Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday expressed concerns over “growing intolerance” among Indians and said that public debate seemed to have become a “hostage to sensationalism”.
Speaking at the inception ceremony of the Indian Science Congress Association on the occasion of its centenary year celebrations, Dr Singh said, “In recent times, I have been observing a growing intolerance among our people of dissent and opinions that contradict the prevailing orthodoxy. Public debate is often hostage to sensationalism and the growing culture of narrow-mindedness might affect the creative, innovative and imaginative instincts of our youth.” Dr Singh made this observation while chief minister Mamata Banerjee was by his side.
Dr Singh reminded the audience that Indian civilisation had a rich tradition of preserving social harmony and promoting conciliation by accommodating different viewpoints, identities and cultural differences. “We should strengthen these impulses through the propagation of a scientific temper and an enlightened understanding of the meaning of freedom of expression,” he added.
The Prime Minister urged the doyens of the scientific community to speak out and make more effective contributions to an informed and reasoned debate on the issues before the nation and make sure that their voice was heard. He further emphasised the need to use science as the means to fuel the country’s development. “The burden on science in the future will only increase. Our problems are overwhelming and need scientific solutions. We have to use our abundant intellectual resources to find new pathways of development that use our scarce natural resources judiciously,” he said. Dr Singh observed that there was lack of optimum use of science and technology for development in India.
Earlier in the day, after landing in the city, Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of the unified campus of the Bose Institute at Salt Lake. The new campus will bring all departments and research activities of the Institute, founded by celebrated scientist Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose, under one roof. The Prime Minister wrote in the visitor’s book that “Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose was a pioneer in ushering in a new area of modern science in our century. May his shining example of dedication to science continue to inspire our people for ages to come”. The unified campus would be set up at a cost of `100 crores and would be ready by 2014, institute sources said.