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Deeply insightful exploration of the biological and societal phenomenon/miracle that is Bangladesh, analysis of the future of science and technology in one of the most densely populated countries in the world.
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21 November 2006
The Fading Horizon
Science and Technology in Bangladesh
Zia Uddin Ahmed
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Jahangirnagar University
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Table of Contents
Preface i
One Introduction
Two Science and Our Time
Three Science and Socio-Economic Development
Four Shadows of the Past
Five Our Uniqueness: the Density Factor
Six Biological Realism: The Context Neglected
Seven Science and Technology Policy
Eight Scientific Publications
Nine Professionalism in Science
Ten Science and Industry Interface
Eleven S&T in New World Order
Twelve Exploiting Advantages: Biomedical Research
Thirteen University: Sliding Pivot of Learning
Fourteen Premises of New Vision
Fifteen Beyond the Fading Horizon
Sixteen Concluding Words
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Preface
This book is an academic discussion on the nation’s
science and technology issue. The discussion does not dwell much
upon why our S&T has been of little productivity, but rather on
how to infuse some level of productivity. Why things happen the
way they do, belongs to philosophy. How things happen the way
they do, is admittedly more relevant to us. This is the central
theme around which the issues discussed here have revolved,
contexts analysed, and course for action drawn.
The core issue is the science and technology vision of the
nation – not the science and technology policy or action of the
government. It is necessary to emphasize here that mention of the
government that has been made in the book is done strictly in
general terms. Both the custodians of science and the bona fide
managers of the society must share the overall lapses in the
nation’s scientific panorama. But this evaluation is certainly not
an issue in this book. An appreciation of the contexts that have
been highlighted in this book are more important than the laurels
and lapses of one or the other. We should, however, bear in mind
that our errors would not be overlooked in the changed world,
and someday these would be corrected but in a manner that
might not be without any pain to us.
Some important aspects of science and technology in our
country have been highlighted in a blend of personal opinion
buttressed by facts. Some of the opinions expressed may trigger
criticism, which I will accept with an open mind, although I
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would maintain as one might notice in pages of this book that
many of these views may indeed have escaped the attention of
our scientists, science educators, planners and politicians, perhaps
not by design, but by indifference. The aim of the book is to bring
into focus some of these omissions in the hope of stimulating
dispassionate debate on the important matter of the nation’s
science and technology planning.
I have procrastinated with this book for a long time but it
has not been without benefit. During the intervening period many
changes have occurred in our socio-economic panorama, some in
a rather fast pace, that have further reinforced to myself some of
the views that I have held for long.
Publication of this book has not been without difficulties.
As the book is one of debate on some serious issues, the points
raised would necessarily be either for or against existing views, if
they were to be of any use at all. Publishers quite understandably
are concerned about the potential market, which in this case,
seemed to bear little promise. I wish to acknowledge my sincere
gratitude to my former student M. A. Hassan who came to the
rescue, not for the first time, I should mention. I thank him for his
goodwill and courage. I should mention that views and opinions
expressed in this book are entirely mine, and these do not reflect
those of the publisher or the institution where I work,
Jahangirnagar University.
Zia Uddin Ahmed
Jahangirnagar University
September 2006
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One
Introduction
Facts of science are fascinating. Different people would
admire the giants of wisdom from different perspectives. I have
admired Darwin, Freud and Einstein for their incomprehensible
depth of vision. These are the three giants who revealed to
humankind what it really means to be human. They gave one
precious gift to humankind – the realisation of the nature of
human being, and the place it occupies in the universe. Darwin
spoke about the biological nature of the humankind, Freud gave a
new dimension of the human existence that is real yet largely non-
biological, and Einstein showed perhaps the limits of the
abstractive capacity of the human brain. They offered a plain
truth – a human being is both biological entity, and at the same
time a super-entity in the vast expanse of the universe. Facts of
biology are important in the context of both the individuals, and
of the society.
Appreciation of the importance of biology in the social
dynamics of species is as much important today as it was in past.
This is focused in the context of Bangladesh, a country quite
unique in many ways. In different sections of the book, certain
facts of commonsense biology have been discussed that we have
ignored for long. This is not due to any intellectual inadequacy in
the science of biology but rather it relates to the manner of our
treatment of the subject. Biology contains the contentious subject
of organic evolution, which conflicts with the idea that scientific
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knowledge cannot fully explain the natural world and therefore
brings forth the hand of God in drawing up the course of organic
evolution. The issue of evolution has always been a matter of
belief rather than one of hard-core science in the sense that despite
overwhelming evidence in its favour, it cannot be proved by
conventional methods of science since the process is bound by
cosmic time scale. But an appreciation of the simple facts of
biology as they influence our life is becoming increasingly critical
for our survival in a meaningful manner.
The chapters of this book have been organised in a
general manner. In the context of science and technology
planning, which involves many disciplines and complex
interactions, it is important to appreciate certain attributes of the
time and the place in which the process unfolds. The beginning of
the book is marked by a cursory glance at science as it relates to
our life today, and how the disciplines of natural science are now
linked with the newer disciplines in the socio-economic sectors far
more closely than it was in the past. A sharp focus on one unique
aspect of our country has been made. This is described as the
density factor1, which emphasises the population density rather
than population size (although both are important and closely
connected) as the critical determinant of many aspects of our life
and the socio-economic profile of the country. The issue of social
entropy, which will inevitably increase under the circumstances
that we live in – large population, high population density and
severe resource constraints – have been highlighted
1. Ahmed, Z. U. 2002. Biomedical Research in Bangladesh: Silent Frontiers of Opportunity. J. Asiat. Soc. Bangladesh – Sci. 28: 63-80
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not to spell doom, but for possible avoidance of it’s coming in the
fierce form that is feared by many. An appreciation of the above
facts is pivotal for our existence and this appreciation would
constitute what I call biological realism, an important issue for us
than it is for any other country of the world.
One would note that on all these issues some dismay has
been overtly expressed. I might have highlightd these issues far
more strongly than they actually deserve, but this has been done
because their omission has cost us dearly in all our activities,
particularly in the important sector of science and technology.
Biologists are generally apathetic to counting; the science of
biology began with a descriptive tone, which has persisted to a
large extent to date. But one should not ignore the fact that in the
history of biology the act of simple counting produced wonders; it
generated a highly revealing piece of knowledge on which nearly
the whole of modern biology rests.
Gregor Mendel counted the peas grown in the garden of
the Austrian monastery and kept records of the number of
different types of peas that appeared in his experiments. When he
looked back into these numbers a pattern slowly emerged, the bits
and pieces slowly began to fit into an order, which led to the
foundation of modern biology’s wonder, the science of genetics.
Thus, if we are willing to do some simple calculations, these
would reveal many important facts about, for instance, the limits
of social forestry or of agro-forestry in our unique setting, or about
how much of prime land would we require to harvest a million
kilograms of plant biomass to produce a commercially successful
herbal product. Our position ought to be clear in terms of the
biological perspectives of the country. The zeal of the ‘supercow’ of
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the 1970s is much diminished now. Cow needs grass, grass needs
prime land as rice. If cows are to be fed on the available land, we
ourselves must be condemned to starvation unless milk and meat can
be produced in large enough quantities and sold in the international
market at high enough price to allow us buy the necessary rice at
international price. If, in such simple matters we do some
calculations, we would perhaps avoid costly mistakes, and
certainly this would help us align our efforts in more productive
directions.
The fast changing world order requires us to think fresh
as to how we can fit into the changing circumstances in a
profitable manner. But many predictions, I frankly admit, that
would surface through the book in more than a fair share may
give one the painful feeling of a horizon that is doomed to be
obliterated shortly. But this is certainly not the message that I
wish to advance. We should look ahead with hope, and dedicate
our efforts to conquest of the fading horizon. In this task history
may be on our side, and in its achievement our faith in our ability
must be called upon to play the lead role. I have tried to replenish
this hope in the end.
A course of action has been hinted, which may be
worthwhile to consider in developing a strategic route for our
science and technology planning. We might for the time being put
relatively less emphasis on high level basic research in science,
because it is far too expensive than our wealth might permit at
this time. This is, however, not a blanket denouncement of basic
research; instead it is to highlight the fact that basic research
should be supported in a certain manner. That is, it must be both
highly selective, and be given the best financial support so that
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the attainments are of international standard. This is a serious
matter and needs careful study in its planning. From practical
point of view we should at this point of time search for our
relative advantage in a globalised world, with an open mind as to
the fact that our benefits would also be relative, and these would
come in a simple equation of practicality which we must carefully
weigh and try to maximise our benefit. This course of action
would not be entirely novel and without any precedence in
history. The human subjects that the Mayflower delivered in 1636
in the continent of American comprised a collection of highly
enterprising talents who saw in their ‘New World’ a new hope of
life, a hope that Europe could not offer them over its long history.
They found in their new land enough natural resources for which
they had ready scientific knowledge derived from the European
Renaissance. This gave them the opportunity to make the best use
of the resources. Their journey thus began with inventions that are
practical and useful, and channelling those into trade and wealth-
building process of the nation. It took a long time but only after
they had acquired sufficient wealth did they turn their attention
towards the difficult terrains of basic science.
If we prefer this route – that is, if we decide to make a
start with the technology readily available or technology that can
be readily developed to facilitate nation’s wealth-building
process, and then look towards basic science with the seriousness
it deserves – then one immediate question would arise. Who will
do it? Can the government do it well under the prevailing
circumstances in the country, or we should subject the process to
the forces of free market? On this, perhaps, the answer would be
as difficult as the question.
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**Human civilisation began with the discovery of fire
some 50,000 years ago. It was heralded through harnessing energy
that nature produces in the form of hydrocarbon bonds by the
process of photosynthesis. Fire was created initially by igniting
plant material, and much later by burning fossil fuel to produce
heat, the kit for survival, and the tool for both war and pleasure.
Then came in succession waterpower, wind power, steam, the
internal combustion engine, and finally, nuclear power. Energy
increased comfort, raised longevity of humankind but at the same
time, it caused vast increases in their numbers particularly in
areas with warmer climate and fertile land. Biologically, these two
are often bad signals, which the world faces today with agony,
but is inadequately prepared to confront. Also, we have been
producing far too much heat from the hydrocarbon bonds than
the planet can bear, and for this the posterity is destined to pay a
heavy price.
Standing on the threshold of the twenty first century,
Bangladesh presents some remarkable contradictions that are
discussed passionately but often with their meaning masked by
unrestrained zeal and occasionally outright superfluity. We are
deeply confused about what we have in terms of wealth and
resource, and how to harness whatever we have in our hands. The
confusion has its genesis in our past. The fertile land, mild climate
and very high mortality of its people created a fatalistic mindset,
sprayed with a mood of melody and rhythm but little of challenge
and struggle. Then came a time when we had to traverse through
the long and tumultuous time under the British Raj and its
successor, the Pakistan rule. Our birth as the new nation of
Bangladesh thus could not have been without problems, some of
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which are unfathomable, but for the most part, we decided to
leave them unattended.
As a severely resource-constrained country with a
projected population of some 400 million by the end of the
century living in a landmass of 148,000 square kilometres, which
possibly represents the highest population density that any land
mammal ever attained in the history of the planet, and the lowest
per capita land and income, Bangladesh presents a nightmare.
The large population is of course a resource, a capital that we
have not yet seen in the right perspective. True, we know some
facts with cocksure certainty. Our population is a potential
wealth representing a huge market and very significant
management advantages that come from the high population
density in a very small landmass. Labour is cheap and will
continue to be so in the foreseeable future so the country could be
readily transformed into a manufacturing country, highly
competitive in the global market. There will be great interest in
the industrialised world in such a transformation of Bangladesh.
This would cause rapid relocation of their industrial units in our
country where these units would operate on low wages. From
such relocation, the industrialised countries will derive three
important benefits – the venture will be highly cost-effective,
their home country will stay free from the industrial pollution,
and more importantly in the changed world today, it will reduce
pressure of migration.
But scarcely do we see the darker sides of these cocksure
certainties. Business community is not prepared to see these with
any measure of seriousness because these lie outside their
immediate concerns of business and profit. Politicians are not
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sufficiently well oriented to appreciate their meaning. The
intellectuals are far too busy in drawing the difficult line between
vision and reality. The scientific community is stupefied by the
conflict between high ideals in their world and the cruel realities
on ground, with a fraction rapidly turning into triumphant
tradesmen of some sort at a cost to the nation that they are unable
to see.
The scientists for their part like to live secluded in their
own world and seldom like to venture into other fields. This
makes them incomplete in one important way – their knowledge
on matters outside the narrow confines of their interest is no
better than that of an educated layman. They can thus offer no
real help to the nation in finding the right track. This deficiency on
the part of the scientists is a serious problem in many developing
countries of the world. Only a few of them have been able to come
out of the conflict between high ideals and on-ground realities,
and this has actually been made possible by the vision of non-
scientists – those few gifted politicians who could clearly see the
role that science would play in shaping the destiny of the nation,
and were able to mobilise nation’s scientific programme in fruitful
directions. Sadly, we failed to reap any such benefits from our
politicians perhaps for historical reasons, and partly due to our
indifference. At any rate, it brought great misfortune for the
nation.
Creating wealth is complex. The prevailing notion that
quantity of energy used and the amount of material progress
achieved follow a simple relationship is now being questioned.
The relationship between the quantity of energy used and the
quantity of wealth created is fast becoming increasingly non-
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linear. Major revolutions – the French Revolution, the Industrial
Revolution – are all based on human labour, manual labour for
the most part. Modern science offers us labour-saving devices at
an accelerating pace. The next social revolution would be one of a
different kind, which is difficult to predict now, but it will not be
based on human manual labour as its raw material. Energy of the
muscle has been greatly replaced by energy of the machine, and
vast improvements will be made on these machines in more
energy-saving directions.
Indeed, there are suggestions that substantial decoupling
of energy and progress, not ‘energy’ and ‘work’. Scientifically,
energy and work are related, a certain amount of work requires a
certain amount of energy. This relationship is universal. But
progress has an element of subjectivity in it. Miniaturisation
technology called nanotechnology is an example where machines
operate on scales of a billionth of a metre, nanometre, allowing
microscopic moving parts to do the work. With better scientific
knowledge humankind may attain higher levels of progress with
relatively less energy expenditure and less work done.
This decoupling of energy and progress may be
advantageous for some countries of the world provided that they
own the knowledge and skill of the right kind. This is where we
may have an advantage, but for this we need to orient our vision
in our unique socio-biological contexts. This aspect has been
highlighted in this book, often with unpleasant repetitions, as it
seems that these contexts continue to be buried in a mess of chaos
both within the intellectual community and the general public.
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The future offers us opportunities, and these would
emanate from an important biological phenomenon – the
population density. No nation on Earth, for instance, will have to
accommodate by the year 2050, as the trends in population
growth suggest, close to 300 million people in an area just over
148,000 square kilometres! This huge population, and the high
density might have some brighter sides that are yet not fully
appreciated. There is also a unique physical-economic context.
Bangladesh has a very low per capita income, but income
generated per square kilometre of area is perhaps the highest in
the developing world. This is a consequence of very high man-
land ratio, which inevitably leads to ‘high physical density of
economic activity’1. However, the potential benefits of this
phenomenon are not well understood at this time. Similarly, we
have attained the highest ‘cropping intensity’ in our land due to
small land area and high demand for foodgrain. Sadly, perhaps
we will also rank very high in the ‘density of pollution’ of our
land, water and air, measured as pollution level per unit area.
Are we making correct investments for the distant future
instead of making the most of the present, and hoping that gains
made today will give us a better tomorrow as a natural
consequence? Apathy towards long-term thinking is
understandable, but a clear vision of the long uncharted terrain of
the future should not be sacrificed at the altar of the dancing
present. This will amount to courting with disaster. How are we
going to chart the course along that long and difficult track? The
questions that have been highlighted here are also the questions
that are frequently debated in public forums, but with much
superfluity. With no land for farming and cropping, and a huge
population waiting in agony for food and shelter, have we
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correctly looked beyond the narrow confines of just the next few
years, about how to capitalize our human resources?
