Uncategorized

Press Release “AIPSN Appeal To Strengthen and Not Shutdown Vigyan Prasar”
by

Press Release “AIPSN Appeal To Strengthen and Not Shutdown Vigyan Prasar”

click here to get the pdf of PressRelease-VP-AIPSN-26Apr2023nolrhd

click here to get the pdf of pressrelease-VP-AIPSN26Apr2023lrhdunsd

See here for Newsclick coverage

Click here to see  Gmail-PMO-VPappeal and AipsnLetterToPMO-regVP-27Apr2023 sent to PMO

Click here to see Gmail-MoS- VPappeal and AipsnLetterToMoS-regVP-27Apr2023 sent to MoS S&T

Click here to see Gmail-DSTSec-VP-appeal and AipsnLetterToDSTSec-regVP-27Apr2023 sent to Sec DST

 

                                                                             26 Apr 2023

Press Release

AIPSN Appeal To Strengthen and Not Shutdown Vigyan Prasar

It was shocking and disturbing to learn from the press article titled “An Institution Dies” in The Statesman of 24 Apr 2023 that there is a proposal to close Vigyan Prasar, by August of this year. Vigyan Prasar (VP) was set up in 1989 with a mandate for science popularization, communication and building scientific temper. VP is now an autonomous organization under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India and is one of the well acknowledged and visible organizations of the DST. VP is a successful organization which has taken up notable initiatives. Still, Niti Aayog has recommended that Vigyan Prasar (VP) be closed and a cell be set up at the DST to perform the functions of VP. The idea seems to be that the objectives can be met and there will be reduction of human and financial resources. Moreover, such an arrangement would be favorable for outsourcing as a way to lower the recurring expenditure. This move in effect will pave the way for contract labor and privatization. Both are not conducive to a continued engagement with science popularization and development of scientific temper and spirit of enquiry which VP has fulfilled as a constitutional mandate under Article 51A (h).

The role of scientific literacy in building a modern society cannot be underestimated. This task is taken extremely seriously by our neighbour China. In 2002, it promulgated a law to popularise science –“Law of PRC on Science and Technology Popularization”. In 2006 its policy document “Outline of National Scheme for Scientific Literacy (2006-2010-2020) was issued. National representative surveys are conducted by its ‘China Research Institute for Science Popularization’ (CRISP), which show that scientific literacy among Chinese citizens has grown from 1.6% in 2005 to 3.7% in 2010 to 8.47% in 2018. As per its 2020 science popularization policy ‘guideline document’ 15% is targeted for 2025 and 25% for 2035.As per this guideline “science popularization is equally vital as scientific and technological innovation”, and is playing a key role in the remarkable technological and economic progress of that country. China has a budget of Rs 20,000 crores for science popularization of which Rs 16,000 crores is government funding. Closing of VP may result in a saving of about Rs 20 crores, but the long term damage to the economy and national interest is inestimable.

Vigyan Prasar has built communication capacities and engaged the people following knowledge enrichment inculcating scientific temper, nurturing critical thinking amongst citizens of the country through Indian languages including local dialects. VP has been inclusive and embraced every strata of the society be it women, physically challenged, tribals, people from remote and geographically inaccessible regions for S&T communication, popularization & extension by producing content. VP has been the only organization in the country that has been working pan India on science & technology communication, popularization and hands-on outreach. The number of school children and youth whose lives it has touched over 32 years across more than 700 districts is enormous. It has acted as an interface between society, scientists, media and policy makers. The expertise, capability and skills that Vigyan Prasar has nurtured and grown will be lost if it is closed or reduced to a cell. VP is not a publicity exercise which can be done by a cell of DST. The development, aggregation and content generation is a skill set that has been nurtured over 30 odd years which cannot be replaced through outsourcing.

Therefore, a decision to shut down Vigyan Prasar is shortsighted, ill considered and contrary to the national interest and objectives. Science popularization and scientific literacy is indispensable for the nation  as we seek to go forward to becoming a modern , technologically and scientifically advanced knowledge society. For serious and fundamental reasons  this national comprehensive perspective cannot be provided by the private sector.

All India People’s Science Network (AIPSN) appeals to the Government of India to strengthen, rather than close, Vigyan Prasar as its functions do not overlap with any other department of the Govt of India. The country needs more science communication, not less, and on a far greater scale, in all the Indian languages. We have a constitutional obligation to nurture the scientific temper among citizens, and science communication ought to be acknowledged as core mandate of the DST and not relegated to a PR cell outsourcing activity. The country needs a cadre of science communicators, and institutions such as VP need expansion and strengthening towards achieving this. The closing of Vigyan Prasar will be an irreplaceable loss to the country. Vigyan Prasar needs to continue and be empowered even more to serve the country in terms of science communication, popularization, developing critical thinking and scientific temper as part of our Constitutional mandate.

