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Essay on the importance of Science Education

All of a sudden, the craze for high salaried jobs is driving youngsters to B. Tech and MBA course. And who is not after high for it assures better quality of life and status in society? Even think on those lines.

And there are graduates from IITs and even colleges who find greater satisfaction in the Civil Services.' growing feeling that scientific research or science is one of the casualties of the trends that take away the best brains looking for past promise higher monetary awards. Let us hope that this could be passing phase and that this could be only a passing phase and that science education and scientific research will get back its dormant glory sooner than later.

Even before CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research) came into being, India had given birth to such brilliant minds as Srinivas Ramanujan, C.V. Raman, J.C. Bose, S.N. Bose, Meghnad Saha, Birbal Sahni and others. Great scientists of Indian origin like Dr. Subramaniam Chandrashekar and Dr. Hargobind Khorana have shown that, if given opportunities, Indians can excel others.

We have indeed a sound base in scientific research in CSIR set up even before Independence. The late Dr. Ramaswami Mudaliar piloted a resolution in the Legislative Assembly in 1941 to launch the CSIR on its career and it was given to the great Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar to take care of this infant organisation.

From a mere two laboratories in 1947, the CSIR has today 38 laboratories and 47 regional centers pursuing research and development in a range of diverse fields, biological science and technology, chemical science and technology, aerospace science and technology, earth science and technology, engineering science and technology, food science and technology, health care science and technology and housing construction and technology.

The CSIR family is 22, 000 strong including 5,300 scientists, 60 percent of who hold PhD, or M.Tech degrees. There are other scientific bodies like the ICMR, ICAR, Department of Atomic Energy, ISRO, DRDO and others. We have to strengthen these bases and expand our R&D activities of world class excellence. Recently the University Grants Commission set up a task force for the Basic Scientific Research in Universities, which presented a set of recommendations for popularizing research in areas of basic sciences, life sciences, mathematical sciences and chemical sciences.

Some of the major recommendations of the Task Force for Basic Scientific Research in Universities include: creation of 1,000 positions of research scientists equivalent to that of lecturer, reader and professor; establishing 10 networking centers in basic sciences in leading departments of universities and national institutions including CSIR laboratories, upgrading infrastructural facilities and setting up modern laboratories; increasing the number of PhDs five fold in ten years; earmarking a grant of Rs. 600 crore annually for implementing scientific research in universities; introducing five-year integrated MSc programmes for Plus Two students and Integrated PhD programmes for graduates in select universities; mandatory inclusion of research component in all postgraduate science and technology courses and; introducing 50 fellowships in all universities for pursuing doctoral research in basic sciences.

The Western world, more particularly, the US and the UK, has already recognized the Indian scientific talent. During his visit to India in September 2005 the British Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair proposed his country would collaborate with India on what he called "world research". The UK-India Education and Research Initiative, backed the British Government funding, will link centres of academic excellence India and the UK through 70 new research projects over the next five years.

"Backed by a 12 million pound of Government money, and nearly 5 million pound in cash or kind from private sector partners, the initiative will allow split PhDs and research fellowships, and increased academic exchanges," said Mr. Blair. Recently, Mr. Chris Patten; Chancellor Oxford University, visited India to tap the booming education m the: There is concern that American universities are overtaking British counterparts in attracting Indian students. There are nearly 80,000 Indian in students on American campuses compared to 17,000 in Brit

Don't we want to retain the preeminent position we enjoy in science and scientific research? At the 2005 Indian Science Congress, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh had observed: "I am concerned by fact that our best minds are not turning to science, and those who dc not remain in science."

Many of our boys and girls win medals International Science Olympiads, and there it ends, and most of them fail to pursue science as a career. The only silver lining is that there few who go abroad and come back with their substantial experience enrich our development efforts or support Indian science and technology from their countries of residence.

How can we promote purposeful science education after the 1 stage? Dr. R. Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Adviser to Government of India, says: "We could begin by getting universities; India to provide high quality science education structured around year integrated MSc programmes that seem to attract better students than the BSc. courses.

In India, most universities do not have in house undergraduate training which is done through affiliated colleges quality of teaching would show marked improvement if undergraduate science education was embedded in a postgraduate environment course, there are universities, like the Banaras Hindu University, which have both undergraduate and postgraduates courses. We should id a few of them with integrated MSc courses and give those subs grants to improve their facilities and faculties."

It would be desirable to have a close interaction between universities and R&D institutions in order to popularize scientific research and induce good scientists from the national laboratories to teach part universities or colleges and help students have access to ongoing scientific research work in top institutions.

India produces 1.6 million science graduates every year. It is high time the government, universities and the industry thought as to how best they can provide higher education and training within the country in order that we get the best of services from our budding scientists. If we want to mould the best brains from our graduates, we have to pay attractive salary to our teachers as well.

According to Dr. R.A. Mashelkar, Director-General, CSIR, and President, Indian National Science Academy today Asia-Pacific region (45 percent) is leading in the area of scientific research followed by the European Union (32 percent) arid the US (20 percent).

