Editorials

Q :Is India becoming anti-science?

Q: Why india did not get a Noble prize  in science field till now ?

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Is there nothing in this country of substance beyond Bollywood, cricket and politicians ?

The country is reeling under a power crisis. Villages go without electricity for long hours. Yet, there is opposition to nuclear power and all the explanations of expert scientists do not seem to carry conviction. Even if a disaster like Fukushima were to happen, would it not be insignificant compared to the huge loss in terms of men and material, which the country is suffering due to a lack of adequate power generation ? 

What is the difficulty in accepting all power generation strategies, from windmill to nuclear ? 

{I just read today Phillipines has now 39% of it's electricity from renewable sources. In the meanwhile France that runs it's entire program on nuclear has gone down the drain economically. U.S. and Japan are both in a economic mess. Both countries ran their grids heavily on nuclear.}

Grain production is stagnating at 200+million tonnes, while China is at 500+million tonnes. We will soon exceed China's population. Millions of children are dying of  mal/under-nutrition. All the traditional practices and resources have not mitigated the tragedy. But the country will oppose GM technology, which has the potential to increase productivity and the nutritive quality of grain.

Note :There is strident activism against GM technology in the name of environment and biodiversity. 
There is a constant vertical and horizontal transfer of genes in evolution. How did the 2,000 varieties of brinjal evolve, if it is not through gene changes? What does it matter, if a couple of transgenes (e.g. Bt gene) are transferred to unintended targets? Experience for over a decade has shown that Bt gene is benign and Bt corn and Bt cotton have not caused authenticated damage to individuals or environment. Even so, activists have succeeded in demonising the Bt with highly exaggerated

(Full articles here  http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/is-india-becoming-antiscience/article2745149.ece )














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