S&TPolicyPart2

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The Science And Technology Policy 2003A Critical Evaluation: Part II

Ashoke Mukhopadhyay*

This is a revised and enlarged version of a paper prepared for a lectureon the title theme in the short-term courses on History, Science andSociety in the Indian Context, organized by the Asiatic Society, Kolkata,in the years 2003-05, and included in a collection of articles publishedby the Society in 2005. The first part was published in Breakthrough(vol.12, no.2), and discussed the wrong theoretical approach of thepolicy makers and the correct scientific approach towards a sciencepolicy in the Indian perspective. For some unavoidable reason thesecond part could not be carried into the last issue and is beingpublished in this number. Editor, BT

[6] Anti-Science Programme (Agenda?)However, the Union Governments in therecent past are not driven by such ascientific attitude, nor satisfied at thishistorical approach. The BJP ministers,then directly involved in the process, outof their ultra-nostalgic love for andeuphoria over the ancient Hinduscholarship, took a different course. Theywanted to glorify the ancient knowledge asan equivalent, parallel and alternativewisdom in relation to the present body of

knowledge, a fact, which although notclearly spelt out in the policy document was evident from their drastic reforms inthe field of education.

SSoommee ccoonnccrreettee ccaasseess aarree cciitteedd bbeellooww::So, in order to understand the spirit of thedeclared S & T policy statement we haveto go beyond its letters and study it inconjunction with what the differentUnionGovernments had been doing in the fieldof education in general and scienceeducation in particular, how much

importance it had attached to scientificoutlook and approach in the analysis ofvarious questions of life.

[1] Just before the policy wasproposed, in 2001, the BJP Governmentintroduced in the formal school anduniversity curricula some subjects likeVedic Mathematics, Vedic Astrology,Vastushastra, Paurohitya, Yoga, and soon. They were also thinking over theproposal of introducing a similar courseon Guptavidya (occultology), which wouldpresumably deal with witchcraft,demonology, magic cure for snake-biteand dog-bite, recipe for bearing a male

child, etc. and shamanism with villagedeities.At the outset I contest the use of the

epithet Vedic before the subjectsmentioned above. None of these originatedin the Vedas or late-Vedic literature. Theastrology and palmistry practised in Indiaare of Greco-Roman origin and came to befully elaborated not until the time ofVarahamihira in the sixth century A. D.

The arithmetic had begun to be developedin the Buddhist era since the Asokanperiod (second century B. C.) and algebra

around the time of Aryabhatt in the latefifth century A. D. These subjects havebeen thoroughly studied in thehistoriography of Indian science and

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technology by several authors some ofwhom have been referred to above.

Secondly, none of these subjectscontains any useful information, which isnot already known and need be learntafresh by the students at present for the

sake of a better, accurate and up-to-dateknowledge. Moreover, the body ofastrology is actually based on mostlywrong information and totally wrongtheory, all of which have been studied indetail, thoroughly examined andultimately rejected by man long back inthe light of the advancing frontiers ofscience55 (please note this point seriouslyin order to meet the repeated plea of thebelievers for research in astrology).Similar is the case with vastushastra,

yoga, etc. Apart from some ancient

magico-religious rites and assertionsthese two subjects can give a modern manno positive and useful information orinsight in the respective areas concerned,namely, astronomy, civil construction andhuman psychology, for the simple reasonthat there was never any cognizable truthin these.