 

Asha Mishra

General Secretary AIPSN

gsaipsn@gmail.com @gsaipsn

 

The Success and Notable initiatives of Vigyan Prasar

 

Vigyan Prasar has produced about 300 books by well known science writers and scientists. These books are appreciated in almost all States in India and also outside the country. The people in VP have been recognized by many awards such as UNESCO Kalinga award in Science Popularization, National Science Popularization Award, Indira Gandhi Prize for Science Popularization of Science, Atmaram Award for Popular Science Book writing. The monthly bilingual journal, in English and Hindi, from VP called Dream 2047 reaches out to young college students and other sections of society.

The contribution of the VP towards nation building has been immense. Some of the notable initiatives by Vigyan Prasar are listed here:

  • The Vigyan Basha programme of VP to take science in the mother tongue; this is not limited to only the languages in the 8th schedule but also tribal languages spoken by large sections. Science publications were made in Indian languages (Bangla, Tamil, Kannada, Urdu, Gujrati, and Marathi).  Monthly newsletters,  Tajassus (Urdu), AriviyalPalagai (Tamil) Bigyan Katha (Bangla) and Kutuhal ( Kannada). There has never been such a massive effort to reach the public with scientific information in their mother tongue. This requires a dedicated team of experts with both science and communication backgrounds.
  • India Science Wire which converts research publications from Indian labs into news stories, and helps showcase science and technology developments in Indian institutions. It has been the first time media were galvanised and provided space to cover S&T with inputs from India Science wire regularly. The Indian Science News Feature Service released more than 500 stories with over a lakh tweet impression.
  • The India Science TV OTT channel provides videos in Hindi and English for Indian audiences on latest issues. Since it is the only Government based S&T channel which is available as an app it has been able to reach the youth. It has produced more than 2000 films in a period of less than two years with 85 million reach. 500 new video programmes were made. 600 were telecasted on DD Science channel and India Science OTT platform. These programmes were also made available on the video-on-demand section of India Science OTT platform https://www.indiascience.in/
  • The production of 25 different Do-It-Yourself (DIY) kits that has been a game changer to inculcate the importance of hands-on approach.
  • The two international level science festivals which were the first of its kind in the country.
  • The international connections of VP is also seen in the publishing workshops for researchers organised with the American Chemical Society (ACS).
  • The implementation nationwide by VP of International Year of Light, Astronomy – for example – declared by the UN and National Year of Mathematics, Biodiversity, to mention just two, declared by the Government of India. The reach of these programs has been remarkable.
  • The tie-up with All India Radio to take science based content through engaging plays and local involvement in different States of India reaching around 85 percent population of the country on various scientific themes, especially rural population in their own language . The project through All India Radio covered 118 Stations, made 1040 Radio programmes in 19 national languages and dialects.
  • The thirty-five Vigyan Melas, exhibitions, and fairs for Tribal Children were a good example of needed outreach.
  • The Gandhi@150 project –Digital exhibition, was organized by VP at 17 locations
  • Extensive efforts to provide reliable and authentic information on the issues of national importance and pride such as Covid-19, development of Vaccine on Covid-19 recently and in the past on issues like celestial events and other breakthrough in science and technology by Indian labs and institutes.

 

For contact

Asha Mishra 9425302012

Krishnaswamy 8012558638

by

Appeal to observe National Scientific Temper Day on 20th August, 2022 (NSTD 2022)

All India People’s Science Network (AIPSN) will observe National Scientific
Temper Day, for the fifth consecutive year, on 20 August 2022. On this day five years
ago, right-wing Hindutvavadi extremists murdered Dr. Narendra Achyut Dabholkar
in Pune. Dr. Dabholkar was a fervent champion of a scientific outlook among the
people and struggled relentlessly against superstition and unreason. Apparently the
same extremist group subsequently also murdered social worker Govind Pansare,
historian M.M. Kalburgi and journalist Gauri Lankesh for similar work promoting
rational thought and a scientific temper. These murders were preceded by a
prolonged and increasingly violent campaign by forces allied to the above group,
and supported by the ruling dispensation, to suppress critical thinking, freedom of
expression and plurality of opinion in Universities such as JNU, University of
Hyderabad, IITs in Chennai and Mumbai.