Our long-term planning must include significant
investments in creating the right kind of human skills – that is,
right kind of skilled hands through science and technology
development, not just the skills of needle and thread, or of pulling
the levers in industrial units. The skill must successfully compete
globally; its competitive price and high quality should be a matter
of envy for our competitors. The right skill will lead to sustainable
wealth building capacity, a capacity that will operate with little or
no dependence on land. Land is our scarcest commodity. It is
fixed in area, its interior is yet largely unknown, and its exterior,
and vertical space above is void. Our current level of prospecting
does not show us any great promise. Trade and industrialisation,
our primary preoccupation at present, is important for GDP
growth. The manufacturing sector will unavoidably be our
primary focus of growth as it was the case with Japan, which had
in the past a nearly parallel scenario as ours with respect to
people, land, energy and natural resources. But in Japan the
powerful Samurai lords mobilized the people in highly
productive directions. After the World War II, Japan owned a
workforce that was a manufacturing miracle. Industrial
productivity rose to unprecedented levels under Western
managerial and technological inputs.
We must think of our future in these directions. It is
through S&T that we can hope to achieve lasting benefits, by
producing hands and brains capable of trading with skill and
knowledge in the art of manufacturing. If this is not done, if only
unskilled hands are our main offering to the manufacturing
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sector, we may have to pay a penalty, a modern enactment of the
classic saga of Uncle Tom’s Cabin – workers with little salary but
otherwise reasonably well-fed, the comfort of a good place to
sleep, good entertainment and medical care – all on the premises
of the factory! Raising a family will be as a matter of course
greatly discouraged, and a moving regiment of human beings will
be created comprising human hands to do the work, but no
human touch anywhere in life.
Unfortunately, in a poor country perhaps the first
casualty of the free market is the brain. To steer the nation out of
this painful dilemma of the basket and brain scenario, it is
necessary to stretch our vision far beyond what is most obvious;
we need to create vision of a superior kind. I certainly do not
imply that we should heavily invest in basic science to simply
increase the reservoir of knowledge, but on science relevant to our
specific purpose. Admittedly, today science is so heavily
dependent on advanced technologies that we cannot hope to
compete with the industrialised countries in grand schemes of
basic research. We have to see what exactly is needed to reach the
set goal by the middle of the century, and pursue it through with
focus and force. Simply by making investments in S&T in terms of
a certain portion of the GDP cannot bring the desired results.
Radical changes in our mindset is essential – we must
dispassionately and with clear understanding ask the question:
whether we want skill and product-creating science, or we want
to pursue flambuoyant high-tone-high-ideal science with
prospects for little immediate gain for the nation?
As said before, experts believe that the world is gradually
moving towards a separation of energy and progress, which is
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variously defined, but for us production of goods and services is
of special significance in this context. Computer revolution and
the emerging nanotechnology are some of the manifestations of
this potential decoupling. All activities of humankind on this
planet, both exploitative and competitive, are centred around the
humankind itself, due to our possession of a superior brain, and
on physical movement of mass on the planet such as movement of
goods and people for pleasure and profit. Movement is work that
requires energy to change position of mass against the
gravitational force of the Earth. A fixed quantity of energy is
needed to change position of a fixed quantity of mass to a certain
distance in a certain dimension. Human ingenuity can only
manipulate the efficiency of the energy use and diversify the work
performed. Science is in effect a story of energy conversion
techniques towards better efficiency, and of course, the story is yet
incomplete. Humankind has not yet found the minimum energy
by which an object can be moved to the greatest distance in the
shortest time with the least energy. One can approach towards
this minimum by more efficient use of energy. For instance, an
aeroplane can be flown today from point A to B using a certain
quantity of fuel. Better design of the craft and other manoeuvres,
however, may cause considerable reduction in the quantity of fuel
requirement, but the minimum energy by which the aeroplane
could be moved from point A to B may remain illusive to
humankind in operations within the Earth’s gravitational field.
The flight of migratory birds across oceans for thousands of
kilometres at a stretch, in some cases without much of food intake
during the flight, may suggest the existence of highly efficient
molecular motors in the birds and an energy utilization strategy
that is extremely efficient. The best man-made machines perhaps
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are still too inferior to those nanoscale motors of the living cells.
Whatever are the advancements made in the efficiency of energy
use, labour would still be needed to operate even the nanoscale
machines, where our advantage is expected to sustain.
Progress in the past could be accurately measured by the
quantity of energy used as Henry Adams described in his Law of
Acceleration. The law predicted that progress would come to an
end in the near future because of the very nature of progress,
which is characterised by accelerating kinetics. The laws of
physics clearly define the relationship between energy and work.
Improving the energy efficiency parameters in any work would
thus allow greater progress with lesser energy expenditure. If
indeed this occurs, what will be our advantage as a country and a
people in a socio-economic setting with many unique aspects? It is
for us to see through it with a penetrating vision and chart the
course of our life and living – whether to live by the energy of a
few individuals that is derived from the sweat and blood of the
vast majority, or from superior skills of the vast majority for the
fruits to be shared by all? It is not an easy task but it is both
possible, and perhaps indispensable for us.
We the background of a cultural heritage of which we can
be genuinely proud. Our history bears testimony to our
successfully creating and nurturing superior intellects, and many
of us rightly think that we do possess people who could excel in
science if conditions are right. In this honest zeal to excel, we often
hear about centres of excellence for the talents to tread freely in
their world of freethinking. No doubt centres for excellence are
desirable but the difficult issue is how to attain the expected state
of excellence? In the past, centres were created some of which are
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described as centres for excellence, but none could attain the
expected lustre. One possible answer for this failure could
perhaps be looked for at the backdrop of the generally poor level
of scientific activity in the country, which created a situation in
which these centres did not face enough challenge from within to
attain a high scientific stature.
Lack of challenge is a sure recipe for decay, which
unfortunately might have happened in all of our scientific
institutions. But the question is, how to inject the needed
challenge? Internationalisation of institution through some
mechanism may be one possible route but this must be properly
done, not in the manner by which we have created the country’s
first and lone Parliament-mandated international research centre
in the biomedical field – the International Centre for Diarrhoeal
Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B). The ICDDR,B was
perhaps too hastily created where Bangladesh government
retained little financial control over the operation of the centre
that resulted in many operational problems later. Many who had
been associated with this organisation, Bangladeshi scientists in
particular, believe that a centre for excellence created by the
government should also be adequately and effectively funded by
the government and its operation entrusted with an international
body as to its scientific programme and administrative
management. If we are unable to do this at this time and in this
manner, infusing the necessary challenge within it, we ought to
pause and find out first the mechanism of how to operate it before
spending much energy and resources. A centre for excellence
ought to be one for excellence of knowledge, not of ordinary
skills.
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Three
Science and Our Time
SCIENCE AND THE PAST
If one takes the liberty of changing the term of the tense,
the familiar sentence would read like “ It is the best of times, it
is the worst of times, it is the epoch of belief, it is the epoch of
incredulity, it is the season of Light, it is the season of Darkness, it
is the spring of hope, it is the winter of despair …….”, and this
would quite accurately describe today’s world. All of these
attributes, said in the superlative, are the contributions of science
– a transformed world with a strange blend of hope and despair,
the like of which humankind never experienced in recorded
history.
Science began with accidental observations of natural
phenomena that led to empirical generalisations. The
methodology applied was non-scientific comprising magic and
incantations linked with the institution of priesthood.
Consequently, science was both traditional and esoteric. The
former rendered scientific progress slow and difficult, while the
latter turned it into an exclusive privilege of a few. It was the
Greek who first pronounced that secrecy and traditionalism is evil
in civilised existence of man. They proclaimed inherent freedom
of the human mind and did not view man simply as an
instrument representing the power of the gods, but as one with an
intrinsic power to think freely and thus possessing the power to
be creative. This was the beginning of modern science in which
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the Greeks excelled and reached lofty heights and thereby made
the realm of free inquiry of mankind greatly expand.
Over a period of several centuries that followed, free
inquiry successfully created a large reservoir of scientific
knowledge but it was different from today’s science in two
important respects. It was esoteric being devoid of any practical
application because it was not necessary then for science to
assume such a role. During the seventeenth century, profound
metamorphosis took place in the application of science towards
enhancing human comfort. Validation of scientific observations by
established methods replaced authority of the state and
priesthood, and the esoteric element was gradually removed by
making provision for full revelation of scientific facts and open
discussion.
Often search for the unknown leads to a point where
nothing seems coherent to the ordinary man. The universe
appears incomprehensible with no beginning and no end; the
place and purpose of man in the universe seems unclear; reality
and imagination overlap to create a face of science that makes
little sense to the common man. To this category of science the
terminology basic science was applied, perhaps to suggest the
lack of a better expression rather than to imply any uniqueness in
its intrinsic quality. Parts of basic science invariably results in its
application in day to day life of human beings, in the
establishment humankind’s mastery over nature, and in the
illusive quest for conquest of destiny. This is commonly called
applied science. The issue, however, is not one of basic science or
applied science, but rather one of science that can be applied now
and science that may have to wait longer for its application. The
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faster a piece of scientific knowledge becomes applied, the more
applied is the knowledge; conversely, the longer is the time
between acquisition of the knowledge and its application, the
more basic is the knowledge. To most scientists this distinction is
not meaningful because nearly all of what they do invariably
begin with its potential application in mind. No science can be
totally devoid of its potential application at some future date. The
terms are, nevertheless, used frequently in the context of socio-
economic development concepts where scientific research that
directly relates to achieving development targets is said to be
applied research, while those lacking this attribute are classified
as basic research. So, to the common people also, the image of
science is one that is presented by the applied face of science, and
image of the scientist is that of an individual in perpetual journey
of making good things for human comfort.
In the past, science was also a restricted activity involving
only a small number of people who rarely produced things that
were of any interest to the ordinary man. An element of
amateurism was engrained in the quest for knowledge in the past.
Love for doing the work was the major driving force in the
undertaking. But science has now transformed itself into the
engine that moves society – it generates technology, shapes
industry, reforms the marketplace, nurtures politics, determines
how war is to be waged and neighbours killed. All of these are the
marvels of science standing ever ready with solutions to
problems, from the most trivial to the most profound. Science that
had begun as a discipline of plain curiosity and love for
acquisition of mastery over nature, has now also become a
discipline of many ends – material, commercial, political and
cultural. With time scientific pursuits also became more
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professional, and with this the expectations of the society from the
scientist also changed considerably. Today more is demanded of
the scientist than simply curiosity and creativity. Society supports
the scientist and the work done by the scientist; in return, it wants
the scientist to descend from the ivory tower of creative curiosity
to the practical problems that confront society.
SCIENTIFIC DECADENCE
Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the
progress of science has been one of accelerating kinetics. Use of
energy is a parameter believed to be a reasonable indicator of
progress. In the early 1920s, Henry Adams made some important
observations in his Law of Acceleration, which suggest that like
many other natural phenomena, the rate of progress cannot be
limitless. Furthermore, a period of decadence may follow the
decline leading to intellectual stagnation. Taken the length of time
covered by the three classical periods of history – the ancient
period, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance – the progress of
science would appear to be fairly slow. A person with a life span
of 100 years for instance living a few centuries back would have
seen little change in his surroundings during his lifetime. To that
individual the world would appear to be stagnant with no
perceptible changes. On the contrary, in today’s world every
decade literally transforms the world beyond recognition.
These dramatic changes followed an interesting kinetics.
Many thinkers and philosophers who follow scientific
developments believe that fundamental discoveries in science will
slowly loose the accelerating kinetics that characterized the past.
An example may be illuminating. If we look back to history, we
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find that fire was discovered some 50,000 years ago. Then a long
period of 45,000 years passed to discover waterpower. Wind-
power was discovered another 3,500 years after water-power,
steam-power only years 300 after water power, and nuclear
energy came only about 150 years after steam power! These
developments, which took place with the time interval between
successive events reduced in a geometric scale, led to progress
that can be measured by various indices – energy consumption,
per capita income, speed of travel, etc. Extrapolation of a curve
relating index of progress using world energy consumption
figures plotted in a geometric scale with time, leads to the
depressing conclusion that in just over a hundred years from now
progress will come to a halt as shown in the figure below. The
index curve and the time axis will meet at a point of time along
the vertical line signalling one of the most catastrophic events that
can be imagined for the modern humankind.
Progress is self-limiting, as the Law of Acceleration seems
to indicate. Factors responsible for this are varied and not well
understood; the human nature, the make and mode of working of
the human brain admittedly play a role in the matter. The human
brain seems to think in a circular manner, or perhaps it can only
do so in this manner. From the tiniest matter such as the atom or
subatomic particles to the vast universe, the fundamental
structure appears to be circular with no free ends. As knowledge
widens the circles rise up in spirals to form a tower of self-
gratification; its weight then at some point of time triggers its
collapse.
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1000
1000
10
1.0
0.1
0.01
0.001
0.0001
0.00001
1000 500 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
BC AD
Henry Adams’ law of acceleration of progress based on
world’s energy consumption figures as index of progress1.
Index of progress
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Materialism, the unrestrained lust for consumption of the
planet’s resources in a hedonistic passion, has its counterpart in
what is called in modern times consumerism. Consumerism is
infectious. The American think tank Worldwatch predicts serious
negative effects of consumerism on the planet’s physical
conditions, or indeed its existence in a habitable state. Today the
tides of consumerism are affecting people almost throughout the
world, in the past it affected only a few countries and a few
hundred million people. It has now transited into what is called
global consumerism with more than a quarter of the world’s
population that now belong to the consumer class. Many
developing countries are moving fast to join the caravan of
consumerism. Global consumerism is ecologically unsustainable.
Every barrel of oil burnt, every extra car a person owns, every
extra mobile telephone one owns leaves an indelible mark on the
well being of the planet. The consumer class will increase in size
as the world population increases. When world population
doubles in about 50 years, one may look back at Henry Adam’s
projection. The index of progress will then stand at 500 from
today’s 1.0, and by then the curve will rise independent of the
time axis, perhaps signalling the end of progress. At the present
trends of growth of consumerism throughout the globe,
Worldwatch predicts, the planet will face an ecological
catastrophe. Such consumerism cannot be sustained, so the
unforeseen doomsday scenario may be inevitable. Unless realistic
ideals emerge, the predictions of Henry Adams may prove to be
correct.
In the plot the vertical axis represents in the logarithmic
scale, the index of progress based on energy use and the
horizontal scale is the time axis. The 1960 level of the index is
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arbitrarily given 1.0, representing 100,000-fold increase over the
baseline of 0.00001 at 1000 B.C. When the line is extrapolated into
the future it presents the unbelievable prospect that even if the
1960 level of progress represents only one-thousandth of the
ultimate limit, that limit would be reached around 2160. If energy
consumption and progress loose their traditional relationship and
are uncoupled (discussed in the last chapter), the intrinsic
character of the line would not change, only the time to reach the
limit would be less or more depending on the rate of acceleration
of the parameter, that is, the index of progress.
Many analysts believe that over the recent past mankind
has failed to make any significant fundamental discoveries.
Despite this dismal display of mankind’s seemingly lost
ingenuity, we will see unprecedented rise in the application of the
hitherto earned fundamental knowledge in the form of inventions
and discoveries derived by combinatorial mix and match of
existing knowledge. This will again follow a geometric pattern
leading to increasingly rapid change in the world’s materialistic
contours. Today’s progress in information technology, which
seems phenomenal, is but a small outcome of the basic discoveries
that were made only a few decades ago on the structure of the
atom and quantum mechanics. The diversion of human energy
towards refining the matter-market equation, which characterizes
the social dynamics of the world today, means that the era of
fundamental knowledge will probably be at ebb over the
foreseeable future. The very fast accelerating kinetics of progress
would virtually ensure that it ceases to be a lasting phenomenon.
Even if the rate of acceleration of the index of progress falls, the
predicted limit would still be reached within a couple of decades.
