Scientists' Oratory

Once on being asked as to what is a modern day laboratory, a collegue of mine in DRDL promptly replied,"In modern laboratories scientists are engaged in less of Lab work and more of oratory." I remembered him the other day after I saw the proceedings of an international symposium at I.I.C.T.,Hyderabad. Prof. CNR Rao,chairman of the prime minister's advisory committee on science and technology, shared his valuable thoughts by observing,"Science needs a lot of generosity.As a scientist, you need to give a lot to your students. But science is not doing well in India because we are too selfish." Not to be seen as left behind, Dr.R.A. Mashelkar, former chief of CSIR stressed,"We need to look at this country as 1.2 billion brains and not as 1.2 billion mouths." and that "innovation was needed to access equality for everyone despite income inequality." My friend was right in describing the modern day laboratories.