[2] The NCERT (National Council ofEducational Research and Training),under pressure of the Government, in itsnew framework for school curricula(2002), had proposed to turn the previous

syllabus on science for schools into asyllabus on science and technology. TheCBSE (Central Board of SecondaryEducation), Delhi, immediately introducedit all over India. It was not a simple andtrivial change in title. Even a cursory lookinto the new courses on science andtechnology at different levels reveals thatthe basic spirit of science education study of scientific laws and principles incourse of the explanation of naturalphenomena has been grosslyundermined and replaced by drab citation

of facts and techniques. The NCERT wasforgetful of the fact that school studentsare not some on-job or pre-job apprenticesto factories; they are the learners at the

foundational level of their educational life.So the textbooks they will study cannot beturned into some manuals of handyinformation and operations. The same job-training approach is specially reflected inthe mathematics syllabus, which is

similarly loaded with computationalproblems on shares, debentures,brokerage, income tax, home loaninterest, etc., at the cost of the basicconcepts of mathematical logic andintuition.

[3] Similarly, in the field of historyeducation and research the BJP hadstarted applying this policy even before itwas drafted or made public. Theysummarily withdrew from the CBSEschool curriculum standard textbookswritten by well-known historians in

conformity with science, logic, literarysources and archaeology, like SatishChandra, D. N. Jha, Ram Saran Sharma,Romila Thapar, and so on. It may beworthwhile to note here that the NCERTand the CBSE authorities had strictlyinstructed the affiliated schools to delete allreferences to the name of Rajendra LalMitra, the first Indian Indologist in theBritish period, and his discoveries from theexisting textbooks on history.56 His crimewas to have made some discoveries in thevenerated Sanskrit classics, of some

popular customs in the Vedic and Puranicages, like beef-eating (both as a regularfood habit and as a part of sacrificialrites)57, which offend the sentiments of theorthodox Hindu today and which,therefore, the men in power did not wantthe present generations of students toknow. Moreover, the subject of history assuch had been merged with geography,civics and economics into an eclectic title

social study in order to clear the stageto teach whatever they wanted in thename of Indian history; or not to teach

whatever they abhorred.[4] Simultaneously, a concertedpropaganda had been launched throughvarious media including the Internet to



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highlight the so-called Vedic sciences,controvert the well-founded data on theHarappan civilization on the basis of evenfabrication of data. Attempts had beenafoot with huge government fund andbacking to convert some irrigation projects

in the north western India into aprogramme of rescue and realization ofthe Vedic Sarasvati River in order tovalidate the antiquity and superioirity ofthe Vedic culture vis--vis the Harappancivilization.58 The attitude was: If thisattempt succeeded in the case of history itwould be extended to new areas.

[5] At the same time they had launcheda move to promulgate a Bill in theparliament with a view to prohibiting cow-slaughter all over the country. This was acontinuation of the revivalist cow-

protection programme initiated byGandhi, Vinoba Bhabe, and some othernational celebrities, highlighted by theRSS and other Hindu fundamentalistforces, and an extension of what hadalready been promulgated in several northIndian States. They advocate thisprogramme from time to time with a semi-religious semi-sentimental slogan centringround cow as the mother of the Hindupopulation for its importance inagriculture. (This reminds us the episodewhere the great Hindu revivalist leader

Swami Vivekananda indignantly banteredsome organizers of cow protection aschildren of the cow-mom and brandedthem as inhumans.59) They are not onlyunconcerned about the food habit ofmajority of the Indian people belonging tonon-Brahmin and non-Hinducommunities, but also fail to take intoaccount the grave social, economic andecological implications of the action, ifsuccessful, like housing management ofthe already steadily growing cow-population. The BJP Government was

sure that in view of their strength in theParliament they would not succeed inenacting the Bill; but they were still then

interested in placing the Bill to keep thecassette of Hindu sentiments on.

[6] Add to this the encouragement tothe functions of bhumipuja and/orvastupujaceremony, which are performedin every governmental construction and

developmental project, even in the IITswith great pomp and publicity. Last year agroup of scientists of the Indian SpaceResearch Organization (ISRO) went to atemple and offered puja to the Balajipraying for successful satellite and missilelaunching. Where does S & T feature in allthese activities? In a secular democracy,any public programme funded by thestate, and specially one that is related toscience and technology, should have noconnection with any sort of religiousbeliefs and practices, which are personal

affairs of those who believe. It betrays theutter lack of confidence of the S & Tpersonnel in their own profession andwisdom, and of the Government in the S &

T programmes as well.[7] Last year, the NISCAIRE (National

Institute for Science Communication andInformation Resources), a section of theCSIR, published a pamphlet on tsunami.