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Lack of any fundamental discoveries, however, sharply
contrasts the ever-accelerating kinetics of the application of
science. To add momentum to the pace of application, joint
venture projects are undertaken in science similar to what one
sees in business. Examples of such projects include projects on
space research in the physical sciences, and in the biomedical
frontier, the Human Genome Project. These so-called ‘mega-
projects’ are not projects of just scientific curiosity; these have
enormous economic potential because these will give greater
control over deep space and perhaps in the manipulation of
human destiny.
SHIFTING IMAGE OF SCIENTIST
This shifting image of the scientist from the creator of
knowledge to an enhancer of material comfort is a significant
change that should be understood by the scientists. The scientist is
expected to give the society products of comfort without which
the scientist will be deemed unsuccessful in obligation to the
society, therefore, and unworthy of the resources spent on the
work done. Both the public and those who shape public opinion,
the politicians, are closing the gaps between themselves on this
issue, thereby lifting the utilitarian face of science to a higher level
of public expectation. This often gives the impression that
academic science has nearly been abandoned, restricting it to only
a gifted few who can potentially give more to society in the longer
term and thus from them the society demands less in the short
term.
Experiments of sound scientific merit would obviously go
to the credit of the scientist but this would by no means ensure
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sustainability of science. The work must match with the ordinary
expectations of the society. Thus scientists today cannot afford to
be afraid of discourses with politicians and the government on the
plea that the politicians do not understand the language of
science. If indeed politicians do not understand science, which
unfortunately is true to a large extent in our country, they have to
be trained to understand the basics of science for meaningful
dialogue with the scientist. Effective communication between the
scientist and the government is far more important today in this
era of globalisation, than it was ever before. Our inherent
attributes as a nation have to be understood by the scientists as
well as by the public. Our future depends on the precision with
which we see the future.
With population density already the highest in the world,
what sort of country will it be – how to serve this population after
fifty or a hundred years from now? What ought to be the role of
the scientist in the new millennium and what should be the
platform on which we should base our science and technology
activities? Can we, or should we work at this time to develop our
own technology or we should adopt existing technology, adapt it
to our needs and then, after the lift-off of our own S&T craft,
undertake innovative S&T? Every country has to exploit its
relative advantages. How much do we really know about what is
our relative advantage today, and what will it be a many decades
later?
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Three
Science and Socio-Economic Development
BASIC AND APPLIED RESEARCH
The relationship between science, technology and socio-
economic development often appears unclear to the scientist.
Many scientists are stern defenders of academic freedom and are
thus reluctant to recognise that basic research and applied
research represent a legitimate division in science. Indeed, the role
of basic research that enriches the reservoir of human knowledge
and that of applied research, which leads to the development of
technology, has often been the subject of passionate debate within
the scientific circles and between scientists and development
economists.
Throughout human history hardly there has been any
knowledge that was not put to practical application, or had not
contributed to the development of applied knowledge. The form
of chemical science practised under the system alchemy in Hindu,
Chinese and Islamic civilisations, which later led to the
understanding of chemical reactions was entirely driven by
curiosity, and thus would be classified as basic research in our
terminology. Although practised by many people, the system of
alchemy was mainly located in the Nile delta. The article Al is
from Arabic and Khem was a word associated with the black soil
of the region. This primitive system bears testimony to Muslim
contributions made to the more precise scientific methods
developed later, and it is believed that the science of alchemy led
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to elucidation of the structure of atom, establishment of the
relationship between matter and energy, and to the discovery of
many other fundamental laws of nature.
Science has given us the power to probe into the vast
quantity of energy that resides within matter, which we have
harnessed to promote our comfort, and also kill compatriots. It is
in the very nature of knowledge that some knowledge finds
immediate application, some takes a longer time. It is the time
interval between a scientific discovery and its application, which
differentiates how basic or how applied is the discovery. The
shorter is this time span, the more applied is the discovery; the
longer it is, the more basic is the knowledge. No scientific
discovery is truly divorced from its potential application at some
point of time. Yet there has been the necessity of making a
distinction between basic science and applied science, but the
context has not always been clear to the scientists.
There are three views among the scientists with respect to
the relationship between science and technology on one hand, and
socio-economic development on the other. The hard-core liberal
scientists are of the view that science should be granted complete
freedom to explore into the realms of the unknown without
regard to the utilitarian value of the discoveries made, and
consequently therefore freedom from any interference from the
considerations of socio-economic development. In support of this
notion they often cite examples from the past history of science
when such freedom was inherent in the work of the scientist, and
yet the knowledge gained had profoundly influenced socio-
economic development. Science, when allowed to develop in this
manner, will in their view automatically lead to the development
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of technology as a natural consequence. They argue that the
natural history of the scientific process itself virtually ensures this
transformation. These hard core liberal scientists maintain a
strong stand on the freedom of science and are seen to use
expressions such as science is universal, it has no boundaries, and
that the priority in scientific research which is required by the
development planners must come from the evolution of science
itself, not from the development needs. As such, they do not
appreciate any intervention in scientific freedom.
There is a second category of scientists relatively
moderate than the classic liberals. They take a less strong stand on
this issue of total scientific freedom and favour the position that
while scientists should have freedom of inquiry, in the practical
world it is often necessary that the government support the
scientists with necessary funds in their quest for knowledge. It is
the government who has the primary responsibility of generating
economic resources through development activities and the
scientists need this resource for their scientific pursuit. The
scientist thus bears both a moral obligation and a partnership
liaison with the nation’s economic wealth-building process.
Therefore, in order to secure proper funding for scientific
research, the scientists must convince the government that a part
of their activity closely relates to development needs of the nation.
Thus this category of scientists would accept a moderate degree of
regulation in their activity, but they still do not believe that
science should be turned into a fully planned social activity. They
think that such planned science can be potentially harmful
because it would subdue the faculty of free inquiry inherent to the
human mind, and would thus limit the progress of science.
Freedom of scientific thinking must not, therefore, be
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compromised radically in order to ensure full exploitation of
science for human welfare.
The third category of scientists is represented by what is
called techno-economists, a blend of technologist with the zeal of
a development economist. Techno-economists believe that all
scientific activities must closely relate to technological
development, and these must be fully integrated with
development planning as essential part of socio-economic
development. They do not give any special status to science and
technology, but hold the view that it as an integral part of
development. Their view is that socio-economic development will
determine the course of science and technology development,
including basic research. Basic research, according to this
hypothesis, will draw strength from the socio-economic
development scenario, not as a distinct activity of the scientist
carried out in isolation and often in unrivalled freedom. Today,
this is the system, which largely characterises the world’s leading
economies and is essentially based on the market forces, not
controlled by the machinery of the state. Admittedly, market
forces have successfully driven the course of both basic research
and technology development in many developed countries, and
the techno-economists therefore argue strongly in favour of this
strategy as one of proven productivity, and thus of inherent merit.
The hard-core liberal scientist may prefer to see scientific
planning as a distinct activity form technological planning, and
hence a separate policy for basic research, which will be distinct
from that of applied research. This distinction, however, carries
the risk of blurring the important fact that a scientist has often
some qualities of a technologist, as much as a technologist has
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some qualities of a scientist. Many scientists, therefore, do not
favour this view, although a separate basic research policy in a
developing country may be a worthwhile issue to consider under
some circumstances. The kind of research, which is highly basic, is
not possible for the developing countries to pursue due to
technical and financial constraints. So it may be desirable that
some guidelines are adopted as to the scope of basic research in
the specific country situation, a guideline that one would expect
to emanate from the national science and technology policy of the
country. About this subject more will be discussed later.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
In contrast to the relatively accommodating distinction
between basic science and applied science, scientists are more
bewildered by such terms as research and development, which
they often encounter while aligning their discoveries with
national development. Overall, the relationship is not all that
complex although differences in interpretation might exist.
Science is the parent, technology its offspring. Only a small
fraction of all that scientific research produces is useful in terms of
material comfort, to which we give the attribute of technology. To
identify which technology has the desirable property of
usefulness, and the ability to enhance socio-economic
development, a certain type of research (R) is required that is
specifically targeted at socio-economic development (D); hence
the expression Research and Development, in short R&D.
Scientists appear to be confused why should science have
a special relationship with any particular societal activity. To
many of them the logic that all inventions of science would lead to
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development in due course seems quite obvious. They wonder
about the special quality that renders science particularly relevant
to development, and ask what sort of research represents
development research?
Although difficult to appreciate by the scientist, the role
of science has been increasingly emphasized in development and
economic planning over the past few decades. Unfortunately,
however, the context in which this has come to the forefront of
planning remained largely beyond the purview of the scientific
community. A combination of two facts could be responsible for
this lapse. First, no serious efforts are made by the economic
planners to create an interest among the scientists in this
particular subject. Second, the scientists themselves are refractive
to the issue, which they think belong largely to the planners.
Admittedly, these two classes – scientists and
development experts – are distinctively different in outlook,
which made the task of bringing them together on a common
platform difficult. For this, it is necessary to introduce some
fundamental changes in the mental picture of the scientist, a task
neither the development experts found opportune to address, nor
the scientists showed any interest to understand. This caused
considerable harm to both the communities, and needlessly led to
much of scientific and development efforts to be misdirected.
The concept of Research and Development may not
always be easy for the scientist to comprehend. Economic
development requires that proper research be conducted on
economic planning, which should enable a nation to chart the
most productive course. The vast majority of the scientists would
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readily acknowledge the significance of this type of research,
which to them is entirely related to socio-economic issues. They
would agree that information generated through such research is
important so that the research is correctly integrated into the
development process. Similar to socio-economic research, it
becomes necessary at some stage of development to also integrate
science and technology research into the development process. In
the developing countries, economic planners and development
experts felt the need of creating of specialised institutions with the
primary objective of carrying out scientific research whose
relevance to the development process is immediate, for example,
research that will immediately help the industrial sector either in
better operation of existing industries, or in creating new
industries. Generally, this type of institution is called R&D
institution, which form an important part of the nation’s science
and technology (S&T) sector. There are similar development-
related institutions in the socio-economic sector as well such as
institutions dedicated to studies on economic development,
market research, biomedical research, and socio-anthropological
research, etc.
Historically, basic research in various disciplines of
science is restricted to the universities. However, some specialised
R&D institutions in the developed countries also carry out
significant amount of basic research. Many of these institutions
became, in the course of time, not only the centres of excellence
for cultivation of basic science, but have also made great
contributions towards its application to socio-economic
development. Some such institutions are even operated by
industrial organisations. For instance, the Bell Laboratory in the
USA is operated by the Bell Telecommunications Company, a
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global corporate giant. Many scientists who worked here carried
out highly significant basic research that earned them the Nobel
Prize in their respective fields. The discovery of the transistor was
made in the Bell Laboratory, so also many other fundamental
discoveries bearing on such highly theoretical issues as the origin
of the universe and the Big Bang. Such institutions in which basic
research is as much important as research on making products of
commercial value, are supported by the society in some countries
as an economic investment into the future towards enriching the
repertoire of knowledge.
In developing countries, the R&D program has various
versions. Also, the notion of S&T and R&D varies with confusing
overlaps. It is not always clear to the laboratory scientist what
precisely is the relationship between these two. But in many
instances, these are dealt with together in the economic planning
process of the country, and often used interchangeably. This
phenomenon is particularly noticeable in the developing
economies. In developed economies, these terms are less pertinent
presumably because the expressions S&T and R&D relate the
development process, that is, to raise the socio-economic level of
the country above a critical level, a task that has already been
achieved by the developed economies long time back.
In the developing countries, the process of planning has
to be carried out under various constraints, which inevitably
requires very stringent prioritisation of development activities. In
this context, S&T is the fuel that provides the necessary energy to
the prioritisation process and R&D is the vehicle that moves
forward the various priority sectors to productivity. Science and
technology is a bifunctional activity; it includes, on the one hand,
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scientific research of both basic and applied nature and, on the
other hand, creation of scientific and technological manpower
through universities and technical institutions in order to provide
the driving force to the development process.
DEVELOPING COUNTRY SCENARIO
In the developing countries there is an operational
problem confronted by the basic research institutions such as the
universities. Some of the knowledge that these institutions
produce bears immediate potentials for application, but these
institutions are ill prepared as to their capability, or their
willingness to carry the knowledge beyond the perimeters of the
laboratory. Thus, the knowledge gained by them faces an
immediate hurdle in application since the discoverer usually does
not understand the market, and the mechanism by which the
invention is to be placed into this unfamiliar world. Scientific
curriculum consistently lacks exposure of the scientists to this
strange world.
In the industrialised countries, government funding is
usually restricted to studies of very fundamental nature that carry
high potentials for application. Examples of such fundamental
research include projects such as sequencing the human genome
that contains over three billion genetic letters arranged in defined
sequence, or projects in areas of high-energy elementary particle
physics, or deep-space research. Once the basic research is
completed under government funding, the knowledge acquired in
the process is transferred to the private sector where the necessary
pre-industrial research is carried out, often through generous tax
incentives granted by the government. Following this, the
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industry comes forward, and only after the needed R&D work
carried out by the industry, the product is commercialised. All
major industries in developed economies spend large sums of
money in R&D activity, and all of these companies maintain a
full-fledged research laboratory with the most modern facilities
and are staffed with the most enterprising scientists. The cost of
R&D activities that the industries incur is quite substantial for
which generous tax benefits are again offered by the government.
Usually, government spends about one-tenth for the basic work,
while the rest is picked up by the industry in a strongly
competitive free market in order to turn the basic work to
commercial products. Thus, in a developed country setting, the
linkage between institutions of basic research and those in the
industry is direct. Government’s responsibility is restricted to
initiation of the research and to giving an early momentum to it.
Industry then assumes the responsibility of moving it ahead in
practical directions, making substantial investments to transform
the basic research into products of value. Competition within the
industry leads to the development of newer products that are
offered at competitive prices, so that government’s tax incentives
ultimately come to the benefit of the consumer.
The development scenario in third world countries, on the
contrary, is different. Here the industrial sector is primarily
concerned with manufacturing the goods for which production
technology is already established, and readily available. Thus,
availability of the technology along with the necessary raw
materials, allows the industry to operate satisfactorily. The
industrial sector in developing countries is thus essentially a
manufacturing sector with no pressing need, or scope, for
investments on research for developing new products. Since an
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industry in a developing country can be quite viable simply by
making products under license from foreign partners, it is not
interested to invest in R&D because of the inherent risk involved
in the venture and slow return on the investment. In this setting,
which is characteristic of the industrial sector in most developing
countries, the R&D activity becomes an important mandatory
function of the government. The government does this task of
transferring basic research into technology through a special type
of institution, which is widely perceived by development experts
as a worthwhile step in the process. These specialised institutions
became the R&D institutions to serve as a link between basic
research on one hand, and technology development on the other.
Traditionally, the laboratory scientists more readily
understand R&D institutions as organisations dedicated to the
development of useful products. But many R&D institutions,
particularly in the agriculture sector, do not generate industrial
products but crop varieties that are then field-tested by these
institutions for performance. These institutions also undertake
farmer-training programs through extension services in order to
promote the product, and ensure its widespread use. Similarly, in
the health sector, many institutions classified as R&D institution,
do not carry out any product development research, but
undertake a type of field research called operations research
which addresses, for instance, such issues as how to ensure
optimal use of biomedical products and services to maximise
health benefits in a cost-effective manner. Since these activities are
part of the nation’s development process, the operations research
carried out by these institutions is also considered as R&D work.
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In the industrialisation process of a developing economy,
it is necessary for the industry to participate in some R&D
activity. The government with various incentives, quite modest in
most cases, supports the industries to carry out R&D work. A
small part of this R&D work is directed to new product
development, but most of it is employed in increasing the product
diversity. Here, some basic research is necessary in order to
maintain a competitive edge in a free market, but the research is
primarily targeted at already commercialised products, such as
making improved versions of a product with better consumer
acceptability. Thus, the characteristics of R&D work carried out by
the formal state sponsored R&D institutions in developing
countries, and the R&D work carried out by the industry are
somewhat different. The former may be called institutional R&D
work, and the latter industrial R&D work.
