that when our Government came to power in 2004 there was only one Indian Institute of Science.

We have as I said, set up five other such institutions since then. The “Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research” established at Kolkata, Pune, Mohali, Bhopal and Thiruvananthapuram must seek inspiration from this great mother institution and seek to surpass it on all fronts. I believe this is the greatest tribute we could have paid to the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore on the occasion of its Centenary.

I hope that in entering its second century, the Institute will once again provide the academic leadership that will fuel the renewed thrust in science and technology. The pressing problems of energy, health, water and food security and the growing concerns on climate change need much greater scientific attention than in the past.

Our government is fully committed to supporting this great institution of learning. Nearly four years ago, the first announcement by the Central Government of a special grant of Rs.100 crores was made to this Institute. It was a recognition of its special place in the Indian academic scene. We are doing all we can to free the processes of public funding of research from unnecessary bureaucratic impediments. I urge all those who are involved in science & research to think big about its future. Government of India will do all necessary for the fulfillment of the dream and for the cause of excellence.

Our scientific traditions go back many millennia. It is now acknowledged that some of the fundamental concepts of modern mathematics and science originated in India. Later, we lost contact with these roots, probably under the impact of Western knowledge that came to India with the object of colonial rule.

Looking at the history of science in modern India, we cannot escape concluding that the truly great contributions came from men who worked before India became independent. Think of the names: Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose, Ramanujan, P.C.Ray, S.N. Bose, C.V.Raman, Meghnad Saha. They were all men who worked under difficult conditions but worked at the frontiers of science, made new discoveries and breakthroughs when India was politically and economically in colonial chains. There is indomitable Indian spirit. There is a feeling that this momentum has not been sustained in post-Independent India. That is the conclusion I draw from reading life histories of these great leaders.

The vast reservoir of talent that I see in the youth of India must therefore be tapped to push the frontiers of knowledge in basic sciences. We need to change the way in which we approach and teach science in our schools and colleges. Students seem to be losing what the scientist Richard Feynman called ``the pleasure of finding things out’’. It is this pleasure, this irrepressible sense of curiosity that is at the root of scientific discovery.

The Government has done a lot in the past four years to improve opportunities in education in the sciences. We have created a number of scholarships and fellowships. The Ramanujan fellowships have been instituted to attract young talented scientists to work in India and the J. C. Bose fellowships have been created to reward outstanding senior scientists. We have improved the emoluments of research students taking up Ph. D. studies.

One of the most significant initiatives of our Government in this area is the special scholarship scheme titled “Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research” [INSPIRE]. This programme seeks to attract youth to the study of science and targets learners in the age group 10-15 years. One million young students are proposed to be covered under this scheme. Scholarships will also be provided to senior students for continuing science education. Assured Opportunities for Research Careers is another initiative under this scheme that will support a thousand young researchers with contract positions backed with research grants of Rs. 10 lakhs per year for five years.

We had constituted a National Task Force for rejuvenating basic scientific research in our universities. While our research institutions, both in the public and private sectors, must expand and attract more talent, we cannot afford to neglect our Universities as centres of science teaching and research. The recommendations are being implemented by the University Grants Commission.

We are equally conscious of the importance of applied research. We are looking at passing legislation that will create appropriate mechanisms and incentives for transfer of intellectual property created by publicly funded research to these beneficiaries. The Department of Science and Technology has launched a Nano Technology Mission with an outlay of Rs. 1000 crores.

The entire knowledge pyramid in the field of basic sciences needs to be revitalized. I hope the initiatives we have taken will contribute to this process.

Science cannot be merely an esoteric academic discipline. In the modern world, it must be central to the life of the nation. The developed world, which is already far ahead of us in the sciences, has made continuous scientific advancement a yardstick for measuring their progress. So should we.

Newly industrializing nations like China and South Korea have leap-frogged ahead of us by their mastery of science and technology. China has made impressive strides in the sciences in recent decades. It has done so both by its own efforts and by linking itself imaginatively to the best institutions around the world. We must also be open to beneficial links with institutions around the world so that there is a two-way flow of knowledge and we can all benefit from it.

When we celebrate the achievements of science in the modern world, we must also appreciate the value of inculcating among our people a scientific temper. Science is not just an instrument in our hands. It is a means of shaping our minds.

As Jawaharlal Nehru wrote in The Discovery of India said, `` It is the scientific approach, the adventurous and yet critical temper of science, the search for truth and new knowledge, the refusal to accept anything without testing and trial, the capacity to change previous conclusions in the face of new evidence, the reliance on observed fact and not on preconceived theory, the hard discipline of the mind – all this is necessary, not merely for the application of science but for life itself and the solution of its many problems.’’

It is this ‘scientific temper’ that needs to spread in India through the work of our scientists and technologists. We need an opening of the Indian mind. We cannot allow unreason to dominate reason, and intolerance to threaten the spirit of tolerance and dispassionate enquiry that is at the heart of Indian culture.

I conclude by appealing to our scientific community to make science more accessible to all our people. We have to spread the light of liberal learning and critical enquiry among all our people, so that we can truly build a ‘knowledge-based’ society, polity and economy.

With these words, I wish you all another centenary of great creativity on the service of people in this ancient land.”