SCIENCE SHOULD NOT BE ADULTERATED

 

34. SCIENCE SHOULD NOT BE ADULTERATED

It is said in the Bible: The Ten Commandments are kept secure in the temple at the base of Mount Sinai. It is for the sons of Aaron to burn incense at the altar. Since it was a holy duty it had its own rules to be observed. But Aaron’s sons burnt the incense as they wished, not heeding the divine dikkat. God became angry and punished them.

There are Aaron’s sons today in the temples of knowledge. They neglect the rules. Act as they wish. But none of them get punished.

In our scientific and technical institutions the high priests of knowledge have gone astray. The young scientists lose their confidence. A few of them, here and there, commit suicide. This state of affairs should change.

The Indian Science Academy conducted a study on the injustices being perpetrated in the research institutions. A code of conduct for the scientists was evolved.

The harassments a young scientist engaged in scientific research has to face from his colleagues and his superiors are many. He becomes despondent when he sees the results of his many years of research being published in the name of his superior. The travails one has to undergo in some research institutions are of a different kind. One may require very expensive and rare equipment to complete some experiments. It is when the experiments have reached a critical stage that the superior puts his foot down. The experiments have to be abandoned in the absence of essential equipment.

The way research papers and theses get published often leads to controversies. In the case of a thesis prepared by the teacher and the student or a thesis prepared by a researcher and his guide, often all the work has to be done by the junior most person in the group. Many publications are nakedly plagiaristic.

One just copies something published by someone else. The lame excuse given when caught is ‘Though the thesis carries my name, I have no hand in the plagiarism. ’ Some distort facts according to their needs. Experts view this as a serious misdeed, misleading both the students and the readers. But no strong and fruitful action is taken against such misdeeds.

There is another ridiculous practice in our research institutions. It is to claim an honorary status, be it in the case of a patent or a thesis. It is easy for people who are in charge of research organizations. They use their authority over the researcher to ensure their partnership in the patent and the research. The Indian Academy of Science reminds its members that it is wrong to do this when one knows that at no point of time during the research he has any active role in it.

Unhealthy tendencies creep in while giving financial grants to the research programmes. There are incresing number of complaints that one has to resort to many undesirable practices even to get the necessary sanction though things have not reached a stage when one has to pay half the aid as commission. The impression has gained that financial aid is granted not on the basis of quality of the research project but on the basis of extraneous considerations. Extrenal influences come into play most in the case of recruitments to the research organizations.

The scientific fraternity is of the unanimous view that senior researchers and teachers should be selected on the basis of competence and merit. But in reality things are often different. The fact is that different kinds of influences and external inducements affect recruitment. It is unfortunate that it will not be possible either to hide or erase the deficiencies in a student taught by incompetent teachers.

In the scientific sphere also awards often lead to controversies. It is a difficult task to select a person from among brilliant people. The credibility and high intellectual caliber of judges is of utmost importance. But often the awards are shared. A certain type of mutual benefit society gives the impetus to the sharing. Competent people get sidelined and people of influence hold the sway. They also gain who stand and store.

The number of people who blow out of proportion their research findings and cause them to appear on newspaper columns is increasing. These people who cheat the public by extolling non-existent virtues are a good match for the quacks trying to sell off their wonder cure. They are able to catch the attention of the media and make a few gains out of this. Ultimately the loss of faith in the scientific world that this leads to is a matter of serious concern. Now the mercenaries of the scientific world who imposed all sorts of chemicals and pesticides on the farmers are themselves in an unenviable predicament that they have to escape through the backdoor.

We are witness to the increasing unethical practices in the world of medical science. There are duly defined guidelines for experimenting new medicines with and practicing new methods of treatment. The researchers and medical experts, who ignore this totally to make their patients guinea pigs, are committing a total breach of trust on science.

Science is truth. The path of truth must be straight. The common perception is that scientific truth is something you can blindly believe in. If the impression changes science dies. Credibility dies.

Two persons who were victims of tsunami manage to reach an island. The whole island has only one tree. They sleep under the shade of that tree. They satiate their hunger with the fruit of that tree. They weave clothes out of the leaves of that tree. They extolled the virtues of that tree. As days went by, they started finding fault with the tree. The fruit was not sweet enough. The falling leaves were a bother. As time passed, the tree started withering away. Ultimately it fell. The soul of the tree said: when you had faith in me I flourished. When you lost faith in me I started withering away. If there is no faith there is no life.

Credibility is the life of science. When there is no credibility there is no science. The high priests at the altar of science should not forget this. Let the sons of Aaron remember this once in a while.