maintained by the state (VII: 133)

It is clear therefore that the motive of the priests in forming an exclusive caste was not any consideration of a religious or spiritual or racial nature but one of sheer greed for wealth, women and wine. The ridiculous extent to which they went on advocating their own unimpeachable divine greatness even so late as 100 A.D. may be seen in the Manu Smriti:-

“A brahman is born to fulfill dharma. Whatever exists in this world is the property of the brahman. On account of the excellence of his origin, he is entitled to all. The brahman eats but his own food, wears his own clothes. All mortals subsists through the benevolence of the brahman.”

” Let a brahman be ignorant or learned, still he is a great deity. To brahman, the three worlds and the gods owe their existence. Thus though brahmans employ themselves in all mean occupations they must be honored in everyway, for each of them is a great deity.”

” Let the king after rising early in the morning worship brahmans who are well versed in the threefold sacred sciences and learned in policy and accept their advice.” (Laws of Manu, VII 37).

“brahman is the root of scared law. By his origin alone he is deity even for the gods and his word is authoritative for men.” (XI, 85) in (S.V. Ketkar, 1975:165).

“When a learned brahman has found treasure deposited in former times he may take even the whole of it, for he is the master of everything. When a king finds treasure of old concealed in the ground, let him give one-half to brahmans and place the other half in his treasury” (VIII:35,39).

” brahmans should not be taxed and should be maintained by the state” (VII: 133)

this extract is from the book Dharmatheertha, No Freedom with Caste, The Menace of Hindu Imperialism. edited by  G. Aloysius.

reading these laws is making me want to commission a playwright to write a play. wonder which actor will be able to deliver these lines with the same intent that manu meant and ensured its enactment,  that too,  forever?

” brahmans should not be taxed and should be maintained by the state” (VII: 133)”

————

the most important lesson i have learned from anti-caste writings is that caste can only be dismantled by reason, which is a tough job, when you have manu’s smriti deeply engraved into the indian psyche.

caste oppression has been resisted by millions of people, both in words and deeds, people whose names will remain unknown to history.  anti-caste radicals and thinkers like phule and ambedkar have used their fierce intellect to cause ruptures in this ancient, unreasonable social order. in this long struggle we have had little or no international help in our battle for equality, so far.  and now,  a male-brit-author comes along in 2011 with a book on India, and in an interview he has claimed:

“Caste can be substantiated through genetics,” French said, citing a slice of genetic history that he gathered in course of researching his new book, “India: A Portrait“, released at a packed British Council here Wednesday evening.“

where does one begin with this kind of nonsense? his subsequent statements indicate the opposite, as it should. did he mean to say “caste can be unsubstantiated by genetics”? anyway, if there is any research based evidence to this absurd announcement, i would only see it as an insidious reermergence of social darwinsim.

a friend assures me that the  brahman who mans all the decision making bodies of academe will never use reason to substantiate caste, they will always appeal to and control the dharma-karma ‘reasoning’ to substantiate caste. i agree, but i am also worried. worried that people are going to aggravate me enough to make me stop working on my research grant and take time out to write a paper on caste and genes and stuff like that. what an absurd waste of time that would be, use the precious few hours i get for activism towards shooting down retrograde ideas such as brahmin genes! wonder if the celebrated author would interview  EMBL scientists  and write an article titled  ‘A royal in your genes’? or ‘A mine worker in your genes’?  if i wasn’t plagued by the sensation that some dalits are going to be playing ball with such retrogressive agents, i would laugh this off.

about the IGIB institute itself i have no worry, the enterprise of science is such that it cannot sell dharma-karma reasoning to the world, and modern science, whether one likes it or not, is global.  these days even a high school graduate will not look for a biological basis in a social category like caste, so there is no question of such nonsense gracing science journals .  it is the popular media that can be played around with, as there is zero capacity to handle science communication in india, and since the system of peer review is not applied there, it is back to dharma-karma along with a random mix of scientific verbiage being dished out.  before i forget to write  the reason for combining a post on Dharmatheertha’s  incisive observations on caste and a white man’s ridiculous observations on the same, please read his interaction with a scientist at IGIB:

