Sibal endorses CNR Rao, says science in crisis

Endorsing eminent scientist CNR Rao's view on the deteriorating state of research in the country, Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal on Tuesday said there was an urgent need to promote scientific temper.

"We have been saying this (about science being in crisis) for the last two years. There is nothing new in what Rao has said," he told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

Sibal said there was an urgent need to sensitise people about science to prevent the situation from developing into a full-blown crisis.

Rao, the Chairman of the Science Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, had recently expressed reservations about "excessive" bureaucratic interference in scientific institutions. He had also aired his concerns in an article titled "Science in Crisis".

He had warned that if the present situation continued, India could lose its eminent position in the scientific arena.

"Bureaucracy today is unbearable. We cannot have the Department of Personnel in Delhi deciding on who is a good scientist or who is able to head an institution," Rao told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at a recent meeting of the Scientific Advisory Council in New Delhi.

Sibal, at a recent interaction with journalists and members of a leading think tank, had expressed his exasperation at being unsuccessful in organising a debate on science in Parliament.

"For the past two years I have been trying to organise a debate on science in Parliament but have been unsuccessful," he said. "This speaks volumes about the awareness of science in the country."