THE BEWILDERED SCIENTIST
To the vast majority of the scientists and to those in
scientific administration and policy formulation, and also to the
young scientists in their studies, the relationship between science,
technology and development is not easily understood for reasons
mentioned. In the university, the science curricula do not address
these issues. Students with their natural inquisitiveness only get
an exposure to the sublime face of science. While the role of
applied science for the society is widely emphasised in seminars,
meetings and workshops, and there the students are inevitably
reminded of their obligations to the society. Sadly though, almost
nothing is taught in the formal curricula about how to fulfil these
obligations. Thus when they leave the university, they fail to
align themselves with the complexities of the situation, and with
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the high expectations that the society places on their talent. They
suffer a shock of adjustment and are bewildered at the very
beginning of their career. Correct alignment of the scientist with
the needs of the society is essential for turning the wheels of socio-
economic development, but for this task, the scientist must
acquire the correct vision early in the career This is supremely
important in poor countries in particular, because bright young
scientists need a worthwhile platform to relieve the load of their
energy, which if lacking, would inevitably lead to their exodus. A
worthwhile programme, which is sufficiently stimulating to these
young scientists, will be able to retain at least some of them, and
this small fraction may make significant contributions to the
nation.
No worthwhile attempt has so far been made to impart
this sense of obligation in an effective manner to our young
scientists. There is production of trained professionals in different
disciplines – agriculture, medicine, forestry, industry, education –
but these professionals are led to work in a stereotypic structure.
Except in a small number of research institutions, which had a
sharp focus in its scientific objectives aided by the institution’s
external linkages, in most R&D institutions there is a noticeable
vacuum in pragmatic research direction, although the institution-
building process never stops.
Today some basic knowledge of different subjects has to
be acquired by any serious professional in any discipline.
Students of business studies will be in a better position to adjust
themselves to the demands of their profession if they have a
background of science. This is notion is highly appreciated by
schools of business all over the world with the result that in most
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institutions, foundation courses are offered in subjects such as
physics, chemistry, biology, and interestingly but admittedly
highly justifiably, courses on psychology and philosophy.
Scientists, who have traditionally preferred to work in isolation in
their world, ought to have similar sojourn through the terrains
outside their laboratory. This will enrich their thinking, and
impart an element of practicality in their work, an ability to plan
and execute science that will match with expectations.
Much of the disappointing performance of our R&D
institutions, however, could have been averted by one simple
contingency – that is, if the R&D scientists were exposed to the
world of business, to the concept of feasibility study, cost-benefit
analysis, and resource management from the very beginning. For
this purpose, specialised training is needed that would allow
asking the right question and finding the right course of action, an
analysis which in the world of business and economic planning, is
a routine affair. Scientific projects in the R&D area must also be
subjected to such analysis, because business begins where R&D
ends. Suitable training on these issues is essential during early
years of scientific education, particularly for those scientists who
will be working in R&D organisations.
Such planning exercises are usually associated with
expressions such as feasibility study, techno-economic feasibility
study, cost-benefit analysis, marketing issues pertaining to
demand, and product competitiveness, is quite foreign to our
scientists because they have never been exposed to these issues. A
scientist may be quite happy if calculations show that a product
made through the method he or she has developed will cost half
the international price, but to a pragmatic feasibility analyst, this
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margin would be entirely unsatisfactory because of the
knowledge that complex forces of the market can fast erode this
small margin, and thus the analyst would not be satisfied unless
the margin of profit is several times higher.
In the absence any exposure to these issues, the scientist
can nevertheless climb up the career ladder, and at some point
quite late in the career, these issues slowly begin to creep up in the
mind of the scientist. But by then many years have already passed
in only scientific curiosity, wrapped up by the honest belief that
the work being done was prudent, and perhaps well intended. A
thick cloud of frustration covers the mental horizon of the parting
scientist. The long years of work done raises in his mind the very
same questions that ought to have been asked at the beginning,
but now time is no more in favour. The successor of the parting
scientist begins the unfinished work to repeat the blunders of his
predecessor. The cycle continues in this shocking pattern.
Preparation of the scientist along the lines indicated above could
possibly reduce the pain significantly, if not eliminate it
altogether, and much of the tragedy of errors could have been
averted. This subject pertains to professionalism in scientific
pursuits, which will be discussed in a later chapter.
Four
Shadows of the Past
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THE TROUBLED TIMES
In 1958 the Indian Parliament witnessed an act of far-
reaching consequence for the nation. It was the Parliament’s
endorsement of a resolution moved by the Prime Minister of India
Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru. This resolution, a scientific policy
statement, indicated firm intention of the government of India to
support S&T to “secure for the people of India all the benefits that
can accrue from the acquisition and application of scientific
knowledge”. The resolution in later years became almost a
constitutional obligation to Indian politicians, and the promised
benefits are today obvious to the world. Sadly, we accomplished
very little in this regard, and as one goes through the pages of this
book one would not miss the bitter taste of this failure in the
important sector of science and technology.
It is to be admitted that from the very outset we failed to
correctly perceive, as a people during the Pakistan time, and as a
nation after we achieved independence, the important matter of
what ought to be the nature of our science and technology efforts
in the context of our country. We failed to appreciate our unique
attributes – socio-economic, geo-political and cultural. It is
obvious that our scientific efforts over the past decades beginning
from the Pakistan time were led by some highly inappropriate
models, based on faulty perception of facts often under
predetermined purposes. This eclipsed from our vision the
realities and contexts that are unique to us, which thus
contributed towards much of our efforts being misdirected. Sadly,
we failed to appreciate these lapses at that time, and there is little
sign that we are today doing any better in this regard.
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Debates on the subject of science and technology in
Bangladesh have so far been a monotonous narrative, devoid of
incisive analysis. Serious books on the subject have been
practically non-existent. Recently, in 2002 and 2003, the
Bangladesh Academy of Sciences organised two national
symposia on science and technology. Its proceedings were
published under the title “Bangladesh Vision-2021”. Many top
scientists of the country, and speakers from abroad took part in
the conference and deliberated upon a broad spectrum of topics
that covered all important national issues on science and
technology. The stated purpose of the symposia was to ‘evaluate
and assess the progress of the scientific activities in R&D
institutions including universities, with a view to formulating an
action plan for Science and Technology Vision 2021’. The two
proceedings contain over twenty papers, and as it is conventional
for most scientific meetings, the proceedings carry a long list of
recommendations for the government to implement. In these
proceedings, there are some papers with very critical analysis of
some problems of the country – problems of industrial research
particularly highlighting the country’s premier state-funded
research organisation, the Bangladesh Council for Scientific and
Industrial Research (BCSIR), a very critical and substantive
analysis of the country’s tertiary education, and some worthwhile
analysis and visions on the future of Bangladesh. But there were
also many papers that said things in a stereotypic tone containing
little novelty. Many of the discussions made repeated references
to the constraints that have impeded science and technology
development in the country, constraints that are almost routine
incantations in most of our public and private discussions, and in
the numerous seminars, symposia and workshops that are held
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every year. Many of the papers give the feeling that the problems
were examined rather superficially, and the solutions suggested
were much too general. Many of the suggestions are far too
ambitious and, of course, beyond our capacity to implement in the
time and on the scale envisioned in the vision 2021. No
discussions were held or even reference made to the most critical
and unique contexts of the country. The impressive list of
suggestions and recommendations had also failed to chart a
focused strategic vision based on a balanced understanding of the
inherent characteristics and constraints of the country.
The geographic region that comprises Bangladesh and the
adjoining Indian state of West Bengal had been the cradle of a rich
culture. Science, fine arts, literature, poetry, music and sculpture,
all flourished in this region due to some opportune circumstances.
The area represented a relatively affluent part of the sub-continent
because of a mild climate and fertile alluvial land. The region also
enjoyed the advantage of geographical isolation, being located far
away from the north-eastern part of the Indian sub-continent, the
traditional route of foreign invasion of the sub-continent. These
provided an atmosphere of social tranquillity and nourished the
creative faculty of its people. The winds of creative work blew
throughout the British colonial period up until the World War II,
when waves of great socio-political changes swept through the
continent. The Asian region saw a rapid redrawing of its political
map, and was compelled to brace for many far-reaching social
changes – China became a communist state, India and Pakistan
earned independence to be followed soon by Burma. A period of
turmoil followed that threatened to engulf the entire region. Then
the cold war spread its ominous wings over the region. Bloody
battles raged through the greater parts of South East Asia.
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Pakistan ignited the flames of its own split within decades after
independence by poor political management of the country,
which thus ensured the addition of a new country to the map of
the region – Bangladesh.
Muslims of this subcontinent systematically treaded along a
wrong track with respect to liberal education ever since the fall of
the Mughal Empire, perhaps due to a sense of vanity, or due to a
sense of guilt that sprang from the emotional aberrations of an
eclipsed power. Gradually, the East India Company tightened its
grip of administrative power in India as the semi-official agency
of the British Crown, a power given to the Company in 1773. The
Company retained this honour until the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857,
led by the weak Mughal ruler Bahadur Shah II. The mutiny was
crushed within a year, and the British Government felt that it was
now time to rule India directly from England. The British
Parliament enacted legislation in 1858 under the title “Act for the
Better Government of India” that transferred full administrative
authority of India from the East India Company to the British
Crown.
Muslims of Bengal had long maintained a protracted
isolation from the majority people of the subcontinent, the
Hindus, perhaps for some measure of social distinctiveness.
However, this led them to choose a defeating path. They
developed an apathy towards modern education, including
learning English, possibly due to overt zeal in the newly acquired
religion mixed with an inappropriate appreciation of the reality.
The Hindu community, on the other hand, accepted English soon
after the British established their authority in India, and thus
reaped rich benefits from rapid exposure to western scientific and
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technological developments of the post-renaissance period.
Unfortunately, the Muslims of Bengal lived with this costly
mistake throughout the first half of the British rule, until about
1850, when a liberal Muslim thinker Sir Syed Ahmed initiated a
movement of Muslim reawakening that came to be known as the
Aligarh Movement. He established the Aligarh Muslim University
where Muslim students from all over India came to study arts and
science. This slowly propelled the Muslims towards learning
English, and helped to break the damaging shield of isolation. But
by then much damage had already been done, and the resulting
cultural isolation drew the Muslims far away from the
mainstream of scientific and technological developments of the
time.
The gloomy picture of S&T and R&D in the country today
may have some of those sad historical reasons behind its genesis.
But now the issue deserves serious and dispassionate thinking. A
pragmatic S&T policy together with a sound S&T workplan and a
mechanism to implement the plan, should be adopted and
pursued with full vigour in the context of both the changing
world economic order and the unique socio-economic contexts of
the country, and the contexts of emerging realities that the
country will confront within the next few decades.
At the time of independence, the two wings of Pakistan,
East Pakistan and West Pakistan, were perhaps fairly balanced in
terms of their respective intellectual wealth. Pakistan had two
universities. The University of the Punjab in West Pakistan, which
was established in 1882, and the University of Dhaka established
a few decades later in 1921. The University of Dhaka, modelled
after the University of Oxford and often referred to as the Oxford
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of the East, produced celebrated personalities in science and
literature and came to be regarded as the pivot of Muslim culture
in this part of the subcontinent.
No doubt, as a nation we have experienced exploitation
and subjugation during much of our tormented past. The painful
stings of subjugation stuck deep into the arena of science and
technology, and consequently these made significant negative
impact on the economic arena of the country. These effects were
invasive enough to profoundly debilitate the future course of
development. We had to witness with agony the changing
shadows of two political masters in a relatively short span of time.
The long two hundred years of British rule ended in 1947, but for
us the transition was not pleasant. The British rule was replaced
by an equally exploitative Pakistan rule. This fortunately lasted
for only 25 years, but sadly its demise exacted a heavy toll on life
and property, and more importantly, the retreating Pakistan army
took to the brutal path of systematically destroying the country’s
intellectual backbone by indiscriminate killing of top intellectuals
of the nation.
Pakistan had undertaken its scientific planning on the basis
of certain premises that were perhaps relevant at that time.
Creation of Pakistan as one state with its two wings separated by
a vast stretch of Indian territory, was seen at its very inception as
a sign of doom for the new nation. Even the most profound
visionaries could not believe that the links of religion that catered
to the carving of this new split-type political entity, were not
enough to hold the two peoples together. The only reasonable
path was the path of strict adherence to democracy, and
cultivation of mutual respect between the people of the two
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wings. Unfortunately, democracy in Pakistan became the first
casualty of two evil forces – the connivance of Pakistan army with
a brand of short-sighted politicians who were determined only to
dominate over the eastern wing of the country, and the callous
negligence of the people of West Pakistan in offering resistance to
this plan. This sad state of affairs luckily ended in less than
twenty-five years, somewhat sooner than expected, but the legacy
lingered.
Our scientific planning, particularly that pertaining to East
Pakistan, had drawn its driving force from sources that were
external to us. In the process, unfortunately, we lost sight of
certain factors that are uniquely relevant to our conditions. At the
time of creation of Pakistan, the western wing, that is West
Pakistan, had a relatively large land area compared to its
population. Thus land to man ratio in West Pakistan was much
higher compared to East Pakistan, and it will remain so for quite
sometime in the future. Even when population of Pakistan
increases several folds, there will still be high per capita land. In
addition, Pakistan has a good reserve of different types of
industrial raw materials, energy source, a sizeable forest cover
and a long coastline along the Arabian Sea – all of these together
would provide strong support to the development of a viable
industrial infrastructure.
Conditions in East Pakistan, in contrast, were quite
different. When the first scientific planning was undertaken by
Pakistan in the 1950s, the planners failed to correctly perceive
even the AD 2000 scenario of the country: the scenario of having
to accommodate 140 million people in 148,000 square kilometre
area, a burgeoning population of urban slum, steadily receding
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arable land, increasing number of landless people, no substantial
mineral resources, a meagre forest cover, and many other
constraints. These are serious matters, that would make one
wonder whether we will have enough life support ingredients in
our land, air and water at the time when our population would be
twice as much in just fifty years.
Agricultural research strategy that was designed by
Pakistan was meant to be wholly exploitative. It was targeted to
our jute, tea, and newsprint. Rice research was, however, better
streamlined in this part of the country because rice research
activity in this part of the sub-continent historically dates back
from the British time, since 1908, when an agricultural research
centre was established at what is now the Farmgate area of Dhaka
city, for conducting research on breeding of rice. Industrial
research policy of Pakistan was based on a number of mistaken
notions. The policy rested on the assumption that because
agriculture is the main pre-occupation of the people of East
Pakistan, it would be possible to draw upon the products of its
fertile agricultural land for economic gains. The trends of
population growth were ignored, either purposely or due to
negligence. Increased population and the stress that this would
put on the small land area of the country were important issues
left unattended. The fact that agricultural land will deplete
rapidly, much faster than most people realized at that time, due to
human activities such as building houses, roads, schools,
hospitals, markets, etc., was almost outside the agenda of the
planning process.
The energy policy was targeted, but difficult to implement
in East Pakistan. Nuclear energy was considered as a viable
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energy option for this part of the country, but without taking into
account the fact that there will be no place in the country to set up
a nuclear reactor without putting several million people living in
surrounding areas at high risk. The option did not properly weigh
the problems of radioactive waste disposal, and storage of spent
nuclear fuel. It overlooked the political reality that nuclear
technology will not be readily given to us by the owners of the
technology in fear of creating another nuclear power in the region.
For West Pakistan, however, nuclear option was a necessity, and
conditions for this were better suited, which West Pakistan readily
exploited to advantage and finally turned itself into a nuclear
power. For us the nuclear energy option remained as a hung
agenda soon after it was developed, and it has continued to be so
to date that has certainly levied on us a measure of intellectual
and emotional cost.
NEW BEGINNING
Institutions
The period 1971 - 1975 being the very first years of the
new nation stricken with a war ravaged economy, severe shortage
of food and a shattered infrastructure, we were not in a position
to pay much attention to science and technology. Despite this,
about half a dozen R&D institutions, which were obviously
conceived, and their final plans approved during the Pakistan
time, came into existence during this period. This was followed by
the establishment of about ten more institutions during the period
1976 – 1980, and eleven more during 1981 – 1990. These brought
the total number of R&D institutions in the country to 55. The
years following 1990 saw a period of relative lull in the
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institution-building process; no new institutions were created
during the period 1991-1998.
