Responsibility of a scientist

Every action has equal and opposite reaction. This is a basic law of natural science. This law holds its counterpart in the human society also: ‘oppression breeds resistance’. This is a basic law of social science. But the lives in the campus seem to defy this law!
Silence is reigning in the campuses for past two decades; there has been no student movement over real issues. What is the reason behind this exception? We must try to seek truth from the facts. Before we jump to any conclusion, let’s cast a glance upon the facts related to the higher education in our country.
In India only 7% of the eligible population reaches to higher education, for past two decades as per government’s policy, seats have continuously been decreased and fees have been increased. The deduction in seats is not absolute but is relative in comparison to the number of applicants. Government has itself accepted that traditional higher education (B.A., B.Sc. etc) has lost its ‘signaling effect’ or are no longer job-oriented, whereas professional courses like engineering and medical have become belongings of higher middle and higher class. Management courses are not even affordable for higher middle class, only higher class can reach there. After the period of liberalization and globalization India’s education policies changed a lot and government is spending lesser on higher education and students are made to pay from their pockets. Till 1970, government was spending 1% of GNP which was reduced to 0.35% during the 1990s. In 1983, before implementation of new education policy, government had been paying 80% of higher education’s expenditure but in 1999 it was reduced to 67%. On the other side also, in engineering and medical education government is withdrawing its hands. Till 1960 there were only 15% private seats in engineering, but till 2004 this figure increased to 86.4%, in medical education also it has increased from 6.8% in 1960 to 40.9% in 2004. In management institutes this number is 90%. From all these statistics it is quite evident that government is privatizing the education, making it a commodity. Government itself has conceded that we are witnessing a jobless growth and has also contended that producing jobs is not responsibility of government!
The motive of all such policies must also be seen. If a student from humble background reaches higher education, he/she will soon comprehend the reality of this “competitive society”, his/her anger towards the system will be much greater and this feeling might prove to be very dangerous. So it is better to make these very dreams themselves so costly that common students cannot afford them.
The commodification of education is also the reason behind the changing class character of the students’ population; issues of the common masses do not concern them. That is why the social law of resistance fails to apply within the boundaries of campus. That law will become functional only when the sensitive students within campus will associate themselves with the struggles of the 93% eligible population who does not reach the campus. Only then, one can imagine of any change.

SCIENTISTS FOR SOCIETY

'Scientists for Society' is a forum of such students of science who believe in the fact that source of all knowledge is social and productive practice; who understand that such practice in the modern era cannot be done individually; who recognize the reality that this very kind of practice is the most essential thing for the survival of the entire human society and even the non-organic world; however, the majority of the common people who undertake the 99 percent of productive and social activities of the entire world are singularly bereft of any kind of knowledge or basic necessities of life and live an awful life. We believe that this pathetic and unjust condition can be accounted to the fact that all knowledge, skill and physical power today is in the service of profit and profit-makers. Science also serves the purpose of generating surplus and profit for certain classes, while it reinforces the wage slavery and subjugation of the toiling masses, who, ironically themselves are the originators and creators of the all knowledge.
We believe that as long as all human activity and knowledge serves the interests of the capital rather than becoming a boon for the entire toiling masses and thus entire humanity, the present condition of the world will continue in which millions of people die of hunger, not because there is no food, but because the profit motive would not let that food reach the hungry; which is plagued by chronic unemployment, poverty and imperialist wars; which suffers from the widening gap between the rich and the poor.
We intend to become that kind of scientists who understand that they have a huge debt to pay back to the society which fulfilled all our needs so that we can study and grasp all the knowledge created by humanity through ages and generations; who are not merely running like dogs after corporate money; who think not only about their careers, but recognize their significant and essential social responsibility; who believe that present system has to be changed radically to establish and develop a much more rational, humane, scientific and just system and who accept that they must determine their role in this struggle.
With Revolutionary Regards,
Scientists for Society.

Introducing "The Spark"

The period of 2007-08 has been proving to be a year of dramatic ups and downs for the world economy. The whole world has constantly been shaken by the mighty ripples of the U.S. financial crisis. As most of us must be knowing, this is the worst crisis the world economy has faced since the Great Depression of the 1930s. With the fading glory of the world capitalist system, the India Inc story, as the mouth-piece of capitalist houses call it, is also sinking. The IT sector has lost thousands of jobs since the inception of the present crisis. The banking sector, share market, aviation etc also are in dire straits. Share market sank below 10K, Jet Airways announced retrenchment (which it had to roll back), India Airlines announced to send 15,000 workers to send on leave without pay, a number of banks have announced retrenchment and various financial firms have been rocked to the hilt. Clearly enough, the "India shining" fable has come to an abrupt halt!
However, somewhere deep inside our hearts, don't we know that the India has always been shining for a certain minority? All ages have been Golden Ages for the richer classes and Dark Ages for the common masses. The Arjun SenGupta committee concluded that 77 percent of Indians live on Rs.20 or less per day; W.H.O. report tells us that 46 percent of Indian children are malnourished; even countries like Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Indonesia, Ghana and Senegal are ahead of India in the human development index of the United Nations. So, as concerned scientists we must not forget the other picture, which is in fact the true picture of India and we should adopt a scientific approach of analyzing every problem with the aim of resolution.
All of us know that everything has order behind it. From H-atom to sun, everything has some rules and laws governing it. The basic brick of the constitution of all matter is atom (which is composed of even more subtle particles). Different constitution and configuration of atoms give different forms to different matter; physical conditions on earth allowed development of organic matter and finally organic life, humans are the highest form of this organic life; Since, their inner physical world is governed by some set of laws, the society which they have created has evolved through some laws and follows certain laws of motion. As scientists concerned with the problems of the society in which we live, we must understand the laws of motion of the society apart from the natural laws of motion. We as sensitive youngsters must understand and find the way out of this misanthrope system and society which has profit motive as the principal mover and inspiration behind every economic and social activity. Social needs and 80 percent of the total population has been pushed into the oblivion and the interests of capital and corporates rule everything.
‘The Spark’ is a platform which intends to bring social scientists together, invite rational and justice-loving sons and daughters of Indian people to come and join a drive to understand the society and its laws and understand, not just for the sake of understanding it but for the sake of changing it. We invite all such friends to discuss about what role we can play in bringing about a radical change in the system and the society and what kind of alternative should be put forward. We wait for you...