Both India and China are leading the race in becoming global R&D hubs. A recent report by Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council of India (TIFAC) shows that India has emerged as a global R&D hub. According to TIFAC study (1998-2003), several ma 'or international firms have set up R&D centers in India with investment. It worth $1.13 billion (Rs. 5,027.6 crore) and planned investment of $4 J billion (Rs. 20,036 crore). In the top 100 R&D centers, around 23,000 Indians have been employed. So far as good.

If we want to consolidate our gains in science and technology, nay, steal a march over the rest of the world, we have to go along the steps as outlined by the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India. There is already a state of panic in the US as the Asia-Pacific region is surging ahead in scientific research. The US President, Mr. Geroge W. Bush in his January-end State of the Union Address, unveiled $136 billion (Rs. 6,05,336 crore) American Competitiveness Initiative, including an extra $50 billion (Rs. 2,22,550 crore) for spending on scientific research and a recruitment drive for 70,000 extra science teachers over the next five years.

In 1998, we foresaw India emerging as a Knowledge Superpower and at the dawn of the New Millennium as a BPO Superpower and now we can hope to sustain the momentum as R&D hub by giving a great fillip to science education, thereby creating a world-class scientific pool in the country.

Essay on food

Good food is a basic need of human body. It is of prime importance in the attainment of normal growth and development. The role of nutrition food cannot be neglect­ed in the promotion of health and prevention of disease.

The human body can be compared to a machine, Just as an engine burns up coal or oil in order to generate its energy, so the human body requires food in order to produce the forces which keep the heart beating, the lungs breathing and the limbs moving. But the discovery of vitamins at the turn of the present century has 'rediscovered' the science of nutrition.

Since then great advances have been made in the field of nutrition. Gradually, nutrition is assuming increasing importance in a country like India where nutri­tional diseases are not only widely prevalent, but they modify the course of events of almost any clinical disorder.

In recent years the influence of mal-nutrition in the area of mental retardation is being actively investigated. In the more developed countries of the world, nutritional problems are somewhat different. Over nutrition is encountered much more frequently than under nutrition.

The health hazards from over nutrition are on increase in mortality and higher incidence of many diseases. So the nutrition of people throughout the world is one of the greatest international Problems of the present day.

The terms food and nutrition are sometimes used synonymously, but that is not correct. Food is a composite mixture of various substances, the quantity of which may vary from a fraction of a gram in certain cases to hundred of grams in other the term foodstuff is defined as anything which can be used as food'. Nutrition on the other hand, signifies a dynamic process in which the food that is consumed is utilized for nourishing the body.

National Calamities

National Calamities are those calamities which often occur everywhere in the world when God's fury shows up in different ways. In any National Calamity, nature's elements appear to get completely out of control and show their anger on man and his world, and the result is disaster for man, and his property.

Mother shows its wrath on man by a variety of means, they being earthquakes, volcanoes. Water shows anger by means of floods and wind comes in all its glory by way of a tornado.

Thus we see that, each element of nature which helps man in his survival, also shows its wrath in different ways, and the result of each is disaster of some magnitude, big or small.

In these ways the elements destroy unaccounted man and material, and depict to man in no ambiguous terms that, nature does not like to be misused or over strained. Besides, it is these tragedies that also show man how helpless he still is, in these days of technological advancement.

These happenings are called natural calamities because they show man that though he is quite advanced on the path of controlling nature and capturing it. Nature is still ahead of man. It gives a befitting reply to man for his highhandedness from time to time. Even with the most sophisticated mechanical devices, man is still far behind his target of taming nature.

Man has no hand in these calamities but, if he is a little more alert and careful and foresees the event, he can help in at least minimizing the losses. On an earthquake and a volcano, man has absolutely no control, and there is also no way by which man can foresee the occurrence. It is only flood that man can predict and take adequate precaution.

The making of bridges and dams would obviously decrease the losses that floods cause, and the water will also be utilized when required. With regard to a tornado also, man can to some extent visualise the havoc it may create as the winds, their direction and velocity can be assessed fairly accurately well before the event.

When a flood or a tornado is expected, the villages and small settlements near the approach of these can be evacuated well in time, and lives of men and cattle and property be saved.

Though man has truly achieved a lot of headway in saving himself from the wrath of these elements of nature, they can never be completely controlled and dismissed as non­existent. This reality man should clearly understand and at least to some extent give in to nature by not disturbing it.

To a great extent man has succeeded in warding off the hazards of these calamities but it is loud and clear for man to understand that, the unseen hand can still slap some tragedies on man's earth by means of some unforeseen disasters.

Essay on Strike

A strike is the refusal of an organized body of working men to continue their work except on certain conditions. Some people denounce strikes as always wrong and foolish and even say they should be forbidden by law and put down by force. Such people know nothing of the history of strikes, nor of the great benefits have they secured for the working classes.