The calm in institution building zeal coincided with the
winds of economic change blowing across the globe. Bangladesh
adopted the free market economy driven by the philosophy that
enhancing the nation’s wealth is the major economic target that is
measured by rise in GDP. This is rapidly attained through
investments made by the wealthy and technologically advanced
nations of the world in the free markets of the developing
countries. The strategy, however, comes with an unpleasant
attachment to science and technology. Growth in GDP is as a
matter of routine, delinked from nation’s science and
technological activities. This is done on the plea that science is
slow and costly; the free market is dynamic and cannot afford to
tread along any slow moving component. The advocates of the
market are not willing to compromise with the speed of economic
growth by linking it to slower sectors such as S&T. The near
complete cessation of building new R&D institutions during the
1990s is perhaps a reflection of this transition.
The new nation of Bangladesh inherited these laboratories
together with a number of scientific institutes operating under the
six Research Councils. Together these constituted the R&D
network of the new nation. The councils inherited from Pakistan
were renamed as: Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council
(BARC), Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC),
Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR),
Council for Works and Housing (CWH), Irrigation, Drainage and
Flood Control Research Council (IDFCRC) and Bangladesh
Medical Research Council (BMRC). Under these councils, which
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were administered by different Ministries, there were about 19
research institutions in the country, which included two pre-
Pakistan period institutes, the Tobacco Research Institute
established in 1908, and the Agricultural Research Institute
established in 1938. Important among the institutes that were
created during Pakistan are: Atomic Energy Centre established in
1965, Forest Research Institute (1955), the BCSIR Dhaka laboratory
(1955), Bangladesh Tea Research Institute (1957), Institute of
Public Health, Sericulture Research and Training Institute (1962),
Institute of Post-graduate Medicine and Research (1965), BCSIR
Chittagong Laboratory (1965), BCSIR Rajshahi Laboratory (1967),
and Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (1971).
S&T Expenditure
In contrast with the establishment of many R&D
institutions during the 1980s in important sectors such as
agriculture and health, actual S&T expenditure showed only a
modest rise during this period. Routine S&T expenditure includes
two main components: the operating cost of the R&D institutions,
and scientific manpower development, which includes the
teaching of science in the universities. In addition, there is the
development expenditure in the sector. The S&T expenditure of
the nation therefore entails a very large sum of money. Defined in
this manner, R&D activity, which involves scientific research, both
in the laboratory and in the field bearing direct and immediate
relevance to the nation’s socio-economic development, would
constitute only a small part of total S&T activity. For example,
during the 1994-95 financial year, according to a survey carried
out by Bangladesh National Scientific and Technical
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Documentation Centre (BANSDOC), the R&D expenditure was
about 6% of total S&T expenditure.
The new S&T institutions that were built after the birth of
Bangladesh were poorly conceived with respect to purpose and
mode of operation, and were created ad hoc without serious
feasibility study. Most of those institutions had laudable
objectives in their foundation books, but lacked a sound short-
term and long-term action plan, and a strategic vision for the
future. Many research programmes undertaken by these
institutions were in fact duplications of already existing programs
and the scientific community at the helm of these institutions were
refractile to any changes. This resulted in the creation of
institutions that were obviously tailored to group or even
individual interests, and carried little scientific merit. By an
unfortunate default, the older institutions that had been created
during the Pakistan time rapidly contracted the bad winds
scientific decline and entered into the phase of a decimating
debility.
The unpleasant necessity to keep alive the R&D
institutions in existence, with little productive work done,
gradually pushed these institutions into a state of chronic
incapacity – a vicious cycle of non-productivity and economic
drainage began to erode the fabric of nation’s S&T base. The
maladies that consequently muddled the S&T horizon of the
country are too many and too diverse.
Expenditures under different heads of budget during the
period covering the decade of 1985-95 as compiled by BANSDOC
are presented in the following Table mainly to show how
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featureless has been our S&T spending over the past decade. The
figures have been compiled from reports prepared by BANSDOC
on the basis of information obtained from different R&D
institutions, including the country’s state run general and
technical universities, in a specified format. Although the
universities do not carry out any significant R&D work, many
university departments that had responded to the survey had
shown as R&D expenditure what appears to be their regular
operating budget. Reports from many of the responding
institutions were incomplete, and in many cases difficult to
comprehend. Despite these inadequacies, it is possible to discern a
pattern that would give a common sense picture of the country’s
R&D scenario in terms of cost. The figures would roughly indicate
the major trends in R&D expenditure over the decade that
represents an important transition.
One sees in the prototype data presented above, a
tendency towards a steady increase in both revenue and
development expenditure in the R&D institutions over the decade
1986 – 1996. The proportion of expenditure in the two budget
heads is approximately 60:40. This proportion is apparently
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Figures in lakh Taka
Year Rev. Exp. Dev. Exp. R&D
Exp.
R&D as
% Dev.
Exp.
R&D as
% GNP
1986-87 9928 3929 - - -
1987-88 13996 8915 - - -
1988-89 15522 9560 9560 30.0 -
1989-90 17230 13556 - - -
1990-91 720700 528990 7819 1.47 0.09
1991-92 799820 602400 7533 1.25 0.08
1992-93 864300 654040 3535 0.54 0.23
1993-94 921240 898300 4722 0.52 0.26
1995-95 995430 1030300 1759 0.17 0.08
1995-96 114544 956300 1997 0.20 0.18
Survey of Research and Development (R&D) Activities in Bangladesh. BANSDOC
1997.
dynamic R&D program. However, R&D expenditure as a fraction
of the nation’s development expenditure declined during the
suggestive of a period – from 1.47% in 1990-91 to a meagre 0.20%
during 1995-96, coinciding with a cessation of new institution-
building during the period, which as a consequence allowed more
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investments could be made on expansion of research facilities in
the existing institutions, their staff development, and enhanced
salaries and allowances.
Although accurate figures of R&D expenditure during the
1980s are not available, those available for the year 1988-89 show
a remarkable difference from the corresponding figures covering
the following five years, that is, 1990-1995. In the year 1988-89,
one sees that 30% of development expenditure in the R&D
institutions was spent on R&D research. The corresponding
figures over the period 1990-1995 would thus suggest a shift – that
is, expenditure in actual R&D research as direct research cost
gradually decreased relative to development cost in the R&D
sector during this period. The nature of this shift is interesting as
it coincides with the country’s transit to market economy and its
concomitant negative effects on indigenous S&T activities. The
shift probably implies costly expansion of physical facilities and
capacity enhancement projects through acquisition of new and
costly equipment and service gadgets in the existing R&D
institutions primarily in sectors such as agriculture and health.
Thus, development expenditure climbed up, research expenditure
plummeted. This is the story to date of the government-financed
R&D institutions of the country.
Towards the late 1990s, the nation’s R&D profile took a
new colour with the appearance of a class of establishments,
particularly in the biomedical sector, wearing titles of ‘Institute’ or
‘Foundation’ in different areas of medicine such as cardiac care,
cancer, etc. These institutes also carry out ‘research’, operate
hospitals offering treatment at cost, any profit made spent on
research or in welfare programs. The institutions are operationally
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covered by the Society’s Act and Trust rules, which mean they
enjoy tax benefits. The operating cost of this category of
institutions is not added to the R&D expenditure in the Table
above, because these institutions represent a distinct type of
activity sometimes called social R&D that would in effect liken
them in some respects with NGOs.
Prior to the 1990s, funds available to meet direct research
cost accounted for a sizeable fraction of total R&D expenditure.
This allowed more money for reagents, chemicals and supplies for
research projects. Although the total amount of money available
was not large, the fact that it was a fair portion of total R&D
expenditure relative to the earlier periods naturally infused into
the scientific community a measure of optimism about the future
of science and technology in the country. This was reflected in
scientific seminars, symposia, international conferences and
publications of the work of the scientists in reasonably reputed
international journals. The overall scientific climate had a positive
tone, and it also received a greater measure of interest from the
government. Quite often very high profile international scientific
meetings would receive strong patronage of the government, and
such events would involve top scientists of the country without
any discriminatory tone being evident, and the meetings were
participated by a number of very distinguished scientists from
reputed institutions abroad. The younger generation of scientists
would also find due place in such activities, which added to a
vibrant spirit.
Bangladesh invested during the first two decades after
independence an average of a meagre 0.5% of GNP in science and
technology primarily supporting the R&D institutions, the
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number of which stood at over 80 by the year 2000. This small
fraction of GNP had to be cut into too numerous parcels. The most
pronounced negative effect of this was seen in the science
departments of the universities. The university is seen as the pivot
of basic science and S&T research. With so little money for
research, the universities produced very little, which created an
image problem for the university. Poor science at the universities
produced poor scientists poised to support the nation’s R&D
institutions. The universities retained the best students; the next
tier of students went to the few top R&D institutions, while most
of the R&D institutions received the bulk that was qualitatively
homogeneous and certainly not the best. Prolonged intellectual
stagnation produced a sense of complacency to the effect that the
sufficient reason for existence is simply to exist. This precipitated
an intellectual crisis; when nothing had been found, nearly
everything assumed a meaning. Almost any project proposal that
had some experimental work in it could be passed for good
science.
This poor situation with our universities and the R&D
institutions, however, served certain activities quite well, activities
that the free market presented to the scientific community covered
with a fancy costume of science. That is, many test tube mixing
type of scientific activities relevant to consumer products, from
common salt to potent life saving drugs came to be identified as
scientific activities to which many scientists dedicated their efforts
because of the associated financial reward. The sectors that
offered the best opportunities for this type of scientific research
are, as expected, the biomedical sector, and the agriculture sector.
In these areas, a blend of activity was designed that involved both
use of the product, and experiments with the product. Examples
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are new drugs and service gadgets in the biomedical sector and in
agriculture sector, use of new pesticides, fertiliser, and genetically
modified organisms (GMOs).
OMISSIONS IN VISION
The Burden of Institutions
Analysis of the underlying causes behind the sad state of
affairs with our science and technology has generally proved
refractile to most scientists and policy makers, and of course, to
the politicians. Most of our R&D institutions have failed to make
any worthwhile contribution towards the development of
products and services that had been commercialised with any
significant share of even the domestic market. Export of our R&D
generated products is a distant prospect. The reasons for this poor
performance are as usual, said to be lack of funding, shortage of
trained scientific personnel, poor motivation of the scientific staff,
too much bureaucratic bottlenecks in securing essential chemicals,
reagents and literature, and so on. Seldom, however, do one
realises that these are the inherent problems of science in all poor
countries of the world, but despite that some countries have
produced good science under these constraints. This admittedly
happened because of the inherent interest that the scientific
community maintains in science; we lacked this, and so we
achieved little.
This is not to say that the problems that our scientists face
are untenable, but only to highlight the fact that beyond these
thick lines perhaps we might also look for things that might
account for this condition. Great works of science have not always
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been dependent on the availability of the most ideal
circumstances. To the contrary, the history of science is replete
with instances where scientific pursuits had received extreme
hostility by both the state and the society, but despite these
profound discoveries had also been made.
Reflecting back, one cannot escape the conclusion that
Bangladesh created the new S&T institutions rather hastily, and
without any proper study and vision. Once created, however,
these institutions could not be dismantled despite their poor
productivity. The heavy burden of over 80 government supported
R&D institutions slowly pushed the research activity of the
country into a limbo – a vicious cycle of non-productivity, and
economic drainage ensued. The maladies that resulted were far
too many and none with even the most profound optimism could
see any cure. Today, many of our S&T institutions are in such a
poor state that even the capacity to properly utilize even a modest
research grant has been lost.
Looking Ahead with Objectivity
The planners during the Pakistan time, and most of them
were from West Pakistan with the controlling hand in the
planning process, chose a workplan that was based on a short
time frame. This probably happened because of the gathering
apprehension of the separation of East Pakistan. The separation,
by then, was a question of whether or not it will occur, but one of
how soon will it occur? So a short-term science and technology
policy was orchestrated that would maximise the objectives –
exploitation of the resources of East Pakistan in the shortest
possible time.
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An objective appraisal of our unique circumstances is
critical for proper scientific planning. It is our collective
responsibility to undertake this exercise in the most dispassionate
manner. An appreciation of our needs and of our limitations
ought to provide the driving force for the formulation of our
science and technology policy. However, mistakes of the past
must not be forgotten; these should rather help us to re-focus our
vision in a more pragmatic manner. We have to recast the
foundation of our science and technology in our own format, and
see things in our own context, not through the eyes of others that
view things externally, and often miss the critical contexts. The
policy makers of the Pakistan time had the vision of an atomic
bomb to target neighbours, nuclear energy to illuminate their
villages, and the western wing of the country had enough natural
resources to support a viable industrial base. West Pakistan had
also large landmass to sustain productive agriculture.
Unfortunately, we mistook the short-term policy decisions made
by the Pakistani planners for the correct and final ones, without
giving even a cursory look at the profile that the eastern wing
presented with respect these issues. This critical lapse took a cruel
revenge on us.
Bangladesh is a country beset with manifold constraints, a
country where negative superlatives can too freely be used. It is a
country that represents, so to say, a unique experimentation
ground for sociological studies as to the limit of population
density in an urban setting, or the upper limits of population
density in a country state. The whole country will slowly transit
into a city-state, a mega-city state of architecture new to the
world. We will poison the air, and deplete the land and water for
a purpose that is most humble, yet most disastrous. We will do
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this for the very basic amenities of life – that is, to grow just
enough food-grains using intensive cultivation technologies
available, and raising enough factories to provide jobs to our
people. This we will do to feed the nearly 300 million people that
the country will carry on its landscape by the middle of the
century. These and other factors that emanate largely from the
extremely high population density, which we will experience in
the near future in a largely rural setting, present a measure of
distinctiveness that cannot be found in any other country of the
world. At the same time, these attributes thrust on us the
imperative of a long-term planning in all sectors. This is not to say
that short-term planning is not important, but to emphasise that
these two are quite distinct in our context, and hence these must
not be confused. An objective appreciation of the distinction
between these two as they relate specifically to our situation is
extremely important. Although many countries frequently miss
this and still can be seen to have encountered no serious
problems, for us it will be a costly mistake because of our special
circumstances. We cannot afford to follow other countries in this
regard because no other country in the world have the
circumstances in which we live and breathe – a huge population
to live in a small land of largely rural make-up, for which the
expression ‘density factor’ has been chosen that gives us
distinctiveness unique in many ways.
We have not yet been able to free ourselves from the
torments of the turbulent past. But our survival depends on a re-
focused vision of ourselves as a people, as a country and a nation,
and in our ability to correctly identify our strengths and the
constraints, and in our readiness to properly respond to the
demands of the circumstances. Our science and technology policy
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and indeed our commitment to the nation’s socio-economic
development must have this renewed vision as the driving force.
The important imperative here is to acknowledge that we have
treaded through a truncated track, albeit because of circumstances
created by others. At the same time, however, we must not fail to
accept the fact that in this misfortune we had our share of lapses
as well. Unless we can accept this historic shortcoming with
courage, a new beginning will be difficult for us to make, and our
fading hopes might vanish altogether.
Biological effect of a very high population density with its
antecedent high-level social entropy on the economic productivity
of the country is, a difficult subject, and has to-date drawn only
cursory academic interest. It is in these unique circumstances that
we will have to grow our cereal (food) requirement, evidently on
the much-diminished quantity of arable land. How much land
will there be left for any other food crop, not to speak of any other
activities such a robust livestock industry, or vibrant firms of
flowers, fruits and vegetables? Should we then plan
diversification of our land-based activities by creating better
breeds of cow that would admittedly need superior type of grass,
which, like rice or wheat, needs prime land, and plenty of
sunshine? Will we ever have the needed land in high enough
quantity to support economic activities on the basis of popular
models? The limits of vertical increase of food production under
our conditions are unknown to us, and examples from other
countries cannot be readily applied in our case because no
country on Earth would come close to the critical conditions that
may affect productivity in our country, and that we will have to
endure. Even if we dedicate all our land to only food (rice and
wheat) production, and simultaneously maximise productivity,
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the accelerating pace of population increase and the alarming rate
of depletion of arable land would still require us to buy large
quantities of foodgrain every year, probably at much higher prices
than we do now. What would we have to sell to the world in
order to buy the food?