The scientific part of the literature (up topage 34) is quite good for a lay reader. Butafter that, the author(s), perhaps inconsonance with the new science policy,

advised the tsunami victims to take toyoga, pranayama, asana, yoga mudra,yoga nidra, etc., and consume amlaki,haritaki, etc., in order to overcome thepsychological trauma this great disasterafflicted them with.60 The comedy of thecase is that the director general of theCSIR, who happens to be an FRS, wroteits foreword. This helps us to see theheight the idiosyncrasy of past-cult hasreached in India.

A science policy, which was formulatedin the environment of indulgence in such

well-known wrong and outwornprejudices, and did not condemn orcriticize this senseless obsession forbigotry, could hardly be conducive to the

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growth of the scientific spirit. And it canbring about nothing good for the country.

[7] Echoes of Eco-scienceIt may be worthwhile here to look for thecurrent ideological basis of these revivalist

programmes at the national as well asglobal levels. It has been noted by severalauthors that this tendency to glorify thepast has been strengthened in recent

years by the various post-modernistschools of thought, which have directedtheir attack against the universality of thescientific tradition upheld since the Era ofEnlightenment in post-medieval Europe.

These schools of thought contend that thecriteria of objectivity, rationality,reality, causality, etc. are not so muchbasic to the theories of science as to the

roots of western culture. Other culturesmay have their own and different sets ofcriteria to adjudge the value of a scientifictheory in terms of the ideological andpsychological services it renders to thatcultural community.

According to Foucault, a leadingtheoretician of post-modernism, Eachsociety has its regime of truth, its generalpolitics of truth.61 With this approach thepost-modernists emphasize thedifference between societies,communities, genders, races, ethnicities,

cultures, etc., as the prime focal point fordetermination and defence of truths forthe separate identities, and raise it to thestatus of a major philosophical category.

This kind of analysis helps them to justifyin pretty colourful terms the liberation ofthe oriental culture from the colonialaggression of the western culture, defenceof the folk-beliefs in the face of the elitistdominance, democratization from below,so on and so forth. Truths represented inthe culture and tradition of a separatecommunity is meaningful to the

insiders, although these may bemeaningless to the outsiders.62

Andrew Ross, a spokesman of thistrend, believes that supporting the

popular beliefs is a sign of thisdemocratization, while demandingrigorous tests for these beliefs is sheerelitism. According to him, it is only whenwe attenuate the claims of empiricalrationality and recognize different ways of

doing science, ways that downgrademethodology, experiment, andmanufacturing in favour of localenvironments, cultural values, andprinciples of social justice that we beginto move towards true diversity ofknowledge systems.

Similarly, Sandra Harding, a post-modern feminist, argues that modernscience as it is now presented to us is farfrom a universal body of knowledge and isactually a western ethno-science with adistinct bias for male dominance over

Mother Nature. There is a need toempathize with other cultures in amulticultural world, for which, she thinks,we have to give up the dream of the onetrue science and begin to live with aborderland epistemology. By this sheimplies an epistemology that values thedistinctive understandings of nature thatdifferent cultures have resources togenerate.63 She earned a special nameamong her co-ideologues by brandingNewtons magnum opus PhilosophieNaturalis Principia Mathematika as

Newtons Rape Manual for exploitation ofnature by the male scientists.64Examples of this sort of exhortation

over local and sectional cultures by thepost-modernist writers may be multiplied.

The rightist lobby, the dominantpolitical-ideological group of our countryand a majority of the scientificcommunity, were quick to pick up thiscall for decolonization of S & Tperceptions as well as Vedic scholarships.

