Scientists must address social issues: UPSC Member
Kolkata, Jan 12 (IBNS)
Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) member, E. Balagurusamy on Friday said scientists must address issues relevant to society.
Addressing at the inauguration of the International Conference on Computation and Communication Advancement (IC3A) -2013, Balagurusamy said, "On one hand we should ask the government to spend more and more on research, and on the other hand, we as scientists, should produce more output which can be used to create new knowledge to address the social problems."
The Conference hosted by the JIS College of Engineering while it is funded by World Bank project through Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP) and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer (IEEE) - Kolkata Section.
He added, "Governments are there to frame policies. The government will come and go. We can't depend upon the Government to solve problems."
"It is the scientists...educationalists who will remain and are the key to the development of a nation," asserted Balagurusamy.
"Education and research go hand in hand. They are the two eyes of higher education."
"While the process of education is required to produce good human beings, the process of research is used for the advancement of science and technology," he said.
Balagurusamy also highlighted the fact that engineers are more keen on getting IT (Information Technology) jobs now-a-day.
"ITs do not contribute except for increasing foreign exchanges. Students should not look for IT jobs. Indian industries are suffering for the want of engineers."
"Students now join universities to gain jobs but universities are not employment exchanges. The basic idea is to get an education and not job. They should develop students with engineering skills."
"We have to inculcate among the young students to join small scale industries and do something useful for the benefit of the county," he advised.
According to Balagurusamy private industries should also invest to bring more research and development.
"Government should come up with a legislation or a directive to implement CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), so that a percentage of the profit earned by the private industries should be used in research and development," he added.
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Kolkata Section, Patron, Shivaji Chakraborti on the other hand advised educational institutes to emphasize on improving the qualities of both students as well as faculties.
"We have to identify the talent in faculties and nurture them to become a good faculty. It is a grooming process that starts from day one of teaching," Chakraborti said.
"For students who now come from technical sectors, I jokingly say institutions have become employment exchanges. People now want jobs."
"But your career is not for one or two years. Your career is about thirty five years. So you have to maintain your standard throughout this period," asserted Chakraborti.
Speaking at the conference, Vice Chancellor of Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU) Ajoy K. Ray interpreted computation to audiences, as he identified the scope of research in the field of convergence of computation and communication.
"21st Century will see convergence of computation and communication, understanding human brain system and human biological signals," said Ray.
"21st century will see more of electromagnetic transactions of neurons. The globe will see convergence of computation, biology, human physiology and communication."
"Tomorrow in the 21st century, we'll see user-centric technology," he added.
The conference has been organised with the thought of "Igniting Minds, Empowering Lives", and will be held from Jan 11-12, with several technical plenary sessions, addressed by experts from Germany.
(Reporting by Shabarni Basu)