“It seems like a lot of Bengalis work here,” I said. Dr Mukhopadhyay smiled. “I am a native of Calcutta. If a job is advertised, seven out of ten applicants are Bengali. Some say, “Ah, Bengalis are more clever because they eat a lot of fish and get omega-acids.” I tell them: it’s not like that, clever Bengalis go to academia and clever north Indians go to commerce.”

and where do the rest of the indians go? they, will have to read manu’s smritis for an explanation of their exclusion from such cerebral pursuits as figuring out imprints of cultural practices in the genome. we nod sagely that at IGIB like elsewhere ” brahmans should not be taxed and should be maintained by the state” (VII: 133)”

————————————-

note: dharmatheertha, was an anti-caste intellectual from Kerala. in the 1940s’ he issued a call for the reconstruction of a casteless society. he wrote the The Menace of the Hindu Imperialism while residing at Edla Ramdas Ashram in Rajamundry in a span of seven months.  about him, aloysius writes: “……..finally the composition of the erudite but none-the-less highly impassioned text, all these seems to have compounded within him a deep sense of frustration and the near-impossibility of any significant Hindu reform, not to speak of abolition of caste.” i find aloysius’s own writings very erudite and if he is using that term, it must have been a tough text to edit.

I disagree

Within 24 hours I have disagreed with at least 3 people online, nothing new, I usually withdraw from such scenarios, but this is  important to me. So, why do I not buy the well argued posts in support of Mayavati’s actions by Kuffir, RW and Prabin, not because I don’t value, the in the face attitude and literally in their lives -life size statues reminding the upper castes that times are a changing, no not at all, I love it. I just happen to want more, much much more from her. 

Consider the bahujans as an ecosystem. All links within this system are important. We are feeding both from our weakest life stories and from our strongest, as a leverage to break free from the ecological niches that were not our natural choices as free humans. How do the actions of the strongest influence the rest? Undoubtedly, Mayavati is the most powerful factor -the energy source for the ecosystem. The energy has to sustain a large family over a long period, it has to be utilized effectively and creatively. If certain activities seem to use up energy that should and could be better utilized then that has to be considered. Even the minutest amount in the fragile system could mean a possible strengthening of weak links. Arguments of, it is comparatively little energy  as against energy spent for similar activities by forces outside of this ecosystem are null. They can afford it, we cannot. This is the only source we have. Agreed, she has earned her place to decide how she will dispense her resources. But can I not worry about it? Surely I don’t have to justify against what I essentially see as better spent elsewhere even to enforce symbolism?

I have a long wish list for her. But for starters, a Mayavati’ TV channel would be nice – an employment generating resource, symbolic to boot, can be used for elections, for development projects, will have the reach to touch every dalit in the country, get the bahujan the media slice that we need so bad. This may be more energy requiring but this is useful yet symbolic model that has the potential for reproduction, by not so strong energy providers along the system, another minister might aspire for a radio station, another for a newspaper to give voice to the silenced. Sure, this will not have the irritation value for the upper caste that a statue has, but they are outside this ecosystem. One needs to strengthen the links within the system, our energies should be directed towards this, and not be allowed to dissipate trying to weaken the links of the external factors. This is the need of the hour. When all the internal links are strengthened sufficiently the synergy of the ecosystem will force the external links to regroup in different, more acceptable forms without us expending much energy on that. IMHO

PS: I am totally grateful that a large number of artisans have benefitted from Mayavati’s statue building exercise, but I want to dream about their children as TV executives, media people, journalists and other professionals and NOT as artisans building endless stone and plaster dalit iconic structures.

Silence and Manhood

Sexual violence is incomprehensible to me and as such I must avoid thinking aloud on this subject as it has been outside of my personal experience or study. But I do want to understand what is that I perceive and process while reading, hearing and seeing images of sexual violence, particularly related to dalit women.

My involvement with dalit issues keeps sending me down paths that invariably vortex into sexual violence.  There are surprisingly few texts that have researched the sexual politics of dalits. Though the words ‘dalit women and sexual abuse’ are almost synonymous in the popular media as well as in serious writings.

I am particularly intrigued by a couple of paragraphs from two books that dwell at some length on this topic in different ways, one by Vidyut Bhagwat and the other by Kalpana and Vasantha Kannabhiran on dalit women.