They felt very much inspired with the logicthat the local knowledge systems

embedded in the tradition of a localcommunity should be subjected to thelocal analytical tools rather than to thewestern scientific standards. They felt

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that the rigorous scientific methods andprocedures being applied in the seriousIndological studies often rendered resultscontrary to what they would like thepeople to believe. With this ethno-cultural approach to ancient Indian

wisdom it became easier for them tohighlight its uniqueness and pertinence.In point of fact, it has really encouragedsome intellectuals of the country to lookfor justification of the outwornbrahminical strictures like burning ofwidow on the dead husbands pier, and tooppose the modernist view regardingremarriage of a widow.65

The irony of the attempt, however, isthat it also came first from a group ofwestern scholars who had been engagedin building up an alternative to the

synthetic, rational, universal and objectivejudgment of the world of nature and mansince the Renaissance. Thus the post-modernist theoreticians did not really helpto decolonize scientific standards andcultural values but rather substitutedsome new and reactionary western post-modernist theses for the four-century-oldwell-tested scientific reason and heritageof the Enlightenment and transportedthem to the periphery to satisfy their localethno-cultural sentiments. And it seemedto fit well with the new science policy.

[8] Words vis--vis DeedsThe policy in its other declarationsasserted certain other things, which wereclearly irrelevant or contrary to what thesuccessive Union Governments have beendoing for the last few years. An example ofthis indulgence in irrelevant proclamationis found in its intentions to mount adirect and sustained effort on thealleviation of poverty, enhancing livelihoodsecurity, removal of hunger andmalnutrition, reduction of drudgery and

regional imbalances, both rural andurban, and generation of employment,etc. Clearly, it was imposing the tasks ofthe Government in the arena of economics

and development on to the science andtechnology regime. Science andtechnology has long created the scope toimprove the living conditions of man in allaspects of life. But it is the economicpolicy of the governments and the line of

development pursued under capitalism,which are ultimately responsible fordepriving the common millions andkeeping these opportunities confinedamong the chosen elite. Neither scienceand technology, nor the scientificcommunity has anything to do with it.

While the Union Government, led bywhatsoever forces, has been pursuing forthe last two decades a strategy todiscourage research in the universities,cleverly using the funding weapon, thepolicy statement of 2003 asserted to the

contrary, namely, that it will vigorouslyfoster scientific research in universitiesand other academic, scientific andengineering institutions, and thatGovernment will make necessarybudgetary commitments for highereducation and science and technology.

The Union Government did not show theslightest sign that it would do so. Itplanned to go on for speedier privatizationin the fields of higher education andresearch, encouraged private universitiesand professional institutes, invited foreign

capital for investment in the industry ofeducation. The budgetary support to theuniversities has been so curtailed over the

years that many universities have beencompelled to downsize their library andlaboratory. The BJP Government proposedto rename the UGC as the UniversityGoverning Commission and remodel itsfunctions for controlling the statutoryuniversities.

The new Science and Technology Policy2003 talks of attracting the brightest

young persons to careers in science and

technology and creating suitableemployment opportunities for them atthat same moment when the officialeconomic policy of the Government is to



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import all the necessary technologies andconsultancies from the advancedcountries, obstruct the free exercise ofresearch faculties, and virtually stoprecruitment in the vacant academic andscientist posts, let alone creating new

institutes and posts to attract thepromising scientific talents who are goingabroad out of utter frustration.