Unscientific and a-historical views on science in ancient India were also, and
continue to be, propagated in various forums and official events, including by senior
Ministers in the Centre and the States, and ruling party personalities. Fantastic
claims have been made such as the existence several thousand years ago of
inter-planetary travel, the internet, and advanced cosmetic surgery as evidenced by
Lord Ganesha’s elephant head sitting perfectly on a human body. Such claims form
part of an artificially constructed ancient and exclusively Vedic-Hindu past which
led the world in science and all forms of knowledge till India was invaded and
conquered by Muslim and later European forces. In turn, this forms the basis for an
ultra-nationalist, majoritarian and unitary view of contemporary culture in India,
ignoring or devaluing all other cultures and traditions in the composite, diverse and
tolerant Indian civilization that the world knows and admires, and which defines the
Idea of India enshrined in the Constitution. The Indian sub-continental civilization
did indeed make major contributions to the universal body of science and
knowledge from ancient times onwards and also absorbed much knowledge from
other civilizations. These achievements have been well established through
peer-reviewed research following methodologies widely accepted by the academic
community the world over. India does not need imagined past achievements for
which there is no historical or other evidence, and only opens itself up to
international skepticism if not ridicule.

All those who contest such views and demand evidence-based reasoning
continue to be branded pro-Western and anti-national, thus not only substituting
history with myth but also actively undermining the scientific method and
approach.

Yet, these above efforts have now become systemic and institutionalized in
different government bodies, premier educational institutions and lately in school
text books. The Indus Valley Civilization is gradually being re-named the Saraswathi
Civilization after the legendary river without scientific basis, and works costing
several hundred crores of public money are underway to “revive” the river by
digging up a new canal and filling it with water from existing rivers! Endeavours
continue to manufacture a theory of, and supposed “evidence” for, an origin of
Aryan peoples. A newly created Centre at IIT Kharagpur has released a calendar
highlighting supposed ancient scientific knowledge in India, again without
historical, textual or other evidence. Recently, some school text books have
proclaimed the well-known and undisputed Pythagoras Theorem to be “fake news,”
and many different attempts are being made to project vegetarianism as an essential
part of the Hindu culture, despite well- documented evidence that over 70% of
communities in India are non-vegetarian. In many parts of the country, this
perspective is being used to pressurize or even compel other people to adopt these
food habits. Such a monolithic “Hindi-Hindu-Sanskritic” is also being pushed
through the National Education Policy.

In governance itself, evidence-based reasoning is actively being undermined.
During the Covid pandemic, many decisions were taken without any scientific basis.
Indigenously developed vaccines, which should have been an achievement
celebrated all over the world, instead came under a cloud of suspicion due to their
being given approval without accepted due process of published and peer-reviewed
clinical trial data. Even in other fields, government has either claimed it has no data
or has put forward dubious data to justify pre-conceived decisions. Effect of all these
has been not only problematic decisions or knowledge outcomes, but throwing
doubt on reason itself.

It is becoming clearer by the day that the ruling dispensation and allied forces
are vigorously pursuing their assault on critical thinking and a scientific outlook.
These efforts are being pursued alongside concerted attempts to subvert the very
foundations of India’s Constitution providing safeguards for India’s diversity and
pluralism, which are vital to science. Trends towards authoritarianism are only too
visible, and history teaches us that such tendencies have always worked to attack
reason. As India commemorates the 75th anniversary of independence, and faces
multiple challenges, the need to defend a scientific temper and reasoned thinking is
all the more vital.

 

 

by

More than 150 Scientists Appeal to Citizens

https://www.newsclick.in/More-150-Scientists-Appeal-Citizens

More than 150 Scientists Appeal to Citizens

 

An atmosphere in which scientists, activists and rationalists are hounded, harassed, intimidated, censored, jailed, or worse, murdered, is not the future our country deserves.

Indian Cultural Forum

 

03 Apr 2019

The upcoming election is a crucial one. It asks for a re-affirmation of the most fundamental guarantees our Constitution gives us: equal rights to faith or lack thereof; culture; language; association; personal liberty and freedom of expression. These rights, even as they accrue to each of us individually, can only exist if they accrue to all Indian citizens — without partiality or discrimination.

To defend these rights, we must reject those who lynch or assault people, those who discriminate against people because of religion, caste, gender, language or region. Again, we must reject those who encourage such practices. We cannot endorse a politics that divides us, creates fears, and marginalises a large fraction of our society — women, dalits, adivasis, religious minorities, the persons with disabilities or the poor. Diversity is our democracy’s greatest strength; discrimination and non-inclusivity strike at its very foundation.

