Role of Scientists and
Technologists in Administration
Dr. S. R. Valluri
Press has
reported recently the proposal of some politicians that the I I T graduates
should not be permitted to compete in the civil service examinations, never
mind if they have the constitutional right to do so, and never mind that they
are among the best of the intellect that this country can offer.
This report
reminded this writer of a CSIR Directors’ conference presided by Morarji Desai
shortly after he became the PM. He stated that he too was a scientist as he had
obtained a bachelors degree in science several decades earlier, and that we
should be careful about what we wanted to say. The Directors did not know how to
respond. The meeting was a disaster with the then DGSIR resigning shortly there
after. If pursuit of science and its offspring modem technology is as simple as
that, perhaps it is time that politicians and civil servants took over direct
responsibility for running of S&T institutions in the country. Morarji
almost succeeded in dismantling CSIR by proposing to transfer a majority of its
laboratories to various government departments, with their directors reporting
to the IAS joint secretaries. Eventually sanity prevailed and Morarji ordered
the transfer only of museums to other agencies.
Shortly there
after, at a meeting of the Governing Body of the CSIR “Praxi Fernandes the then
Finance Secretary and a very distinguished senior civil servant was in a pensive
mood. He stated that before Independence, the Indian Civil Service (ICS)
officers had four major responsibilities and they were trained very well for
handling these. They were Finance, Defence, External Affairs, and the Home.
After Independence, the nation faced a whole new set of problems. He went on to
state that the country required economists to do economic planning and
scientists and technologists to implement them. Fernandes stated that the IAS was not equipped to handle these
responsibilities and neither were they willing to share it with experts in the
field. They looked upon it as a surrender of their inherent right to advise the
ministers even on matters that demand a good understanding of the relevant
S&Ts also, and which they did not necessarily possess.
C Subramanyam
former cabinet minister made a significant point at a UNESCO sponsored
conference in NAL around the same time. He stated that ministers were not
knowledgeable in matters of S&T and that they had to depend on the experts
in the fields to advise them on S&T policy alternatives. The IAS was not
willing to accept direct access to such experts to the ministers and neither
are they necessarily capable of understanding the implications of the various
alternatives. The Green Revolution, Atomic Energy and Space are good examples
of what is possible given such direct access of experts to the ministers.
The ultimate
decisions may be administrative in nature but wrong S&T decisions may well
result in disastrous consequences. For example, some of the technical members
in the Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) Board proposed in 1981 that what is called
Fly By Wire (FBW) control systems technology should be developed in HAL, as the
next generation indigenously developed fighter aircraft would most certainly
need it. An IAS officer on the Board opposed it by stating that it would be
infructuous expenditure if the government did not sanction a fighter aircraft
program. He did not know that aircraft industry is utterly dependent on such
forward looking technology development. Result? Of the ten year delay in the
Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) program involving a cost over run of about Rs 1500
crores, about five years could be attributed to this decision, compounded by
the US embargo on the release of this technology following India’s nuclear
explosions in 1998. Subsequent developments indicated that this technology
could most certainly have been developed by us given enough time. Errors in
judgment at this level don’t come cheap.
Several years
ago, the Science Advisory Committee to the Cabinet unanimously recommended that
government departments which have much to do with S&T should have
scientific advisors directly reporting to the ministers, along the lines of the
Ministry of Defence. It was rejected. The IAS did not want any encroachment
into their preserve, never mind the consequences.
Excellent as
they are in general administration, the IAS are not really equipped to advise
the ministers in matters of S&T. Proper growth of S&T has an important
role to play in enabling India join the cadre of developed nations. Apart from
being selected through highly competitive examinations, which choose about only
one in a hundred, the IITs give excellent education, sharpening the analytical
capabilities of its students in various branches of science and technology.
Many of them do brilliantly well abroad. The country should be thankful that
some of the IIT graduates are willing to join the IAS cadre instead of
migrating.