Strikes are a natural result or our modern industrial system. They came into fashion with the present age of machinery and large factories. Before workmen had learnt the secret of combination, they were at the mercy of rich and powerful employers who kept wages low and forced them to work for long hours. They could do this, because each individual workman, poor and ignorant, was no match for a rich and influential employer. If he did not agree to employer’s hard terms, he could be dismissed; and there were dozens ready to take his place. He must submit or starve.

Then the workmen learnt that unity is strength and they banded themselves into organized societies called Trade Unions. Formerly, when a singly workman demanded higher wages, he was promptly kicked out; but when all workmen in a factory struck in a body, or refused to work unless higher wages were given, the employers usually had to give in sooner of late or ruin his business.

But, of course, there are evils and dangers connected with strikes. Even when they are successful, they cause a lot of suffering to the workmen themselves, great damage and hardship to the public and, when they fail, they often make matters worse than they are before. Sometimes, too, they are unjustifiable and tyrannical. In fact, we may say that they like wars are necessary evils in present state of society. Sometimes, wars are necessary and so are strikes. It will be a blessing when all industrial disputes and all international quarrels are settled by arbitration.

Is Government Going Out of Fashion?

Economic thinking, akin to fashion, changes so quickly that yesterday’s truths become today’s falsehoods, yesterday’s oddities, and today’s dogma. Once, not long ago, state control of a large area of the economy was accepted. Then came Thatcherism and Reaganomics; state intervention in the economy was attacked and privatization came to be increasingly in vogue. The late Eighties and early Nineties saw the collapse of socialism and central planning. Markets assumed dominance, ‘market forces’ became the catch phrase.

In the past, too much was entrusted to the state and it delivered very little, especially in the field of production. Perhaps in violent reaction to that non – performance, today economists call for the other extreme – that there is no need for a regulatory mechanism devised by the state to oversee even basis economic activities. Does the government, then, have no role at all in the economy?

It is interesting to note that in the world’s largest economy, namely, the USA, or in other industrialized countries, government intervention had a major role to play when the foundations for rapid economic growth in an overall market setting were being laid. Well – known America economist, Dr. Joseph E. Stieglitz, has pointed out that there is a third way’, or ‘many third ways’, between the two extremes of rigid state control and laissez faire.

The US in 1863 passed a National Banking Act that helped to create a national financial stability. The East Asian economies – the miracles of modern times – would not have been what they are without state intervention. Governments played a major role in universalizing education and creating an education aided human capital – which was instrumental in the transformation of those economies. Again, in the US, too, in the late eighteenth century, the federal government took the initiative to set aside land for public educational institutions. It was the government which helped to establish the public university system in the US.

If technology played an important part in the economic development of the industrialized countries and East Asia it may well be worth remembering that government policies and active participation by the state in research activities and financial support went a long way to build up technological capabilities. The US government has financed much research activity in telecommunications and agriculture. Indeed, the internet was the creation of the US government in the late sixties. Today, and in the future, government has to take up the challenge of environment degradation besides maintaining safety nets in appropriate areas.

As Dr. Stieglitz points out, “much of the role of government can be viewed as establishing infrastructure in its broadest sense – the “technological, educational, financial, environmental, and social infrastructure of an economy”. Markets cannot work in a vacuum and this infrastructure is necessary if markets are to fulfill their role in increasing wealth and living standards. And the broad infrastructure can be constructed primarily by the government as it would be beyond the capacity of any single firm. Furthermore, as the scope of the market expands, the state has to bring in fresh regulations which, in turn, would lead to further expansion and strengthening of the market.

There are some constants as far as the role of government in the economy is concerned. These are in the fields of education, building appropriate institutional infrastructures and assisting and supplementing markets. And in these areas the role of government remains crucial. Government, then, is not going out of fashion; only certain of their functions are becoming obsolete.

Prize distribution

Prize distribution is one of the important functions of a school. It is a memorable event of the institution. It is held generally a few days before the examinations and marks the end of the academic year.

The function in our school was held in the first week of July. It was held in the school hall. The director of education was invited to preside over the function. The rooms were white­washed and cleaned. The school compound was decorated with flower pots and banners. Maps, pictures and paintings were hung on the walls Chairs were arranged for the visitors. The stage was beautifully decorated. Prizes were arranged neatly on a separate table. The prize-winners sat near the stage.

The chief guest arrived exactly on time. He was received by the principal and other members of the staff at the gate. The school band played the national anthem. The scouts gave him a guard of honour. He was taken to the hall by the principal and members of the committee.

A song preceded the function. It was followed by a short drama. The principal read the annual report about the progress, examination results and extra-curricular activities of the school. The chief guest gave away the prizes. I also won a prize for standing first in my class. After that the chief guest delivered a short speech. He praised the school for its all-round progress and talked to the students about their duties and responsibilities.

The principal thanked the chief guest and the function came to an end amidst cheers.