Some people think that political leaders who hold
important position in the government and provide direction to
nation’s planning and development have no particular reason to
be scientific visionaries. This is a wrong notion. True, they need
not be experts in scientific technicalities, but in a world where
science is increasingly becoming a dominant factor in shaping the
world order, there is a need to understand the basics of science, its
course, its promises and limitations. India offers an excellent
example of how scientific vision of politicians can transform a
nation. The realisation on the part of the political leaders that no
nation can prosper without science and technology development
is crucial. However, in many countries it is lacking and, we are
among the least fortunate in this regard. Our political culture is
based on voice, which has the intrinsic trait that the louder it is,
the more destitute it tends to be in substance. Sadly, however,
loud noise creates a better impact on the people, particularly in
moving the people for a rebellion, or to the ballot box. Many of
our politicians understand well the power of this face of politics,
but seldom do they appreciate the power that science holds for
the people.
And, in this context, the scientists also failed in two
important ways. First, we failed to convince the politicians that
science needs political support, and secondly, we perhaps
unknowingly or out of neglect, offered the necessary arsenal to
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the politicians that enabled them to show their side of the coin. It
took little effort on their part to show that scientific activity, which
the scientists often claim to their credit, really contributed little to
enhance the quality of life of the common people for whom the
politician is obliged to work. Needless to say, neither side is
wholly correct on these issues, but these crosscurrents held
science the helpless hostage. During the Pakistan time, East
Pakistan had only 0.01% of GNP spent on science and technology.
Today, thirty-five years after the birth of Bangladesh, the figure
has not changed significantly. Our yearly spending on science and
technology still averages no better than that dismal figure, 0.01%
of GNP! And, there is no indication that government is prepared
to spend anywhere close to the minimum of 1% GNP for science
and technology which is needed for productive development of
the sector.
A very large and in many ways biologically unique
human population that inhabits the world’s second largest delta
(next to the Amazon delta in Brazil) in highest ever density
known in recorded history in a resource-scarce situation, may
generate high social entropy characterised by pathological
aggressiveness and breakdown of civil order. Most alarmingly,
these would lead to a failing judicial system, the custodian of
order and liberty. New economic changes will require new
definition of value systems, and new dimensions in the image of
the civil society. Environmental pollution, the extent of which is a
direct function of population density, particularly in a very large
population, would reach an intolerable level. Overgrowth of
insects and pests would require use of high levels of insecticides
and pesticides that would destroy the environment, high-density
industrialization would be unavoidable, and intensive
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agricultural activity on declining arable has to be practised. The
plant cover would diminish because it will be impossible to grow
trees due to interference from human activity. In the course of a
few years, trees will be largely restricted to roads and highways
until such time when these too would make road maintenance
costly due to the adverse effect of differential heating and cooling,
and would turn out to be sufficiently hazardous to high-speed
high-volume automobile traffic.
Wealth generation in a global market would require,
among other things, the important aspect of earning from external
sources. What resource do we have to create wealth? Available
arable land will only support subsistence, as continuing and
inevitable decline in the growth rate of agricultural GDP
indicates. Wealth underneath our land is still poorly prospected
and quite beyond our immediate reach. With population that will
be close to 400 million by the end of the century, what vision do
we have for our S&T sector to ensure our existence in a tolerable
state?
From biological contexts, the only wealth-earning
resource that we have at present is our people. This notion is quite
a favourite part of political speeches, but most often used in
misunderstood contexts. No country can survive in today’s
fiercely competitive world without the best use of comparative
advantage. How clear is our vision on our short-term and long-
term advantages? Do our advantages comprise land, livestock,
fisheries, farm products, forestry, and minerals? Or our advantage
comprises the millions of working human hands, hands of those
people who live today in painful agony, but can nevertheless be
turned into productive forces? We have to turn these hands into a
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viable economic. Resources spent on this pursuit will give us far
better return, and, indeed, we have no other sector in which we
can claim significant advantage at the present time.
But then how many of us – scientists, politicians,
businessmen – appreciate the true significance of the vast
potential of our people, a potential that resides not only in hands
that are skilled in various trades, but also as a source of human
genetic biodiversity? This is as yet an unconventional treasure.
Genes are tradable resource today, and we have accumulated this
resource through the natural course. Although burdensome at
present, it can be gainfully exploited. How much do we know of
our other advantages? We have an advantage of large population
in activities that can be done in the non-physical cyberspace, such
as the one provided by information and communication
technology, but do we know the methods to maximise benefits
from this sector?
Five
Our Uniqueness: The Density Factor
Bangladesh is destined to attain a unique distinction in
the density of its human population. We are fast approaching a
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human population density that will perhaps represent the highest
density that any land mammal ever attained in natural setting in
the history of the planet. The landmass that makes Bangladesh
bears a historic reputation; it has been the land of very high
human population density since long past. A small stretch of land
measuring approximately 80 miles east-west and 120 miles north-
south can be delineated by drawing two straight lines running
north-south, one line joining Sherpur and Satkhira, and the other
joining Sunamganj and Bhola. This tiny strip of land measuring
about 12,000 square kilometres in area and forming the bulk of the
Meghna basin, can be clearly distinguished as the most densely
populated area in the in Indian subcontinent1. This remarkable
fertile strip may be assumed with a fair degree of confidence to
represent the most densely populated area in the whole world.
The map presents data that were available about half a century
back, but the relative position of the area in this respect perhaps
has not changed much since most areas of the subcontinent also
has attained much higher population density over the past few
decades.
Burgdorfer, F. 1957. The World Atlas of Population. Heidelberg Akademie der
Wissenschaften, Heidelberg, Germany.
Three rivers and their numerous tributaries, whose
number will run into the thousands, criss-cross this small
landmass in all conceivable directions and forming the world’s
second largest delta system next to the Amazon basin in Brazil.
But the contrasts between these two systems are striking. Brazil is
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8.5 million sq km in area, Bangladesh is less than 0.15 million sq
km; the Amazon system drains 6 million sq km area into the
North Atlantic Ocean, ours does only 0.12 million sq km area into
the Bay of Bengal; population density in the Amazon basin is
approximately 25 persons per sq km while is over 800 people per
sq km. So huge is the quantity of muddy discharge from the
Amazon basin into the Atlantic that a 200 km stretch of the
Atlantic Ocean from the shore remains perpetually grey. Our
system is estimated to drain only small fraction of that into the
Bay of Bengal, about 10 billion tonnes annually.
POPULATION DENSITY IN THE DELTA
The three major rivers and numerous tributaries and
canals supported in this region a vibrant agriculture and a
thriving fishery. These in association with a mild climate caused
tremendous over-breeding of the human population inhabiting
this area area. Projected population characteristics of Bangladesh
would follow simple and fairly accurately predictable
demographic pattern. The population density that will be reached
towards the end of the century in a country of largely rural
character with scarce economic resources, presents an economic
and demographic nightmare. The present population of 140
million will double in about 40 years. Not only that, it will
continue to increase, although at a slower rate, until the end the
present century even if replacement level fertility – that is, one
couple leaving behind on average no more than a pair of offspring
– is achieved in the near future. The figure below roughly
illustrates this pattern of population growth in Bangladesh.
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This is an established demographic phenomenon in a
large population of sexually reproducing organisms (requiring
two partners) with high fertility and relatively low mortality, and
is related to average longevity and generation time of the
population. In demography this is called population momentum,
which results from the fact that a couple producing two
generation 1 children will continue to live for many more years
after these children were each married and had produced two
generation 2 children who will each marry and produce their
offspring while their parents will still be alive. Thus in three
generations there will be, even under replacement level fertility,
an accumulation of individuals at various stages of life. This will
create in a very large population a rolling-over effect resulting in
population momentum. This effect cannot be easily contained.
Only very high level of mortality or very drastic decline in birth
rate below replacement fertility level may offset this effect. In a
very large freely interbreeding population such as ours and under
the prevailing conditions of low mortality and relatively high
longevity (at present 60 years), this momentum effect will keep
the population growth curve on the increase for about two
generations after replacement fertility has been achieved. In
demography fertility is measured by what is called total fertility
rate (TFR), which measures the total number of live births during
a woman’s childbearing years. This rate now is 1.4 in Europe and
2.1 in USA. In Bangladesh TFR was 5.6 in 1975, which fell to 3.5 in
2000. It is expected that the population would stabilise in the long
term, when TFR matches with the replacement fertility of around
2.1. We have not yet attained the replacement fertility, and after
we attain this, the population growth curve will still stay on the
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increase, although with a reduced slope, until in about 75 years
population reaches the calculated 400 million mark!
Would this population then defy the carrying capacity of
the land? Only conjectures are possible in this regard. The
‘carrying capacity’ is a concept with various connotations. One
generally acceptable definition is ‘the maximum population that
can be sustained indefinitely into the future’. The definition, of
course, has an unconscious bias because in some cases indefinite
sustenance is not always determined by maximum population; a
minimum population also can critically limit indefinite
sustenance. Many animal species suffer extinction if their number
falls below a certain minimum. For the human population in
Bangladesh, obviously, we need to worry about the maximum
population aspect only and that also under the adverse context of
very critically high density in a largely rural setting. The very high
density in today’s globalised world would bring about certain
consequences as inevitable consequence.
UNIQUE CONSEQUENCES
High-Density Economic Activity
This fact – a very large population distributed uniformly
in an unprecedented density – bears profound biological and
socio-economic significance. The noted economist Wahiduddin
Mahmud has incisively hinted on the possible implications of
such a population in the unique physical-economic contexts of
Bangladesh. About this, the reader is referred to an article written
by the author that appears in the book entitled ‘Bangladesh on the
Threshold of the Twenty-First Century’ published by the Asiatic
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Society of Bangladesh in 2002. Bangladesh has a very low per
capita income, but income generated per unit landmass, per
square kilometre for instance, is perhaps the highest in the world.
This is the consequence of very high man-land ratio, which
inevitably leads to what the author, describes as ‘high physical
density of economic activities’ caused by a massive participating
human population, and which would thus constitute an important
biological component of the ‘physical-economic configuration of
an entire country, not of urban areas of a country’.
Wahiduddin Mahmud1 draws attention to this unique
density factor to another important aspect pertaining to the issue
of our relative advantage in world context. In Bangladesh it is
land, not capital, that is perhaps the scarcest factor of production.
This indicates that our comparative advantage in export will shift
to activities that are not only ‘labour-intensive’ but also ‘land-
saving’.
1. Mahmud, Wahiduddin. 2002. Bangladesh Economy: Performance, Prospects and Challenges. In: ‘Bangladesh on the Threshold of the Twenty-First Century, Ed. A. M. Chowdhury and F. Alam, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, pp. 598.
Fast Exit of Cropland from Tillage
Depletion of arable land, which hitherto received little
attention, is now being studied with increased seriousness.
Available facts vary widely in different source materials and
study reports. Some estimates put the figures to be 72,000 sq km
(7.2 million hectares). Population pressure now is causing an
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estimated 800 sq km arable land being lost per year. Thus, in the
next 30 years loss of arable land will be 24,000 sq km, by 2150 total
loss will be 40,000 sq km leaving 36,000 sq km for tillage to feed a
population close to 300 million. This dismal scenario of the loss of
cultivable land demands dispassionate analysis. Serious note
should be taken of the fact that time in our hand to introduce
stringent land use measures is rapidly being lost; after 50 years
there will be very little land left to regulate. If we can maintain the
area of arable land to about 50,000 sq km by immediate halt of
any more of its exit and some success in land reclamation, and we
may increase cereal production to twice the present level. But
even after this doubling, after 50 years we may still have to import
substantial quantity of foodgrain, perhaps more than a quarter of
country’s total food requirement, at competitive world prices. Are
we prepared to regulate land use? This is going to be difficult,
and almost certainly will be strongly disfavoured by the
pressure of industrialisation. In 1999-2000 Bangladesh attained
self-sufficiency in food and there was no food import in that year,
but two years later in 2002 - 2003 the country had to import 3
million tonnes of food grain. This was due to increased demand
by the additional 2 million people that is added to the population
each year.
How much vertical increase in crop production can be
achieved, and can this compensate for the effects of population
increase and loss of cultivable land? Given the current trends in
population growth and depletion of arable land it is fair to
assume that by the middle of this century population will be
double the present size and arable land would be reduced to half.
Thus, to maintain the present per capita cereal production, it
would be necessary to increase vertical productivity about four
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times, which may not be technically feasible. How should we then
plan our land use strategy?
The issue of land-saving is admittedly critical and is
suggested from two important perspectives; saving the quantity
of land for optimal use in all economic activities, and saving the
quality of land from the consequences of high density use. In our
situation where land is the critically limiting factor of production,
land-saving must be a serious national issue, and it must receive
due attention in the nation’s science and technology profile. The
scientific community does not seem to appreciate this issue yet,
which has resulted in much confusion to our collective disservice.
The S&T policy of the nation must be open to both practical
scientists, and the free-thinking academic scientists, but the need
for differential emphasis is to be accepted.
A summary of our land use picture in agriculture, forestry and
plant cover produces an interesting profile that is presented in the profile
that follows.
Land use profile of Bangladesh – AD 2050 Scenario
• Area of Bangladesh : 148,393 sq. km 14.8 million hectares
• Land Distribution : Arable land ~ 63% of total land area
(as of 2004) that is, 7.2 million hectare = 72,000 sq km1. Forest ~ 7% of total land area1.3 million hectare = 10,300 sq Km [Some estimates give this value to be 14,000 sq Km]
Wetland [Haors, Beels, Ditches, ~ 20% of total land area, 2.9 million hectare = 29,000 sq km] Housing ~ 4.4% of total land area, 0.15 million hectare = 7,500 sq km
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• By 2050 when population will be 300 million, cultivable land will fall to about 3.6 million hectare = 36,000 sq km
• Arable land as of 2004 is depleting by 221 hectares/day, 800 sq km per year. By 2050, according to this rate of depletion, we will loose 40,000 sq km arable land leaving available, as stated above, about 36,000 sq km cultivable land.
• In 1999 – 2000 foodgrain self-sufficiency was established with production of 25 million tons of cereal for 140 million people.
• Foodgrain requirement in 2010 is estimated to be 28 million tons, 32 million tons in year 2020, 53 million tons in 2050. Present yield is ~ 4 tons/hectare. At the present rate of depletion of arable land (800 sq km/year), in 45 years we will loose ~ 36,000 sq km arable land, leaving us only 36,000 sq km or 3.6 million hectares available for cultivation.
• The 2050 scenario will be: Population 300 million Cultivable land 3.6 million h
Cereal requirement 53 million tons This will require us to produce 15 t/hectare from the present 4 t/hectare, about four-time increase! Is this vertical increase possible through biotechnology and management?
• Annually 2 million people are added to the population.
• Land : Man ratio in 1951 0.80 acre 1998 0.28 acre
• Declining growth rate of agricultural GDP2 During the First 5-year plan 4.90% During the Fourth 5-year plan 0.86%
• Percentage of landless people (2004) ~ 56%
1. Karim, Zahurul. 2002. Progress of Agricultural Develioment in Bangladesh. In ‘ Vision-2021, Ed. A. M. Harun ar Rashid, Bangladesh Academy of Sciences, pp. 324. 2. Akash, M. M. 2002. Agriculture Sector: on the Threshold of the Twenty-First
Century. In ‘Bangladesh on the Threshold of the Twenty-First Century’,
Ed. A. M. Chowdhury and Fakrul Alam, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh,
pp. 598.
