Author: G V Pavan Kumar

Any physics buff would know Bose-Einstein condensation and the statistics named after them. An interesting fact is Satyendra Nath Bose (SN Bose) also served as a member of the Indian parliament. 

SN Bose was a member of the Rajya Sabha. Notably, he participated in some debates on bills, mainly in the second term, circa 1955 onwards. He was part of the earliest formulation of THE UNIVERSITY GRANTS COMMISSION BILL, 1954. See this link for the bills in which he was involved.

On page 95 of brief biographies of Rajya Sabha members, you will find the following information (snapshot below). These documents are freely available on the Rajya Sabha website and are worth exploring.

Bose also participated in some debates in the Rajya Sabha, mainly regarding education/research. 

Below is an excerpt of his speech related to UGC bill, and shows his interest in the then university/academic system of India (emphasis added) :

  It has, of course, been suggested that this particular Commission would be able to solve the problem of education in this country. I may, however, point out that in this task we will ultimately have to depend upon the responsible people that are in charge of education inside the Universities. I also know, Sir, that every teacher in our country is alive to his responsibility, and the corporate bodies that we have set up in our land are also serious about their tasks. I do not feel, Sir, that the standard of our universities has gone down to a very ludicrous level. I do not feel so, because I remember the long list of persons that have been turned out by these universities who had served the national cause, and who have been and who still continue to be the leaders of thought in our country. We also remember. Sir, that in many of these universities, there are young people and workers who have achieved fame and distinction, who have contributed substantially to the cause of learning, and who have made the name of India respected in different lands. Therefore, Sir, you need not have any misgivings about the way in which, work is being done in our universities. All that is wanted is that you should be generous, and you should set up an efficient machinery  which should be able to get in touch with the people who work at different centres, and should find out what they need. And you should be able to supply those needs in the form of grants, which may either be given out of the Consolidated Fund of the Government or out of the fund set apart for this purpose, which would be administered by the Commission. 

As you can observe, SN Bose is making a case for increased funding to the Indian research community and is emphasizing the availability of excellent human resources in universities. As researchers in India, we must ask ourselves whether we have lived up to his confidence and effectively addressed these issues over the past several decades. I believe we have not. Bose’s optimism motivates us to relook at our system and self-reflect on pursuing scientific and technological research in India. A good starting point is to ask for ‘ease of doing research and teaching’. 

A few Indian scientists of the past, including Meghnad Saha and MGK Menon, were also members of the Indian parliament. Still, this representation needs to be improved, as discussed by my colleague MS Santhanam. Scientists inclined to take politics to influence society must openly express their opinions on policies related to science and technology. If they do get elected to the office, it is their imperative to actively participate in parliamentary debates and ask and address relevant questions, especially about education and research.

After all, the foundation of democracy is based on ‘questions and answers’, and interestingly, that is also the foundation of scientific method.