The policy, in Section C: Strategy andImplementation Plan, declared: Aconcerted strategy is necessary to infuse anew sense of dynamism in our scienceand technology institutions. The sciencedepartments, agencies and otheracademic institutions, including theuniversities, i.e., the science andtechnology system as a whole, would besubstantially strengthened, given full

autonomy and flexibility, and de-bureaucratized. These words werepronounced at a time when theGovernment had been actuallyundermining the entire science andtechnology education and researchthrough the means of fund crunch, fee-hike, privatization, encouragement tocapitation fee and donation basedinstitutions, and so forth. We heard thesewords of autonomy and flexibility at atime when the apex bodies of differentnational organizations, like the NCERT,

UGC, ICHR, ICSSR, IIAS, etc. had beenreconstituted by throwing out the non-RSS learned members and inductingpeople of poor academic calibre with butstrong RSS background. Even thedirectors of the IITs were being nominatedfrom amongst persons with ostensibleultra-religious mentality and conduct.Now, with the return of the Congress tothe seat of power, the BJP-RSS supportersare replaced by a new batch of yes-men.

The real de-bureaucratization couldstart only when the socio-cultural ethos

handed down from the feudal legacy andleft intact even by the earlier Nehru-policy, which directly or indirectlysupports the existing administrative

norms of control of research from aboveand the culture of bossism in the researchinstitutions, could be put an end to. Butthe guruvadi (authoritarian) mentality ofthe feudal hierarchical tradition continuesto prevail in the relations among the

juniors and the seniors of the scientificcommunity and is reinforced by theGovernment through its various policies,including its eulogy of the ancienttradition. In this situation there can be noquestion of real democratization of thescience and technology administrativesystem. In the actual performances of thepresent Union Government too we have sofar seen no desire to shift from theundemocratic and bureaucratic narrowgauge line.

[9] Science for Martial Art!There is only one area where thetraditionalist lobby in the Government tookept to the norms of modern science andtechnology and did not stray away inspeeches or in deeds into the labyrinthof ancient glorious civilizationalprocess of Hindu or Indian tradition. Icall your attention to the area of militaryand space (missile) systems.

It is only in this area that the erstwhilePrime Minister Mr. Vajpayee raised theslogan of Jai Vigyan (glory to science).

The budgetary support for the researchand development in these two privilegedareas is never sliced off for shortage offund. One might legitimately question theusefulness of the nuclear bombs and long-range missiles at a tremendous cost whenall the developmental and welfare sectorsof the economy wither away in budgetaryanaemia.

I have, however, another and morefundamental question: The new scienceand technology policy seeks toaccomplish national strategic and

security-related objectives, by using thelatest advances in science andtechnology. Why? Quite a large numberof people in India believe as true all the



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episodes vividly described in theRamayana and the Mahabharata. The BJPas a party in power together with itsancillary wings up and down had beentrying by all means to revitalize, preserveand play upon the sentiments of the

Hindus centring round these beliefs. Theywere also busy (through the voice of theex-professor-of-physics HRD minister) tohighlight the efficacy of the Vedic andPuranic sciences. Then why were theynot also similarly bent on reviving theweapon systems and war stratagemsdescribed in so much detail in the twovenerated epics for the national security ofthe country today? Why not Vedicweapons?

This question, once raised, squarelyputs us face to face with the sincerity of

the traditionalist lobby in their revivalistslogans. At the inner recess of their heartsthey are also well aware that the ancientwisdom cannot satisfy the modernpurposes of warfare. We can only mimicthe Ramayana or Mahabharata wars inoperas or films, but with that much ofresources we cannot hope to stand evenfor a few seconds in a real modernwarfare. The absurdities of all the theoriesof post-modernism, post-colonialism,ethno-cultural science, alternative localrealism, eco-culture, etc., do not come to

any help but are exposed in bold relief. Wehave no way but to resort to the non-Vedic, western, modern science andtechnology for waging and winning amodern war.

Then the logical question is: Shouldnot the same standard apply in all aspectsof life today? Can we really live themodern way of life with the Vedic andPuranic knowledge and value systems?Moreover, if we use, enjoy and employ thefruits of modern science and technology inall aspects of our physical life, should we

not also apply the logic and ethic of thisscience in all recesses of our mental life?

But no! Logic and rationality seem tobe highly repugnant themes to the newpolicy makers.

