Challenges of communicating science in regional languages: Experiments in Kannada

Abstract

Promoting scientific temper among the citizens, a duty enshrined in the Constitution of India, is served well when matters of science are communicated to the public. The plurality of language and other cultural aspects of Indian society largely hinder uniform communication among the public and efforts are on to communicate science in every Indian language. As one of the states that ventured early into modern education, Karnataka demonstrates the possibilities of communicating science in regional languages. Over 4000 books on science have been published in Kannada during the past hundred years. The state has the distinction of hosting seven recipients of national honour the National Council for Science and Technology Communication Awards for science communication in print and electronic media. Rapid changes in the fields of mass media, especially the digital ones, the primary and higher education, and the science and technology are posing fresh challenges. Adaptation of uniform computing platform, access to reliable information resources and problems thrown up by media preferences are some of the issues to be addressed. In addition, manpower sensitive to the world of science and trained in communication is a pressing need to effectively face these challenges.