Need more research in pure science

BANGALORE: A combination of societal pressure, economic needs and badly-planned curriculum were recongnised as the primary reasons for the fall in the number of researchers in pure sciences during a panel discussion on ‘Research in Pure Sciences: Needs and Opportunities’ on the occasion of World Science Day on Wednesday held in Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum (VITM).“While money is a hindrance, the number of people coming forward to research in pure science is very low. More institutions and research centres are the need of the hour,” said Dr Siva Umapathy, Professor, Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science (IISc). He added, “Nearly 30 per cent of the country’s population belongs to under 25 age group. No other nation possesses such potential. We have to include scientific temper in our culture.”Referring to students moving towards technology-oriented science, Dr Ranga Uday Kumar, professor, HIV-AIDS Lab, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), said that social pressures played a great role in students’ academic decisions. “When economic perspectives set in, pure science becomes less relevant. Students are only flying abroad to please family. There is a lack of motivation amongst students,” he said. “Our education has distributed most of the scientific load on 10th and 12th classes. This is accompanied by traditional methods of teaching, which leads to mugging up of concepts rather than understanding,” said Dr Umapthy, adding that Physics and Biology were still popular as the subjects are logical in nature.