One paragraph relates to the supposed ‘silence’ of dalit women and the other to the supposed ‘manhood’ of lower caste men.

Vidyut’s observation of dalit women in rural and urban centers.

First she states:

Women who are part of toiling masses are leading their life as beasts of burden and often as victims of dominant caste onslaught. It is but natural they are mute.

And then wonders:

But dalit women in urban centres taking care of homes and children at times teaching in schools and colleges or most of the time playing the role of housewives have not yet come out. We do not know how they perceive themselves and the world around them. Particularly, wives of political leaders, professors, doctors, executives are strangely silent.

In the categorical statement “it is but natural they are mute” is she talking of verbal silence, silence in the popular language or is she saying that there is no reaction to circumstances and resistance to injustice and violence?

For me, verbal silence can sometimes be very loud and menacing. I have used it to get my way through many passive-aggressive battles quite effectively. However, in those instances, the ones at whom it was aimed at astutely perceived my silence.  No outsider could have probed the silent struggle and be able to give weightage to the outcome. In that respect what does Vidyut’s observation of ‘mute’ actually mean?

Mute because they don’t revolt physically, individually or in groups? For that I ask you to look at the image of Lalgarh protest here, and does one see resistance? Is it silent or loud, armed resistance or a democratic protest?

In this image I do see and hear a loud silence. Media being a beast of burden, toiling to keep the governments happy, it is but natural they are mute. Academicians, liberals, feminists, activists in designer khadi are also strangely silent. Should one wonder about this?

The protest intermixed with many other issues was also about physical abuse of both men and women.

To read, toiling masses as silent masses is extremely simplistic. How does one reduce a human being as complex as the next one, to something like an unreacting mass of living cells? That is an incorrect analogy, even cultures of cells in a petridish will react to adversity; resist, learn, adapt and by these actions over a period of time they will change the effect of the adversity or die out.

Now lets take her wonderment at urban dalit women’s silence:

Does the movement from rural to urban and becoming professionals and wives of professionals guarantee articulation? If this is a general rule or observation with all women, then we truly have to wonder why this is so with dalit women? How is the perceived silence among rural women connected to the urban women’s silence (again perceived)?

Could it be the memories of rural oppression persists even as they move out into a different cultural, political and economic space? Is there a collective memory operating among dalit women about oppression and methods of resistance, and how deep and complex is it?

The sensitivity and should I say the caliber to read into the psyche of the dalit woman and her response to sexual violence is missing, evident in such blanket statements.

Lets go over to the Kannabhirans reading of the Chilakurti atrocity:

Gender within caste society is thus defined and structured in such a manner that the ‘manhood’ of the caste is defined both by the degree of control men exercise over women and the degree of passivity of the women of the caste. By the same argument, demonstrating control by humiliating women of another caste is a certain way of reducing the ‘manhood’ of those castes. This is why. While Muthamma was paraded naked in the streets of Chilakurti, the men of her caste who unable to bear the sight covered their eyes, were derided by the aggressors who said, ‘open your eyes. Are there no men amongst you? This insult is double edged. On the one hand gender is defined by the capacity for aggression and appropriation of the other. On the other hand the lower-caste man could only cover his eyes because the structure of relations in caste society castrates him through the expropriation of his women.

This on the face of it seems like pretty sound explanation, so with a magic wand if we push the upper caste down the ladder, upper caste men lose their ‘manhood’ when their women are appropriated and humiliated, right? Any caste that finds itself at the bottom of things, will experience it, any human aggregation that finds itself stripped of its protection from civil society; such as during war and unrest, experiences this.

Substitute caste in that paragraph with war, and nothing changes.

The uniqueness of caste being that the forces keeps it in a war like exploitative situation. It must be the longest war in the history of mankind, and with that -the longest history of resistance. Dalits did not die out, that is the proof of their resistance and also proof of the pace at which the aggression keeps evolving.