[10] No More Illusions!This rational evaluation of the science and

technology policy of the UnionGovernment both in its policy statementand in its actual practices compels us toregretfully conclude: if implementedundeterred, it is going to take usbackward against the progressivemainstream of science. It indicates whichkind of education and research theGovernment will encourage and whichthey will discourage. It will also be anillusion to think that the RSS-BJP lobbywas alone interested in promoting theHindu fundamentalist line in the field of

education and culture. The fact is that itwas the Congress Governments, whichfirst raised in clearly audible terms the cryfor rescue and application of the ancientIndian wisdom since the time of IndiraGandhis premiership in 1983, then inRajiv Gandhis education policy of 1986.

Let us refresh the memories.The Kireet Joshi Committee to

prescribe a course of value orientation inteachers training programme hadrecommended to the Union Government in1983 the following menu: Aim in life

supra-cosmic, supra-terrestrial, cosmic-terrestrial, integral; Education of the in-most being and values of psychic andspiritual culture; Philosophy and the ideaof God, Proofs of the existence of God,Attributes of God; The problem of evil,suffering and death; The Psychology ofworship and prayer; Psychology of actionwithout desire; Psychology ofconcentration, meditation andcontemplation; Central spiritualexperience, Liberation from the ego,Cosmic consciousness, Transcendental

consciousness; Yoga as practicalpsychology, Yoga as spiritual experiences,Systems of yoga, Integral yoga ofAurobindo, Synthesis of science and



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spirituality; Telepathy and Clairvoyance;et cetera.66 Even the strongest ofmicroscopes would fail to detect in theseany value worth the name other thansome bigoted religious beliefs.

The national education policy adopted

in 1986 had offered a broad scope tointroduce any antiquated subject in theformal curriculum in the name ofcultivating national heritage: Efforts willbe made to delve into Indias ancient fundof knowledge and to relate it tocontemporary reality. It argued: The pre-occupation with modern technologiescannot be allowed to sever our newgenerations from the roots in Indiashistory and culture. Education can andmust bring about the fine synthesisbetween change-oriented technologies and

the countrys continuity of culturaltradition.67 If the BJP Government hadfound the shoes fitting to their feet andwritten the science policy accordingly, onecould hardly pinpoint the blame on themfor what they did.

And now, after the clock had turned by360 degree with the Congress leadershipback to the seat of power, it is no wonderthat the present UPA Government,supported by the Left group andappearing with a secular facial, similarlycommitted to stick to all the antiscientific

decisions of the earlier Governments inthe fields of education and science. Theonly changes they made were in thepersonnel and not in the policy. So thepursuit of science and rationality remainsunder the same threats.

The invariance of a policy throughseveral stages of changes in thecomposition of the government indicatesthat it belongs to and emanates from aninvariant instrument of the social order namely, the capitalist state. Science and

Technology Policy is an extension of the

Education Policy. The latter is marked bythe following features: (a) Education is nomore looked upon as a social welfareactivity (see The Challenge of Education

1986). The Ambani Report recommendedthat the government completely withdrawits financial support and should play therole of a facilitator; (b) Major privatizationof higher education system; and (c) Addedto it is the promotion of religious, anti-

scientific education. It is the designof thecapitalist system; hence it does not reallydepend or change with the change ofgovernment. The intention is to restricteducation, including science, for the rich;dehumanize and mechanize people withunscientific obscurantist ideas; promotetechnologicalaspects of science for smoothand better running of their economy andproduction.

This state, in the interest of capitalistclass, requires a restricted quantum ofscience and technology. This class

requires technology to the extent it isnecessary to decrease capital-output ratioin the production and circulation ofcommodities; it requires science to theextent it is necessary to generate, use,maintain and oversee that technology.Beyond that it abhors any scienceprogramme that seems to reinforce thescientific and rational outlook of thepeople in general. It prefers to presentscience itself as an overall anti-sciencepursuit. This would help them to fomentmass hysteria over religious and other

parochial sentiments and break the unityof the common people. The politicalscenario of the country for the last twodecades has been reeking ofcommunalism and fundamentalism ofvarious shades. Different parties andforces are seen active in all these fanaticmisdeeds. That explains the continuity inthe education and science policy in spiteof changes in the ruling personnel.

