Scientific temper, an essential factor for social development

Of late, irrespective of their positions, gender and age people of our country are behaving more irrationally. This reflects that the laxity of scientific temper both in rural and in urban area people. Further, their tendency to lean towards the mysticism is exposing our system failure in promoting "Scientific Temper". It is an amazing thing to absorb that the word "Scientific Temper" was coined by India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, in his book "The Discovery of India" (1946).

OF course, the word "Scientific Temper "refers to an attitude of logical and rational thinking. India has become the first nation to incorporate "Scientific temper" in its constitution as a fundamental duty of all citizens of the country as per Article 51-A (h). Many of us don't aware about that August 20th has been observed as National Scientific Temper Day (NSTD) across the country. We are also felicitating February 28th as National Science Day that is failed to elevate concrete thinking instead abstract.

Usually, an individual is considered to be a scientific temper if he employs a scientific method in everyday life. But this constitutional obligation has been ignored by all the stakeholders of our country and creating more confusion with an irrational thought. Our first Prime Minister after noticing the religion and its tentacles of intolerance felt that "Scientific Temper "will make the country people apply the logic.

According to him [ What is needed] is the scientific approach, the adventurous and yet critical temper of science, the search for truth and new knowledge, the refusal to accept anything without testing and trial ,the capacity to change previous conclusions in the face of new evidence, the reliance on observed fact and not on pre-conceived theory, the hard discipline of the mind – all this is necessary, not merely for the application of science but for life itself and the solution of its many problems".

He also Firmly believed that and expressed the power of science like this " It is science alone that can solve the problems of hunger and poverty, insanitation and illiteracy, of superstition, of vast resources running waste, of a rich country inhabited by starving people..Who indeed could afford to ignore science today? At every turn, we have to seek its aid". But what is happening today? The science that has been imparting for the Gen-Y hasn't able to promote these qualities either. The vision of our first prime minister is yet to realize due to the designs of pseudo development.

We are well aware of that it is the constitutional obligation for the Indian citizens to develop scientific temper and to foster, sustain and to cultivate same India's scientific policy Resolution (SPR) in 1958 resolved. The Science Technology policy (STP) of 2003 also laid its emphasis on integrating programmes socio-economic sectors with the national R&D system to find the solutions for the problems nation is facing. Further, India has declared 2010-2020 as the "Decade of innovation" by establishing National Innovation Council.

It is very essential that we need a paradigm shift in our education system that will promote scientific temper. It is very indispensable notice that every child is born with the scientific temper, the child wants to touch, feel, experiment and explore on its own. But during the course of time due to the influence of tradition, society and with the type of education that essence of scientific temper exhausted from their minds and filled with irrational aspects carried along with the whole life.

This is blocking the disentanglement of religion from science and endorsing intolerance, credulity, and superstition, emotionalism, and irrationalism. So our education system and its components should have to develop the scientific temper, humanism, and spirit of inquiry and reform is one of the fundamental duties of the people of the Republic India as per our constitution.
To improve scientific temper in our country we need to…

1.Establishing of more scientific spaces and communicating centers both in the academic and social way of lives.

2. Avoiding the religious symbols at public institutions that are run by public funding.

3.Constituting a monitoring committee for screening the spreading of unscientific information through media.

4.It is essential that the scientists and scientific institutions should have to reach the real masses to promote scientific temper instead to exist isolated.

5.All the government agencies should have to encourage science communication activities as a social responsibility to promote rationality, inquiry and questioning.

6.India is a multiracial country and with tradition-bound people so, to promote scientific temper among them a special attention to be taken for designing various programmes community-wise with the help of elite people from those races.

7.The electronic media which has anchored nooks and corners of the country should have to stop televise irrational thoughts that will influence the scientific temper instead of making the money.

8.It is necessary to have a dedicated TV channel established by the government for exclusively communicating the science funded by the government.

9.The spiritual gurus of all religions should have to follow the footsteps of Swami Vivekananda and Swami Ranganathananda that are strived hard for the promotion of rational thinking along with Vedanta instead making the people more insipid.

10.Make the basic science courses more employable It is highly necessary to promote scientific temper separate the religion from science and realize the remark of Charles Darwin "Freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men's minds, which follows from the advance of science" and no one should forget that Karl Marx about religion" It is the opium of the people".

- E Gajendra Nath Reddy