An atmosphere in which scientists, activists and rationalists are hounded, harassed, intimidated, censored, jailed, or worse, murdered, is not the future our country deserves. It is not the future we want to give our youth. We want them to awaken to a country that sees science as a means of democratic empowerment through sceptical, open-minded questioning, rather than just a commercial enterprise. We must put an end to the denigration of rational, evidence-based public discourse; only then can we create better resources and opportunities for jobs, education and research.

We appeal to all citizens to vote wisely, weighing arguments and evidence critically. We appeal to all citizens to remember our constitutional commitment to scientific temper. We appeal to you to vote against inequality, intimidation, discrimination, and unreason. These are inimical to the values of our Constitution, whose promise is best reflected in Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore’s famous words:

“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high

Where knowledge is free

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls

Where words come out from the depth of truth

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way

Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit

Where the mind is led forward by thee

Into ever-widening thought and action

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.”

1 A. Mani 53 Geetha Venkataraman 105 Ramesh Awasthi
2 Aaloka Kanhere 54 Gyan Prakash 106 Ramkumar Sambasivan
3 Abha Dev Habib 55 Harita Raval 107 Ramya T. N. C.
4 Abhijit Majumder 56 Harjinder (Laltu) Singh 108 Riddhi Shah
5 Adish Dani 57 Imrana Qadeer 109 Rohini Karandikar
6 Ajit M. Srivastava 58 J. G. Krishnayya 110 Rohini Muthuswami
7 Akash Gautam 59 Jagat K Roy 111 Rupali Gangopadhyay
8 Amala Bhave 60 Jayashree Ramadas 112 Sabyasachi Chatterjee
9 Amit Apte 61 Jayashree Sen Gupta 113 Saman Habib
10 Amit Bhaya 62 Joby Joseph 114 Samriddhi Sankar Ray
11 Amit Misra 63 Jyotishman Bhowmick 115 Samudrala Gourinath
12 Amitabh Joshi 64 Jyotsna Dhawan 116 Saroj Ghaskadbi
13 Amitabha Bandyopadhyay 65 Kapil Paranjape 117 Satyajit Mayor
14 Amites Dasgupta 66 Karthikeyan Vasudevan 118 Satyajit Rath
15 Aniket Sule 67 Kartik Shanker 119 Shailaja Sopory
16 Anindita Bhadra 68 Kumarjit Saha 120 Shanta Laishram
17 Anirban Mukherjee 69 L. S. Shashidhara 121 Shivprasad Patil
18 Ankan Paul 70 Madan Rao 122 Shobha Madan
19 Anna George 71 Madhavi Reddy 123 Shraddha Kumbhojkar
20 Anup Padmanabhan 72 Madhulika Srivastava 124 Shubhi Parolia
21 Argha Banerjee 73 Manisha Gupte 125 Sitabhra Sinha
22 Arjun Guha 74 Mayank Vahia 126 Smita Krishnan
23 Arnab Bhattacharya 75 Mayurika Lahiri 127 Sorab Dalal
24 Asha Gopinathan 76 Medha S. Rajadhyaksha 128 Spenta Wadia
25 Atindra N. Pal 77 Mercy J Raman 129 Srikanth Sastry
26 Aurnab Ghose 78 Mihir Arjunwadkar 130 Sriram Ramaswamy
27 Avinash Dhar 79 Mohan Rao 131 Subhadip Ghosh
28 Ayalvadi Ganesh 80 Mrinal K Ghosh 132 Subhadip Mitra
29 Ayan Banerjee 81 Mugdha Karnik 133 Subhash C. Lakhotia
30 Bidisa Das 82 Mundur V. N. Murthy 134 Suchitra Gopinath
31 Chayanika Shah 83 Nandita Narain 135 Sudeshna Sinha
32 Chetana Sachidanandan 84 Naresh Dadhich 136 Sudipto Muhuri
33 Chinmayee Mishra 85 Nisha Biswas 137 Sugata Ray
34 Chinmoy Chatterjee 86 Niti Kumar 138 Sugra Chunawala
35 Debabrata Ghosh 87 Nixon Abraham 139 Sumeet Agarwal
36 Debashis Ghoshal 88 Pallavi Vibhuti 140 Sumilan Banerjee
37 Debashis Mukherjee 89 Partho Sarothi Ray 141 Surendra Ghaskadbi
38 Debashish Goswami 90 Prabhakar Rajagopal 142 Swapan Chakrabarti
39 Deepak Barua 91 Prabir Purkayastha 143 Tapan Ghosh
40 Deepika Choubey 92 Pradip Dasgupta 144 Tapan Saha
41 Devaki Kelkar 93 Pradipta Bandyopadhyay 145 Tejal Kanitkar
42 Dibyendu Nandi 94 Prajval Shastri 146 Tushar Vaidya
43 Dinesh Abrol 95 Prakash Burte 147 V. S. Sunder
44 Dinu Chandran 96 Pranay Goel 148 Vidita Vaidya
45 Dipshikha Chakravortty 97 Prasad Subramanian 149 Vijay Chandru
46 Dipti Jadhav 98 R. Ramanujam 150 Vineeta Bal
47 Divya Oberoi 99 Raghav Rajan 151 Vivek Borkar
48 Gagandeep Kang 100 Raghunath Chelakkot 152 Vivek Monteiro
49 Gaiti Hasan 101 Rahul Roy
50 Gauhar Raza 102 Rahul Siddharthan
51 Gautam Menon 103 Rajiva Raman
52 Geeta Mahashabde 104 Rama Govindarajan

