Triveni Journal

1927 | 11,233,916 words

Triveni is a journal dedicated to ancient Indian culture, history, philosophy, art, spirituality, music and all sorts of literature. Triveni was founded at Madras in 1927 and since that time various authors have donated their creativity in the form of articles, covering many aspects of public life....

Role of Scientists and Technologists in

Dr. S. R. Valluri

Role of Scientists and Technologists in Administrationtc "Role of Scientists and Technologists in Administration"

Press has reported recently the proposal of some politicians that the I I T graduates should not be permitted to compete in the civil service examinations, never mind if they have the constitutional right to do so, and never mind that they are among the best of the intellect that this country can offer.

This report reminded this writer of a CSIR Directors’ conference presided by Morarji Desai shortly after he became the PM. He stated that he too was a scientist as he had obtained a bachelors degree in science several decades earlier, and that we should be careful about what we wanted to say. The Directors did not know how to respond. The meeting was a disaster with the then DGSIR resigning shortly there after. If pursuit of science and its offspring modem technology is as simple as that, perhaps it is time that politicians and civil servants took over direct responsibility for running of S&T institutions in the country. Morarji almost succeeded in dismantling CSIR by proposing to transfer a majority of its laboratories to various government departments, with their directors reporting to the IAS joint secretaries. Eventually sanity prevailed and Morarji ordered the transfer only of museums to other agencies.

Shortly there after, at a meeting of the Governing Body of the CSIR “Praxi Fernandes the then Finance Secretary and a very distinguished senior civil servant was in a pensive mood. He stated that before Independence, the Indian Civil Service (ICS) officers had four major responsibilities and they were trained very well for handling these. They were Finance, Defence, External Affairs, and the Home. After Independence, the nation faced a whole new set of problems. He went on to state that the country required economists to do economic planning and scientists and technologists to implement them.  Fernandes stated that the IAS was not equipped to handle these responsibilities and neither were they willing to share it with experts in the field. They looked upon it as a surrender of their inherent right to advise the ministers even on matters that demand a good understanding of the relevant S&Ts also, and which they did not necessarily possess.

C Subramanyam former cabinet minister made a significant point at a UNESCO sponsored conference in NAL around the same time. He stated that ministers were not knowledgeable in matters of S&T and that they had to depend on the experts in the fields to advise them on S&T policy alternatives. The IAS was not willing to accept direct access to such experts to the ministers and neither are they necessarily capable of understanding the implications of the various alternatives. The Green Revolution, Atomic Energy and Space are good examples of what is possible given such direct access of experts to the ministers.

The ultimate decisions may be administrative in nature but wrong S&T decisions may well result in disastrous consequences. For example, some of the technical members in the Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) Board proposed in 1981 that what is called Fly By Wire (FBW) control systems technology should be developed in HAL, as the next generation indigenously developed fighter aircraft would most certainly need it. An IAS officer on the Board opposed it by stating that it would be infructuous expenditure if the government did not sanction a fighter aircraft program. He did not know that aircraft industry is utterly dependent on such forward looking technology development. Result? Of the ten year delay in the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) program involving a cost over run of about Rs 1500 crores, about five years could be attributed to this decision, compounded by the US embargo on the release of this technology following India’s nuclear explosions in 1998. Subsequent developments indicated that this technology could most certainly have been developed by us given enough time. Errors in judgment at this level don’t come cheap.

Several years ago, the Science Advisory Committee to the Cabinet unanimously recommended that government departments which have much to do with S&T should have scientific advisors directly reporting to the ministers, along the lines of the Ministry of Defence. It was rejected. The IAS did not want any encroachment into their preserve, never mind the consequences.

Excellent as they are in general administration, the IAS are not really equipped to advise the ministers in matters of S&T. Proper growth of S&T has an important role to play in enabling India join the cadre of developed nations. Apart from being selected through highly competitive examinations, which choose about only one in a hundred, the IITs give excellent education, sharpening the analytical capabilities of its students in various branches of science and technology. Many of them do brilliantly well abroad. The country should be thankful that some of the IIT graduates are willing to join the IAS cadre instead of migrating.

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