The Chilakurti analysis is not specific to the dalit man being unable to protect and the dalit women being appropriated and humiliated, I see it as a general explanation for any man and woman, high or low caste, Asian, African or Caucasian finding themselves pitted against a horrific oppressor. The burly Scotsman would have shut his eyes when his clanswomen were humiliated by the English. Any man, anywhere loses his ‘manhood’.  Any woman. anywhere becomes ‘silent’ just arrive at the right concoction of factors that lead up to to it. A variation of what happens between Tutsis and Hutus, Serbs and Bosnians, Gujarat Hindus and Muslims. The amazing aspect of dalit atrocities is that it does not peak, it remains as a constant background noise.

I learn nothing from these observations and analysis in these books except a lot of recycled academic verbiage. Articulation delivered through unseeing eyes and deafened ears only indicates the comfort of safe jobs and privilege of the authors.

So does it matter what gets written about dalit women in dusty academic books? Yes, it does, as one can see bits and pieces are taken out from these books and find their way into the public sphere, extended by journalists who attach these sentences to their daily bread articles on atrocities. And I run into variations of these statements by loud ‘feminists’ on the web routinely. Tiresome and mediocre! Repeated with such conviction and surety, that I loathe the thought of a dialog with them. Another instance of silence, perhaps?

May I gently suggest, please turn your weak analytical skills and the light on the perpetrators of  the evil. They require reformation.

We will describe ourselves. Leave it to us.

Image: Sanhati website

Sources: a) Dalit Women in India: Issues and perspective. b) De-Eroticizing Assault: Essays on Modesty, Honour and Power.

Who is seeing red?

And why? read here

I guess at some future time a few write ups will appear in academic journals, maybe even a Ph.D thesis, with Lalgarh as an example, having plenty of explanations of how women’s movements never get recognized. First, will this be considered as an expression of resistance by Indian women? Will this get the tag of a feminist struggle? Will it get anchored as a turning point in the history of women’s movements in India? Or does this need a facebook group for educated non-tribal women warriors to attempt understanding this moment, to celebrate this expression of resistance? Or does this not have any bearing to the rest of the Indian women? Whatever, it does not matter to these adivasi women what academcians, media and bloggers like me think about it. But I desperately want this to be recorded for the present and future generations of women; the dalits, the adivasis, lower castes and women around the world. This is the first time I feel a deep regret for opting to study natural science and not the social sciences.

————-

Dealing with bow and arrow

June 20, 2009. By Latha Jishnu, Business Standard

The views of the Lalgarh siege are largely determined by what the media considers the essence of the confrontation. We have seen pictures of torched CPI(M) buildings with the trademark hammer and sickle going up in flames, Maoists (angry villagers?) on the rampage, a chilling shot of a corpse outside the party office, the paramilitary forces in action — in combat positions and clean-up operations (men being dragged out of homes and taken into custody). Fundamentally, these tell a story of an uprising that is being brought under control by the heavy hand of the security forces nearly eight months after it started, a small battle that may be won in the many insurgencies that shake India.

But there is a more striking image that merits closer attention — of a huge rally of peasant women on November 7, 2008. They are dressed in colourful saris, hair neatly pulled back in buns, their dark faces determined and unsmiling. Most of them are wielding bow and arrow, a few with arrows at the ready. Others have axes slung across their shoulders, as is the wont of tribal folk, as they march on the Lalgarh police station.

Who are these women? Yes, we know these are women from Lalgarh who were incensed when men of their village were arrested randomly after Maoists had ambushed a convoy of the West Bengal chief minister just a few days earlier. Most of the angry villagers have banded themselves under the banner of the Lalgarh People’s Committee against Police Atrocities, which seems a fairly straightforward description of their cause. But they have all been dubbed Maoists now by officialdom and the media, even if ideology is far from being the spur that drove them to take on the state.

Take the case of the Dongria Khonds who managed to make their way to the Belamba village in Kalahandi district of Orissa for a public hearing in April on Vedanta’s plans to expand their aluminum refinery to the world’s largest such facility. Most of them were not allowed to speak — the brute force of the state aligned with corporate power, managed to keep them out. The Adivasis are fighting to retain their sacred mountain, and the source of amazing natural bounty that keeps them from the hungry maws of the bulldozers seeking the rich bauxite deposits in Niyamgiri. The clashes began six years ago and are set to become more confrontational when the mining work starts. Soon, the Maoists/Naxalites will come to their aid, or the tribal people will themselves be dubbed Maoists.