High-Density Environmental Pollution
The high physical density of agricultural activity and a
robust labour-intensive manufacturing sector producing mainly
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consumer goods in large volumes, will as a consequence result in
very high density of environmental pollution. This will also be on
a panoramic scale affecting the entire country, not just areas
around factories. So high will be the pollution level due to high
level discharge of pollutants in a small landmass it is feared that
we may earn may in this regard as well the unique distinction of
representing the world’s highest pollution level per square
kilometre land area.
The scientific community, the politicians and planners,
must understand certain key contexts. For instance, within the
next 50 years or perhaps less than that, the entire country may
turn into one ‘mega-city’ well connected with roads and
highways, and industrial units spread all over the country, as
there are no physical constraints to impede the process, and there
will likely be no effective process of law to do anything in this
regard. Our advantageous carbon quota, that is, amount of carbon
dioxide emission that is acceptable under international treaties
based on our large population, may provide incentive to foreign
investors to relocate their industrial units in the country, which
will provide also the tempting advantage of very cheap industrial
labour. The impending panoramic prospect of pollution can
perhaps be halted if the industrial units are located along the
geographical slopes of the country – edges along the Bay of
Bengal in the south and slopes of Cox’s Bazaar district – for easy
drainage of industrial effluents into the sea. Or, a system of
underground tunnels is laid to drain the industrial effluent into
the sea. Neither of these, unfortunately, is of any immediate
concern to us for obvious practical contingencies.
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Dilution rate of toxic substances in the soil is determined
by, among other things, total input and total surface area available
to absorb the toxic residues, which admittedly, will always be
against us. Furthermore, decreasing flow-rate of monsoon water
due to silting and blocks created in the flow path of monsoon
water due to habitation, roads and dams, etc. would augment the
deposition rate of such wastes to levels that may be considerably
higher than it is at present. It is very likely that with siltation of
the rivers and canals would someday cause the monsoon rain up
in the northern mountains to be discharged into the Bay of Bengal
using the entire country as the discharge board, a panoramic
flooding. An alternative scenario can also be imagined that might
be of benefit to us. As a result of the rising of riverbanks due to
human settlement activities, and construction of flood
embankments and roads, there will be an increase in the rate of
flow of water through these rivers during the monsoon, which
might automatically dredge the rivers. The rivers would be
narrower, and navigable throughout the year, yet there may not
be extensive flooding.
Routine human activities of a very large population
would lead to accumulation of organic matter in soil in proportion
to the population size. Surface water in lakes and closed water
bodies is also enriched, which thereby supports overgrowth of
aquatic vegetation and other organisms. As they die the water is
further enriched with organic matter leading to more growth of
aquatic biota in successive years, and the cycle repeats in an
accelerating pace causing deposition of organic waste as humus,
and rapid drying up of the water body. This is a common
biological phenomenon, but in our case, this process is
characterised by two highly active biological cycles – nitrogen
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cycle and carbon cycle – that cannot be easily controlled in our
situation and this phenomenon now spells doom to many of our
inland water bodies. The Chalan Beel dried up relatively fast over
the last couple of decades compared to previous years, by this
active cycle; other water bodies will face similar fate rapidly. It is
the consequence of an unbalanced equation between our planning
and nature’s wisdom. Lakes and water bodies in large cities will
inevitably face such ‘biological death’ despite much worry of the
activists. The number of people living in close distances from a
city lake and people using the lakeside everyday, create a
pressure on the lake that far exceeds its biological carrying
capacity, that is, its ability to hold the biota in indefinitely. Loss of
carrying capacity of a lake means death of lake, and emergence of
dryland.
Honest intentions alone are inadequate to undo the reality
that biology presents. One could, of course, cite examples of lakes
in other cities of the world, but the contexts of nation’s wealth and
wealth spent on keeping these lakes biologically fit, are seldom
mentioned. To keep a city lake in good order under the present
circumstances (heavy population pressure, drainage of rainwater
into the lake, household discharge) the very minimum that has to
be done is to change the water of the lake frequently to maintain
the organic matter content of the water under proper biotic
balance. Biology is quite precise; the greater the population
pressure the more frequent has to be this washing of the lake. This
is the least expensive route to keep the lake in its lake-like outfit,
but more desirable but difficult implement under a city-centric
model of economic development, would be substantial reduction
of city population.
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High-Level Social Entropy
Biology of an extremely high population density with its
antecedent high-level social entropy, and its possible socio-
economic impact, is an important subject that has to-date drawn
only cursory academic interest with only some generalisations
made on the subject1. The behavioural consequences of over-
crowding, a phenomenon that will affect many developing
countries in the future is fast becoming a subject of critical study
by social scientists. Over the years certain generalizations have
been made, mainly based on studies with animals. For example,
it is seen that increased crowding in experimental animals
inevitably produces pathological symptoms and deviant
behavioural patterns as suggested by experimental psychologist
John Calhoun in a seminal paper published in 1962. Calhoun’s
experiment involved raising an expanding rat population in a
crammed room where he observed that soon the rats set to killing
one another, to assaulting, and even cannibalising. Crowding, no
matter how it is caused, does not result in this behavioural
aberration in many animals. How much this phenomenon is
applicable to human population is a matter of debate. Some
studies show that population density and per capita homicide are
not correlated, nor is homicide correlated with per capita income
or higher relative size of city population. These studies lead some
1. de Waal, F. B. M., F. Aureli and P. G. Judge. Coping with Crowding. Scientific American. May 2000, p. 54-59.
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experts to believe that the human species has an innate capacity to
adjust to crowding without expressing overt aggressive
behaviour. But other views also prevail. Some prefer to believe
that facts of biology are perhaps much more complex than such
statistics obtained from studies in restricted settings may reveal.
Many social scientists and biologists believe that increased density
of human population is likely to create an increased level of social
entropy particularly in a situation where resource scarcity is the
survival-limiting factor, and also where resource symbolises
power5. Over the past decades, we have witnessed many
instances of perverse crimes too gross to describe in words, we
have seen with agony and helplessness the collapse of two of the
most important institutions of a civilised society, such as the
judiciary and education, particularly higher education. These
rapidly influenced other important areas – rule of law,
governance, politics, and corrupt behaviour and demise of values.
Whether or not these aberrations reflect just a higher order
manifestation of aggressive behaviour in the making, the potential
level of the resulting social entropy would be very high that may
have no precedence in human history in quantitative terms at
least. It may be destined to disappear with economic
advancement, or it may be a protracted phenomenon with
different manifestations in different times.
When population would stabilize about 75 years from
now, Bangladesh will be a vastly different country. How much
different will it be, and in which way, is not easy to predict, but
the posterity would certainly endure one fearful burden – that of a
huge population living in extremely high density and struggling
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to survive on scarce economic resources. Combination of these
factors presents a scenario the parallel of which cannot be found
at present anywhere in the world, nor perhaps in recorded human
history.
While one wonders how this high population density will
shape this land a hundred years from now, one may also note
with some satisfaction the potential positive aspects of high
population density. In a rural setting as exemplified by our
country, high population density makes productive mobilization
of people relatively easy and the delivery of essential services less
costly on a per capita basis. Economic and social benefits of this
are already obvious in several sectors in Bangladesh such as
family planning, primary healthcare, primary education and
lately, in information and communication sector, and recurrent
flooding of a delta with poor waste disposal system may naturally
augment soil fertility reducing chemical fertiliser use.
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Six
Biological Realism: Context Neglected
Nature’s laws are logical, although the hidden wisdom is
not often obvious. We know that land, its surface and underneath,
and a small distance up in the air, are vital to our survival on this
planet. These resources are apparently plentiful, and these are still
achievable by most people of the world with no serious effort.
Land on this planet is fixed in quantity, so also the quantity of
living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) matter. Matter undergoes
transformation, the biotic component more perceptibly than the
abiotic component, but the two are in a balance so that there is no
net gain or loss of energy by the planet in the ordinary time scale
relevant to humankind’s existence in the future. Although huge
quantities of solar radiation falls on Earth daily, only a small
fraction of it, about 1%, is trapped by the green plants, which is
recycled into the total biota (sum total of all living organisms of
the planet) of the planet.
Land is the commodity on which all human activities rest.
Agriculture, the oldest and the most significant discovery of
humankind and all other activities that were subsequently
discovered, are all based on land. Its ownership has evolved
according to the notion of sovereignty that offer an operationally
satisfactory platform for the present, but in the future land will
become more and more limiting to humankind’s survival. Today,
those countries that have plenty of this commodity may have little
to worry, but those who have very meagre amounts of it must
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understand certain facts of biology to make the best possible
assessment of its worth and chart the most productive path for its
use.
For us, living on the least amount of land would vital for
survival. This aspect should be understood as a core issue of what
may be termed as biological realism. There are principles in
biology that are important in determining the structure and
function of social life of organisms. Certain important lessons of
biology that are read in textbooks may appear unfashionable to
some, but they are significant and would merit renewed respect in
our context.
STRUGGLE IN BIOLOGY
Malthus, nearly a century before Darwin, applied a
remarkable fact of biology to human society. It was what Darwin
described as prodigality of reproduction – that is, the propensity
of living organisms to reproduce in numbers far more than what
is necessary, or in other words, what the resources would support.
This phenomenon is universal and occurs across the living world.
The significance of this phenomenon, according to Darwin, is that
survival is a matter of struggle where number is critically
important, and this attribute would thus be conserved in organic
evolution. Malthus noted that in the human species overbreeding
is the rule, and number increases of individuals in geometric
progression, while the cumulative energy of humankind can
cause an increase in food production only in a linear progression.
This, inevitably, leads to hunger, disease and death.
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Critics of Malthus point out that the theory under-
estimates human ingenuity, advances in medical science, and the
power of scientific knowledge, which can balance the increase in
number with comparable increase in food production. This
optimism appears to be well founded, as progress made in science
over the past centuries would justify. Yet one cannot disregard the
fact that despite great progress that has been achieved by
humankind over the past several millennia, the fears of Malthus
did not disappear. There is still struggle for food, and there is still
poverty and disease.
Concomitant to human hunger, Malthus also noted there
is a sad diversion of human energy towards making war, which
like overbreeding, seems to have a biological component in its
genesis. The capacity of the human being to increase the
destructive skills is almost limitless, and perhaps is a deeply
engrained biological trait. War is an overt and the most robust
expression of a fundamental element in nature, the struggle for
survival. War is an organized physical conflict between
individuals and groups belonging to the same species. Thus,
domestication of animals was not war waged by humans against
animals, it was competition between two species in which humans
won due to a superior brain.
The large population living in poverty and in high density
would entail a level of biological competition that would have
many of the precepts of Darwinian competition. Today the world
firmly holds the drums of war. War is a special form of
competition or an outcome of a more subtle form of competition
with the human species, an intra-specific competition. This
instrument has, for reasons not well understood is most
pronounced in two species such as the ants and humans1 among
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the millions known to biology. The Homo sapiens preferred to
convert the power of superior social and group organization that
is admittedly the product of a superior brain and hence vast
potentials for storage, combinatorial amplification, and retrieval
of information into organized conflict, which is war. War is a
social phenomenon, as opposed to individual conflicts that is
prevalent in other species organisms as well. Warfare in ants is
interesting. Not all species of ants are engaged in war, only a few
species are skilled in the art. War in the ants as it is in humans is
centered on one subject—that of food and its accumulation, which
is the basic notion associated with wealth. Ants go to war on the
wealth of others. In arid regions of the world, harvester ants
gather during the dry months seeds of various grasses as food
reserve. This reserve is the target of rival groups, the attackers,
who raid the supplies, and they win they remove grains one by
one to their nest. We are quite familiar to such scenes where ants
move with large cargo of food in their mouth along a track, the
victors with the bounty. Ant wars do not last long, about three
weeks; the longest one on record by ant specialists called
myrmecologists, is six and a half weeks. War in pre-historic
humans is not known; their flint implements were used for
hunting and digging. It is only when settled civilization
developed and property became an identified matter for pursuit
that war began.
1. Huxley, J. 1944. War as a Biological Phenomenon. In: ‘Man in the Modern World’. A Mentor Book, Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., New York. pp 191-199.
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Darwin’s principle of natural selection based on
competition and struggle for survival have provided lead to
important doctrines that in the past years have dominated human
thoughts and social policies—the principles of free enterprise and
competition in business and economic affairs. All of these are
activities within the same species or intra-specific. Intra-specific
competition is not regarded as biologically useful for the species.
But, there is in human nature a certain level of aggressiveness. We
have in our situation nearly all the ingredients that would
potentially aggravate this aggressiveness adding to the social
entropy. Moulding this into milder forms is a challenge that we
cannot ignore, but this would require hard thinking. Conditions
for aggressiveness are created fast, those for its containment
would demand hard work and firm belief that war need not be a
natural constituent of human nature.
Strangely, the art of war is most well developed only in
two species of animals among the hundreds of thousands known.
Biologists have recognised that only humans and ants are the two
species that habitually engage in war! Struggle for existence that is
universally present in all forms of life is not synonymous with
war. In an environment of nutrient stress, for example, different
bacteria will use different tricks to outwit others. Those that are
slow to grow will survive longer than the fast-growing types since
the fast-growing type would grow and die faster and, would
provide nutrients to the slow growers. Most manifestations of
struggle for existence in the biological world are generally subtle.
In human society, such struggle is further modulated to very
considerable extents by education, instinct and culture. A
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situation of extreme scarcity of food encountered by a group of
well-educated people would be met in a manner different from
that of the savages. Both of these groups will be engaged in a
struggle, but the struggle will be qualitatively different. What we
characterize as natural biological phenomenon is but an
expression of different forms of competition between different
forms of life sharing a common habitat. Admittedly, the
productive potentials of humans have not been maximized and
perhaps it has been done so on purpose – to maintain control of
one group over the others using actual war or the threat of war as
weapon.
VANISHING EDGES OF LAND
Gregor Mendel conducted simple experiments in plant
hybridisation, but he did what his contemporaries neglected. He
counted his experimental peas and kept records in books. When
the numbers were carefully looked at, he immediately found a
pattern that matched with the rules of more exact sciences such as
of mathematics and probability. This led to the development of
the science of genetics, and it also laid the foundations of
quantitative biology, the springboard of modern day biological
sciences. It is the quantity of molecules produced in a certain
pattern, different quantities at different times, and in different
places, that essentially give the enormous molecular and
functional diversity in the cell’s internal universe. This
phenomenon eventually translates into the planet’s vast
biodiversity. Biologists are usually refractory to quantitative
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sciences. Calculations never attracted the naturalists in earlier
times, and biology thus developed as a descriptive discipline.
Small bits of calculations on little things in our day to life and
living may help us better understand the simple implications of
Darwinian biology in our contexts.
Plantation and Forestry
Over the past few decades the tree plantation movement
has been fostered with apparently good reasons. Afforestation
schemes have been developed, social forestry and agro-forestry
schemes have been undertaken. However, the tree plantation
movement has been pursued with the notion, among other
considerations that trees are necessary to remove carbon dioxide
from the air, and replenish the air with oxygen. In addition, other
stated purposes are production of timber, fruits and vegetables,
herbal medicine, etc. These are, of course, laudable objectives, but
these do also reveal a measure of miscalculation. The consequence
of the miscalculation has been that most of these efforts failed to
produce little of the desired results.
To most people the arguments given in support of
massive tree plantation seem to be valid. However, there are other
aspects to the issue that the biologists would see in a different
perspective. In our country the arable land remains under dense
cover of rice plants nearly throughout the year, except the short
winter. Overall, most of the year presents us with a lush green
terrestrial plant cover on land, and aquatic plants in closed water
bodies such as haors and beels. Under these conditions the natural
oxygen and carbon dioxide balance in the air would be
undisturbed. One cannot reasonably assume that we will be in
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short supply of oxygen or under threat of carbon dioxide
poisoning. The notion of reducing carbon dioxide content of the
air by growing plants in large numbers carries little scientific
merit. The carbon dioxide that green plants use is converted into
carbohydrates. A part of that hydrocarbon biomass is burnt as
firewood that again produces carbon dioxide directly. Some part
of the biomass is also converted to carbon dioxide, but a little
later. In this case, the microorganisms decompose dead plants as
they feed on them for their growth, and in the process, much of
the carbohydrate is again turned into carbon dioxide. When a
crop of microorganisms dies microorganisms die other
microorganisms use their remains for their own growth. This is
the remarkable carbon cycle that keeps the carbon dioxide balance
on Earth’s biota.