 

by

Peoples Health manifesto-2019 by Jan Swasthiya Abhiyan (People’s Health Movement India)

Peoples Health manifesto-2019 by JSA

As the General Elections-2019 are fast approaching, Jan Swasthya Abhiyan activists are pushing the political structures to address the issues plaguing people’s health by releasing a ‘People’s Health Manifesto-2019’

The manifesto demands increasing the public expenditure on health to 3.5 per cent of the GDP in the short-term and absorbing the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme—based on the discredited ‘insurance model’—under a strengthened, well-funded public health system and a right to health act which includes a patients charter.

Click here to read and download the People’s Health Manifesto-2019 in English

Click Here to read and download the People’s Health Manifesto-2019 in Hindi

Click Here to know about Jan Swasthiya Abhiyan (JSA) – People’s Health Movement India

by

AIPSN news updates

Read the Statement by Kerala doctors

Read Press Note by AIPSN On the arrest of Jacob Vadakkanchery

A self-styled “natural healer” Jacob Vadakkanchery was recently arrested, in Kerala, for campaigning
against the use of a medicine, doxycycline at a time when the state is recovering from devastation, caused by unprecedented rain.

Some have criticized this move, as an infringement on his right to express his opinion
about this drug.

Such criticism is uncalled for since Jacob Vadakkanchery’s pronouncements and actions
have posed a threat to the government’s and many medical practitioners, who have voluntarily come forward to mitigate the health risks that Kerala’s population faces, in the wake of the recent rain and floods.

Continue reading →

National Scientific Temper Day on 20th August

Throughout the country, different events were organised  for NSTD:

See STD-MandiHP   TNSF   JVV(AP)     MPVS    Karnataka    PSF   JVV(Telengana)

Maharashtra     Odisha 

Read article by

*Niruj Mohan Ramanujam      *Arnab Bhattacharya   

Read News in  The Hindu Bengaluru 20Aug   The Hindu Madurai 21Aug   

Statement-signed-by-scientists                      Statement-endorsed-by-public

 

In an exclusive interview with Newsclick, Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti President Dr Avinash Patil speaks about how his organisation has continued the war against superstitions. The organisation was established by Dr Narendra Dabholkar, who was killed for running a campaign to end unscientific beliefs. According to Dr Patil, the killers are the ones who are not capable of countering an idea with another idea. They have only one weapon to be used against logic and science, which is violence.

by

Walmart-Flipkar Deal: Attack on Retailers, Producers, Farmers and Labour and Digital Sovereignty

The US based Multinational Corporation (MNC) Walmart’s acquisition of Flipkart undermines India’s
economic and digital sovereignty and the livelihood of millions in India. If the $ 16 billion deal goes
through, two US companies (the other being Amazon) will dominate India’s e-retail sector. They will also
own India’s key consumer and other economic data, making them our digital overlords, joining the ranks of Google and Facebook.

See article on the issue

Continue reading →

by

AIPSN condemns the murder of Gauri Lankesh

The assassination of Ms. Gauri Lankesh, noted Kannada journalist, writer, activist and champion  of secularism and communal harmony has come as a rude shock. Ms. Gauri Lankesh was killed on the night of 5th September, 2017, right in front of her residence in Bangalore. She was Editor of the popular Kannada weekly, Gauri Lankesh Patrike.

This brutal murder of an outspoken journalist is a dastardly attack seeking to muzzle free speech and freedom of the press. Ms. Gauri Lankesh was a bitter critic of the Hindutva brand of politics, and an uncompromising crusader against intolerance, communalism gender and caste injustice. She had also earned the wrath of many so-called godmen and spiritual institutions for exposing sexual abuses in the name of “spiritual salvation.”

Continue reading →