The point here is, does 21st-century India, determinedly pushing for higher and higher growth rates, understand the women with the bows and arrows, or the hill people with a radically different perspective on life? Does Lalgarh provide some pointers to what fuels the Naxalite/Maoist insurgencies across 125 districts of the country? The answer is yes and no. Although such struggles are fuelled by different causes, there are some fairly well-known reasons why the extremist movement is burgeoning. They draw their support from the deprived and dispossessed. To start with, one can be fairly certain that the Lalgarh women who are said to be Maoist supporters if not Maoists themselves, are predominantly Dalit or Adivasi. As such they are likely to have faced various forms of oppression, and been denied justice along with social, legal and political rights. They are also likely to be among the poorest strata.

This is the analysis of the report of an expert group set up by the Planning Commission in 2006 which submitted its report in April 2008. ‘Development Challenges in Extremist-Affected Areas’, a 95-page report prepared by a group of administrators with experience of dealing with extremism, social scientists and human rights activists, is an excellent delineation of the causes of alienation, some well-known and others that give a fresh perspective on the issue. The report says it found some common aspects in its study of the 125 Naxal-influenced districts.

The main support for the Naxalite movement, it points out, comes from Dalits and Adivasis, who comprise about a fourth of India’s population and usually in areas where there are high levels of rural distress among SCs and STs. And predictably, the report listed land issues, internal displacement from industrialisation, the growing hordes of the project-affected, as other contributory factors. But it also touched upon the class divide that makes even the best policy prescriptions futile.

“It is a matter of common observation that the inequalities between classes, between town and country, and between the upper castes and the underprivileged communities are increasing. That this has potential for tremendous unrest is recognised by all. But somehow policy prescriptions presume otherwise. As the responsibility of the state for providing equal social rights recedes in the sphere of policymaking, we have two worlds of education, two worlds of health, two worlds of transport and two worlds of housing, with a gaping divide in between.”

It’s a stark truth that the newly-enlightened government of Manmohan Singh, which harps on inclusive growth, should not ignore. Clearly, it would be extremely difficult for the largely urban and Western-educated ruling class—the current UPA government has the largest number of MPs who studied in American and British universities — who are also among the richest in the country (300 crorepatis in the Lok Sabha, mostly businessmen) to relate to axe-wielding women who seek justice and honour in the rough backwoods of the country. And it matters little what the political persuasion of the rulers is. States ruled by parties as different from each other (or perhaps not) as the Congress, the BJP, the CPI(M) or the BJD are all struggling with the problem of alienation and extremism.

All of them ought to take the dust off the report which offers some excellent administrative suggestions for coping with the Naxalite challenge. What the report does not offer is a political solution that is at the heart of the problem. It was not the brief of the group; for the government though, it must be the guiding core. It needs to put forward a vision of development that addresses the concerns of the millions who do not feel part of the changing India. Politics has to change before anything else can.

Image: From the Sanhati website.

Science reporting this?

Cabinet ministers for Science , Education and Climate are introduced by a science communicator in this article on NDTV. Please read. 

 Dream Cabinet may Shore up Indian Science.

I am going to part fisk, part think aloud and generally try not to cringe at wasting time typing a post that I am going to tag as Blah!

First sentence of article:

Science it seems has finally come of age in India.

Sorry Sir, Indian science is yet to be born.

If anyone wants to jump at me with the ‘zero’ yes, I am wrong, birthed yes, did it continue growing to the stage of ‘coming of age’?  Maybe, I missed it (along with the rest of the world).

For, I am talking of Science as a discipline that arises from unbiased observation of the physical world (living and non-living) to form new theories, confirm known or demolish existing theories.

Back to the article: We are to gather that a dream team has been put together. Because.

Somebody is:

Prithviraj Chavan (63),

a)    A mechanical engineer from University of California, Berkeley,

b)    Who spent his early years making electronic components for listening in on enemy submarines in America, was appointed as the new Science Minister.

c)    A heavyweight politician from Western India who on assuming office said, “My first love is science and technology.” Chavan will certainly have a heavy workload as he now has to handle as many as five different ministries.

