Responsibilities of science, responsive to society: A new dialogue

Abstract

In India, a mosaic of languages, cultures and political systems, where stakeholders differ drastically in their beliefs, value systems and expectation from the government, introducing a policy to implement or discard a novel technology is a Herculean task. In this chapter, comprising an edited version of the author's lecture to a scientific community followed by questions and answers, the author shares the challenges he had to face while taking decisions as a cabinet minister in four different contexts where science collided with Indian society: Bt Brinjal (India's first genetically modified food crop), Jaitapur nuclear power plant, climate change in Himalayan glaciers and mining in Niyamgiri Hill. Based on his personal experiences the author proposes five principles that would form the basis of a new dialogue on making 'people more science-friendly and scientists more people-friendly', and elaborates the role of these principles in understanding and explaining various dimensions of science-society interface.