We are at the threshold of acrossroads. The experiences of the humansociety till now have accumulated a vast

store of knowledge and perceptions for us.If we fail to differentiate the lessons fromthe illusions and allow ourselves to beguided by empty demagogy, it may



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ultimately cost us even the civilizedexistence. If, on the other hand, we mayproperly draw and evaluate the lessonsthat emerge from the history and thetreasury of knowledge, and decide ourfuture course of advance accordingly, we

shall be able to hold fast to civilization asthe true Homo sapiens. For this we haveto ask the Government to reject thepresent bureaucratically formulated policyand hold nation-wide discussions anddebates to give birth to a new effective andscientific science and technology policy.

References

55. Siddhanta, Kushal Some QuestionsConcerning the UGC Course in Astrology,Part I, Breakthrough, December 2001; and

Part II, ibid, April 200256. Vide Notifications of the NCERT andCBSE dated 25 February 2001; Also see:Rajeev Dhavan Textbooks andCommunalism; The Hindu, 30 November200157. Mitra, Rajendra Lal Beef in AncientIndia; in Mitra The Indo-Aryans; vol. I,Newman and Co., Kolkata; 1881; editedand reprinted as a separate pamphlet bySwami Bhumananda in 1926; thepamphlet reprinted by ManishaGranthalay, Kolkjata; 1967

58. Mukhopadhyay, Ashoke The TruthAbout Rig-Vedic Sarasvati River: APseudo-Scientific Revision of History andGeography, Socialist Perspective, vol. 29Nos. 3-4, December 2001-March 200259. Swami Vivekananda Conversationsbetween the Teacher and a Disciple (inBengali); inTalks and Writings of Swamiji(in Bengali), Vol. IX ; UdvodhanaKaryalaya, Kolkata; 1989, pp. 3-4 [TheEnglish translation of these importantdialogues published in the CollectedWorks in English is incomplete and given

in an excerpted form, omitting all thevaluable historical materials repugnant tothe orthodox spiritualists A. M.]

60. Tsunami; National Institute forScience Communication and InformationResources (NISCARE a section of theCSIR); New Delhi, 2005 (for a critique, seethe Editorial in Breakthrough, June2006)

61. Kritzman, Lawrence D. (ed.) MichelFoucault: Politics, Philosophy, Culture, Interviews and Other Writings 1977-1984; Routledge, London; 1986 , p. 13162. Leotard, Jean-Francois The Post-modern Condition: A Report onKnowledge; University of Minnesota Press,Minneapolis; 198463. Nanda, Meera (a) Prophets FacingBackward: Postmodern Critique of Scienceand the Rise of Reactionary Modernism inIndia; Rutgers (USA), 2003; (b) Restoringthe Real: Rethinking Social Constructivist

Theories of Science, Socialist Register1997; K. P. Bagchi, Kolkata; 199764. Harding, Sandra (a) The ScienceQuestion in Feminism, Ithaca, 1986, p.113; (b) Whose Science? WhoseKnowledge? Thinking from Womens Lives;Ithaca, 199165. Sharma, Arvind Sati: Historical andPhenomenological Essays; MotilalBanarasidas, New Delhi; 198866. Report of the Working Group toReview Teachers Training Programme (inthe Light of the Need for Value-

Orientation); GOI, New Delhi; 1983, pp.30 and 35-3967. National Policy on Education 1986;GOI, New Delhi; Arts. 5.33 and 8.1

* Mr. Mukhopadhyay is a science writer

and a member of the Advisory Board,Breakthrough Science Society.


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