This sounds a lot like my 8 year old’s idea of the world  “my Lego submarine can listen to aliens planning an attack from Andromeda. I so love my science kit with the magnifying glass, the best.”

Me: Totally excited for my country –like dreaming! Son and country might grow up together and do stuff like ask WHY this or that. Search for truth. Seek and find answers –heavy workload indeed!!

Back to article:

Chavan for the time becomes a single point person for almost all Indian scientific departments as he is also a member of the secretive cash rich Atomic Energy Commission; and the Space Commission — the highest policy making bodies for these strategic departments.

What is this? Somebody tell me, ok, OK, I get it,

Secretive cash rich + 2 strategic departments = single point person = all scientific departments hence perfect to oversee science for a nation of a billion people. No, sorry, I thought I got it.

 What are we to gather here? Since the Atomic and Space commissions are secretive, are cash rich policy making bodies of these two departments (atomic and space?) a minister member automatically becomes a single point person for ALL Indian scientific departments?

With sincere ignorance I want to know how this happens.

Before that, what is a single point person?

I am progressively feeling very very ignorant as I continue reading the article. Please stay with me.

Earlier, when the world’s largest democracy, which voted through a robust gift of Indian science — the Electronic Voting Machine — gave an economist Prime Minister Manmohan Singh another five year term in office.

I am looking up the inventors list for Indian names to come up against the EVM’s. And nothing so far, will keep trying; BEL comes up for manufacturing these. Again, it must be me, and my idiotic ideas, about science and manufacturing.

And Education:

Widely regarded as one of the ‘best science minister India ever had’, lawyer-turned-politician, Kapil Sibal (61), has now been appointed the new Minister for Education with a Cabinet rank, a huge elevation in his profile as the top man at the Human Resources Development Ministry. This is a much coveted portfolio since Singh’s government has gone in for a massive expansion of higher education. Speaking about his responsibilities, Sibal said, “He hoped for a synergy in science and education like never before.

Best science minister ever. Ok, I admit I am out of the loop and catch up on Indian news in patches – What did I miss here? Looks like a lot. A change in science policy? New ways of teaching, thinking and doing science? Reduction in bureaucratic interference? Attacked nepotism – joke guys, no, there is no nepotism in Indian science. That thing about CSIR, being a ‘Council of Sons-in-law and Relatives’, bad joke, started by those who did not make it (did not marry the right person types), those IQ less persons.

Science and education. Inertia to synergy. Tough call. But that this got some print space, I love it. Totally grateful!

Now, I have a lot reading to do on the ‘progress in Indian Science’ under Kapil Sibal.

Next dreamboat will save the Climate. Because.

Somebody is:

Jairam Ramesh (55)

a)    Who has studied at Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston and completed a MS from Carnegie Melon University in Program Management was appointed as the new environment and forests minister.

b)    Making the country’s position on climate change amply clear, he immediately said, “India cannot take on any binding emissions reduction targets.”

c)    He also feels that a country which accounts for 16 per cent of the world’s population and accounts for a mere five per cent of the emissions, could not be expected to stop its rapid economic growth and development.

d)    Incidentally, Ramesh, a power minister in the last administration, had emphasised that clean coal, hydel and nuclear will be the mainstay for energising India.

I posses all of the above points.

I too have fancy degrees (a),

Am quick to make claims (b),

And feel (c),

And emphasize (d) on many issues,

So, I should be on the dream team, right? (But I am not a crorepathi, bummer!)

The rest of article is a series of quotes of back patting, yes, we do want people to have faith and express confidence in the cabinet members capacity. The operative word being ‘people’.  We would like to know what the agriculture scientists, farmers, doctors, engineers, people in the industry, teachers, homemakers, parents and children expect of our science minister.

The science communicator of this piece cannot go around asking all these people for an article, right? So, he has decided to ask a few professional scientists their opinion. 3 to be precise. A chemist, biophysicist and a structural biologist. For people who think these three represent different branches of science that spin off theories that can span the width and berth of science -they all study/died molecules. No, I am not of the view a molecular vision cannot visualize and encompass the nations needs. Their opinion counts. And their opinions are: -

Breaking vertical barriers and silos -Mr Vijyan

Tripling of scientific base -Mr  Ramasami

We have to deliver now. -Mr Samir

Check out the number of mallus and bongs who were part of Mr Vijyan and Samir Bhattacharya’s groups respectively. Also check out how many of them went on to find positions. You will get an idea of what vertical barriers mean.

Check out the recent mega attempt to scuttle affirmative action in centres for excellence and you will get an idea of what tripling the scientific base means.

Check out Wikipedia to see contribution of modern Indian science and technology to get an idea of what it has delivered so far. Plenty of departments. And an invention list that stopped sometime in 1950′s.

Yes Sirs. Keep delivering your packs of lies. Now and forever.

Style of science reporting:

Picks two lines from CV’s. Pick pathetic quotes from each. Supporting evidence -add more pathetic quotes from guys who are already holding top government positions. Then claim it as a dream team.

IMHO

Science: Means questioning, after observing a pattern.

Science journalism: Means you question the questioning, are these guys framing the right questions? Are they capable of guiding the process of finding answers?

Don’t parrot what they muttered to you. Let the public decide if they were a dream team –post performance .

This article attempts to convey that big names are the perfect guys my country trusts to keep the nations Science focused on remaining top notch, that is, no slacking in the generation of new Scientific ideas and theories, of working hard to keep the brains continually examining and falsifying theories by rigorous method. It implies that we are almost on top of the game.

We practice good science. We said it. We mean it. So it is true. We don’t need to prove it. Especially, to the rest of the world. We are the world.

These sounds like assumptions to you?

You want data to verify that this is so?

You dare to ask?

Are you non-believer or what?

You want to question our belief?

What do you think this is some theory that you want to confirm and prove wrong?

You think this is science ?

(No, STOP right there, don’t open a new tab, to check out Nobles website, Nature, Cell or Science journals or any of those stupid parameters of scientific performance. Don’t even think about connecting rampant malnourishment, dying crops, non-existent hygiene, importing of the simplest of vaccines, mountains of garbage, HIV numbers, starvation, none of these have anything to do with science, education or climate) .

Aside to the communicator. If you want internet accessing people atleast to believe what you are dishing out, do a couple of things, go over to wikipedia and update the inventors list, bring it up to date from the 1950′s to 2009. Update the contribution of Indian Science and Technology’s to  the world and the nation. Try and edit the story that only details endless expansions and no delivery. Update the progress each of the newly added centres did and let the readers make up his/her mind of how Indian brains working in science and technology have changed the way humans percieve the world. That should effectively stop skeptics like me and the commentator, below. Wikipedia is as reliable as anything else on the web but the future generations are going to be hitting on it for basic information. Imagine giving a school kid the project of finding what Indian science and technology stands for? And the kid finds out that science has basically been dead for a good 4-5 decades now. And if the ministry closes shop, the world will not bat an eyelid.  

 

Posted by Dr.G.Srinivasan on Jun 02, 2009   Science progresses not only because of the minister and encouragement given by the government but also the environment created by the scientists themselves.A brain drained India will not be of much use in this scenario.Even if the brain drain were to be reversed the circumstances prevalent will not allow good science to be done. This is from personal experience– I am a neuropeptide chemist trained from Karolinska and I had to forget this and bank on my basic medical profession for a living . The circumstances were created by jealous people in ICMR, DST, CSIR and all places which had anything to do with science. They are packed with corrupt mediocre people who have no idea of what science is all about . Science is a beautiful tree which can grow only when all the criteria are there. Now we have a gardner . But technology does not mean science .there is a subtle difference

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If there is to be a team that dares to dream science for India, it will first question the way we raise our children, the way families answer their questions, the way our schools let them think and way university professors distiguish between original and derivative thought and pave way for our society to open its ancient closed mind.

Then, only then, can we begin to dream of our nation doing science as unbiased observers of the physical and biological world, as seekers of truth and solution finders to some of its problems. 

Sad truth: There is nothing in this article that lets me think and hope that such a vision even happens to be on their radar.

Crosspost: Media filter from POV

Harini writes on ‘media filter’, something that has been alluded to in many of the posts here….. please read (images are very disturbing, though Shivam Vij has removed the more horrific ones, also do read why he had to so).