The main cause of carbon dioxide build-up in the Earth’s
atmosphere lies outside the biological carbon cycle. It is caused by
the burning of fossil fuel. The fossil fuel hidden harmless
underneath the Earth is lifted by us and burnt in quantities that
defy comprehension. This produces huge quantities of carbon
dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, which causes the greatest harm
to the planet. The planet gets hotter with the consequence that
natural calamities strike us in greater frequency and stronger
intensity. The idea that by planting trees in homesteads and along
roadsides, it would be possible to mitigate the effect of massive
carbon dioxide build-up in the atmosphere carries little merit. In a
severe land constrained country like ours, the amount of carbon
dioxide sucked up by a tree would be trivial compared to the
value of the land that the tree would consume.
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But, by planting trees in a scale that we do every year, six
crore saplings in the year 2005, we are admittedly doing some
social service that is not insignificant. Sapling trade and their
planting can be a poverty alleviation tool, and indeed it is so to a
very considerable extent as most of the total cost involved in the
project goes almost entirely to the very poor. But the intended
plant cover increase outside the natural forest area, does not
match with what the expectation.
Experts have highlighted the issue of social forestry for
the past several years. Every year the plantation campaign is
carried out with zeal and its success highlighted in terms of
number of saplings planted and peoples’ acceptance of the drive
as a ‘social movement’ the scientific meaning and implications of
which is of course rarely explained. The movement, however, has
a virtue. The virtue of the movement lies in the fact that the
activity generates small income for people in acute poverty. They
can grow saplings on borrowed land and without any investment,
except the personal labour of planting and caring. The return is
some money. The plantation process supported by government
and NGOs allows some money to percolate into the different
levels of people associated with actual planting. Other than this
marginal benefit, it is difficult to imagine that we will succeed in
creating through such social forestry movement, great quantities
of timber, fuel wood or fruit. To grow a timber tree to maturity on
a time scale lying between thirty to fifty years, on a piece of land
that is under severe human pressure, the cost will inevitably
outweigh potential benefit that can be accrued from the tree.
It is tempting in this connection to take a look into a small
bit of calculation! Theoretically, if a medium-size tree has a
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canopy of 10 m x 10 m occupying an area of 100 square metres,
one can plant about 10,000 such trees in one square kilometre
area. Every year for the last 25 years we have been planting crores
of tree saplings (in the year 2004, the claimed number by the
relevant authority was 6 crores), which means we must have
planted at least 100 crore saplings over the past 25 years. In a
steady-state situation, attained after 25 years and assuming only 1
in 10 saplings standing after normal felling and replacement, we
ought to have now a standing population of 10 crore trees
covering an area 10,000 sq km. This area would be the same as the
present estimated closed forest area of the country.
The actual picture is, however, different. In 1987, an aerial
survey was carried out to measure the extra-forest tree cover of
the country. It was found that the tree cover was only 2,700 sq km,
about one-quarter of the expected area. To a biologist this would
immediately suggest the existence of a strong biotic interference
in the process, which in this case is human activity. With time, the
magnitude of this interference would increase; in 2050, perhaps
even 1 in 100 saplings planted will not reach maturity! This is a
fact of Darwinian competition, an inescapable reality. In a high-
density human population, all other forms of life that require land
to grow and multiply, will loose in struggle.
Raising saplings and their plantation in huge numbers has
been a successful social movement as claimed, but raising trees
out of those saplings to create social forest has faced the expected
Darwinian challenge, and it probably stands to loose. Country’s
tree cover that can be assigned to social forestry activities is
largely estimates of guesswork. The expected number, however,
would only be achieved under certain conditions. That is, if trees
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were left undisturbed in proper balance with population, land
availability, soil nutrition and biological competition. Under these
conditions, one would the see large stretches of social forests in
the country, but biological realism is quite different in the context
of our country and hence we meet many of the failures.
It is fair to assume that by the year 2050 almost all of our
agricultural land will have to be dedicated to cereal production,
and yet much cereal has to be imported, including everything else
– other food items such as fish, meat, fruits, spices, etc., items for
housing, shelter, clothing, medicine, home furnishing,
entertainment and clothing. In short, everything needed for
survival and comfort will have to be imported. Although we have
not yet made any careful calculation as to the limit of agricultural
productivity of the land under the confounding pressures from
population increase, decline of arable land and rise in land
toxicity, it is fair to assume that agricultural productivity of the
land will perhaps not reach the expected level, as trends in other
countries would suggest. In the absence of valid indicator about
tree plantation campaigns and social forestry programmes that
have been going on for the past few decades, little is known about
the gains made, such as relative reduction in the quantity of
imported timber, or enhanced contribution of this activity to
domestic timber requirements over the years.
This is limiting biology. Human population density
determines the competing capacity of other forms of life in a
particular landmass. This deserves proper appreciation if serious
blunders in planning are to be avoided. Why is this so? The
answer to biologists is clear; it is biological competition. We plant
tree saplings without regard to the competition factor –
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competition between plants themselves, and between plants and
human activity. We do understand the phenomenon of
competition, but we do not try to measure its extent.
Despite depleting forest cover and less than expected
success of social forestry, we undertook costly projects such as on
on rubber plantation, cotton cultivation etc., with stories of
gloomy outcomes after decades of effort. Rubber plantation is a
highly land-intensive undertaking so that in Bangladesh only the
land, which is not used for production of food, can be given to
rubber cultivation. An attempt was made during the Pakistan
time, early in the 1960s, to examine whether rubber plants would
grow in the hilly regions of Chittagong district. Encouraged by the
initial success of the trial, a more systematic project was
undertaken as a pilot programme during the 1980s with
experimental plantations established in Chittagong and Sylhet
districts, and in the Modhupur forest, for producing rubber as
‘import substitute’ for which the Asian Development Bank came
forward with substantial financial support. At this time there
were already about 5100 hectares of rubber plantation in the
country and the new programme created another 5048 hectares of
rubber estate. The state-owned Bangladesh Forest Industries
Development Corporation (BFIDC) managed these rubber
plantations. The operation of the project continued for about a
decade largely as a pilot project to examine the commercial
feasibility of rubber production in Bangladesh. Results of this
study have been evaluated and indications are that the project has
failed to perform as per expectations. In the Modhupur forest
area, out of a total plantation of 2.5 million saplings planted in
1987, only about 1.5 million survived as of 1999. The plants
reached the tapping stage subsequently, but the entire plantation
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area by then became barren because of poor management and
intensive human interference. There was little incentive for the
authority to go for tapping because very little output was
expected. So the project is formally closed with little to say about
its success.
It was estimated that from well-managed rubber
plantations comprising 11,000 hectares of marginal land, about 1
ton of dry rubber per hectare (total 11,000 metric tonnes) could be
produced per year in the country under optimum conditions. But
the financial cost of good management of the rubber estates, price
of product relative to international market price, and little
prospect of increasing the acreage for rubber to the minimum
sustainable level appeared to negate any bright future for rubber,
and yet many of our planners dream about rubber plantation in
Bangladesh! Cotton cultivation has a similar story because of
similar constraints. And, when one examines many of the projects
on development of plant products that the BCSIR is currently
working on, one ought to analyse the issue that if successful
whether the project would be so very land-intensive that its
commercial viability would be in jeopardy due to land
availability.
Inland Fishery
Inland fisheries offered good prospects at one time, but
slowly this is also loosing. Inland fisheries are based on water
bodies such as ponds, haors and beels. These are increasingly
coming under what is called eutrophication – the process of
increased nutrient levels in a closed water body. This is
particularly an important phenomenon in countries with warm
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climate and large human population living around these water
bodies, which causes the release of large quantities of organic
matter into the water. Build-up of high levels of organic matter,
which causes aquatic vegetation to overgrow, creates as a
consequence an overgrowth of zooplankton. A situation fast biotic
turnover ensues as organisms die and add to further rise in
organic matter in the pond making the pond suitable for even
greater biotic load. High levels of humus are formed from dead
vegetation and organisms that settle at the bottom of the pond
and speeds up the drying process of the pond. Every year the
nutrient level increases due to increased organic matter build-up
and the, volume of biomass production rises as a consequence.
The biomass when settles adds further to humus accumulation.
Slowly the water body becomes shallow and will be eventually
lost. The smaller is the water body, the faster will it be lost. Of
course if it is in the meantime turned into a dumping basin for
toxic industrial waste it will never be lost in this manner because
nothing will grow there to set the natural process in motion. The
larger water bodies such as the hoars and beels are slowly falling
into the claws of the eutrophication process
Fish culture in ponds is intricately linked with infectious
disease hazard, and in shrimp aquaculture, vast tracts of costal
land and human communities have been devastated in China and
many developing countries1. This has been a well-recognised
problem in many parts of the world. Because nutrient level in
fishponds is very high it makes the ponds ideal for bacterial
growth including pathogenic bacteria, turning ponds into
recognized focal points for outbreaks of many bacterial infectious
diseases in countries with a mild climate and high population
density.
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We had begun inland fish culture with great enthusiasm with
some early success but this is unlikely to sustain because demand
of fish will increase for the growing population and water bodies
would consequently disappear is faster rate. It is indeed a matter
of conjecture as to how long our inland fisheries will be profitable
in the present circumstances without costly and frequent pond
excavation and institution of safety measures to ensure that fish
ponds do not easily turn into focal point for infectious disease
outbreaks.
Agro-Based Economy
We may pause to recapitulate our relative advantage.
With population density rapidly approaching 1000 persons per
square kilometre, it is a fair conclusion that we should be
prepared to accept agriculture as only a subsistence activity, not a
growing enterprise since we would have no advantage of
economy of scale in production in this sector due to land scarcity.
1. Daniel Pauly et al. 2002. Towards Sustainability in World Fisheries. Nature 418, 689- 694.
The fact that 80% of the population still relies for their livelihood,
directly or indirectly, on the work that do on land, is important
factor to consider at the present time, but it may not be so in the
future. At present, the vast majority of the adult population of the
country live on agriculture. Their roots are in the vanishing land.
The land where they work represents their legal existence. If one
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casually asks any farmer about what he thinks about the future of
his agriculture, he will emphatically say that it is bleak and
worsening day by day. This is the farmer’s wisdom, and it is not
to be discounted.
Even if we dedicate all the available land to mainly rice
and wheat cultivation, it will still be inadequate for self-
sufficiency in cereal production. It is imperative that we
understand critically our position in this regard. We are
traditionally fixed to the notion that ours is an agricultural
country. It was certainly so at one time, but we failed to
appreciate that it will cease to be so due to pressure of growing
population.
The growth rate in agricultural GDP1 during the First Five
Year Plan (1973-1978) was 4.9%, during the Fourth Five Year Plan
(1990-1995) it declined to 0.86%. This is so despite intensive
resource mobilisation in the agriculture sector. No doubt, our
agriculture sector still represents the largest producer of the
1. Akash, M. M. 2002. Agriculture Sector: on the Threshold of the Twenty-First Century. In ‘Bangladesh on the Threshold of the Twenty-First Century’, Ed. A. M. Chowdhury and Fakrul Alam, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, pp. 598.
nation’s goods and services, but it is partly a function of the large
population attached to the land for survival. With the agricultural
land that may recede to barely 90,000 sq km by 2030, and the
population rising to twice its present size to approximately 300
million, it is difficult to imagine good growth of the agriculture
sector.
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To think of a robust agro-based economy in Bangladesh
with its receding land to man ratio is, of course, overly optimistic.
Although our planners, politicians, development experts and
NGOs currently support this sector, it is done for a different
reason. It is not difficult to see that livestock will be limited by
grass availability and poor animal health care facilities, and will
be largely restricted to short-term low gain poverty alleviation
schemes targeted to the very poor since in this activity the
owner’s labour is the only investment needed to bring a cow to a
level of economic worthiness in a short time. This is a low-risk
venture. The cost of keeping a cow in our country is not high,
even on the meagre roadside grasses and a modest ration of
straw, a cow still would give milk and produce calves that can be
sold for a profit within three to four years. This low gain
enterprise suits those who have no capacity to gain from any
other formal activity. In the longer term, however, this gain will
also disappear because cows will die faster due to severe
malnutrition and vulnerability to disease, making this a risky and
unworthy investment. Under the WTO agreement developing
countries must reduce their trade barriers by 2004, and experts
believe that one likely consequence of this shift in the low-income
agriculture-dependent countries will be that since international
price of cereals will increase, many countries will have to reduce
their dependence on cereal import. This will require raising cereal
production, which we will have to double by the year 2040 when
the population will double. The question will then be where will
we have the land to support livestock as a long-term viable
activity?
Catch 22
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Thus, with no advantage of land, shall we give our land
to subsistence farming to grow rice, and meet as much of the
domestic need as possible? Or, use the land to grow value added
crops for export (selected fruits, vegetables, medicinal herbs,
ornamental plants, flowers, etc.) and the income earned is then
used to buy rice and other essential agricultural items at
international price? In effect, this will mean turning the rice-fields
into higher cash-value crops for external consumption, and in
return, buying rice at high price for internal needs. This is an
important matter deserves serious study. Future research in the
plant sciences should not loose sight of this important
consideration. If contract farming, farming that will be
undertaken by landowners to sell produce for the specific purpose
of export, can earn ten times more profit from the same acre of
land than the value of rice produced in it, the issue would
certainly merit serious consideration. And, farming is better than
seeding the entire country with industrial units under investors’
interest from abroad due to our advantageous carbon quota
margin and cheap labour. On a population-size basis, Bangladesh
is entitled to emit far more carbon into the atmosphere than we
are doing at present. But farming is better than what this carbon
emission quota advantage will bring for us because the latter
would cause pollution of land, air and water much faster, and
with far more toxic substances than farming will do in its most
intensive form. But there is a contingency here – industrialization
spreads fast, farming is slow. The biologists are obliged to offer
the needed speed to farming to successfully compete with
industrialization. But the aim would be highly specific – only to
attain self-sufficiency in cereal production.
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Biodiversity Preservation: a Daunting Task
Depletion of biodiversity is recognised as a global
problem. Despite sincere efforts it is a matter of doubt how much
our efforts on biodiversity conservation in Bangladesh will
succeed. World population increase, which is projected to rise to 9
billion from the present 6 billion, and the expected increase in
human activity, would threaten the biotic balance on earth, with
the consequent risk of many plant and animal species facing
extinction. Biological material provides the basis for many
industrial raw materials and drugs. In 1992 the Biodiversity
Convention was adopted at the Earth Summit held in Rio de
Janeiro, which granted sovereignty on biological resources to all
nations to stimulate conservation efforts. The WTO, which went
further in this respect. It granted patentability of genetic material.
Individual genes including human genes and its many variants
are now patentable. In other words, there is enormous genetic
diversity within human beings akin to the planet’s biodiversity.
Genes are responsible for both health and disease. Knowledge of
disease causing genes such as those known in cancer and genes
that confer resistance to attack by, for instance, cholera can
provide potential tools for treatment and prevention of many
diseases. The genetic diversity thus has tremendous commercial
value today because of its patentability, that is, genes are
legitimate objects of trade. The larger and the more heterogeneous
is a population, the greater is the chance of finding a useful
variant of a gene.
Our plant’s biodiversity is rich but its conservation is not
easy, and will be costly because of the inescapable intense
population pressure. Environmental organisations have been
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quite active for the past decades in assessing the loss of
biodiversity, and developing effective methods of conservation.
The issue of biodiversity conservation in Bangladesh has to be
distinctively appreciated. It has to be appreciated first that
conservation of the country’s plant resources in natural habitats
would be nearly impossible here due to intense human pressure
on land. Then, of course, we must ask the important question –
why should we conserve, and how? Three purposes of
conservation are: conservation for pleasure and preservation of
natural heritage, conservation for using the plant resource in
established trade and, finally, conservation for scientific studies
for new discoveries.
Our conservation strategy has to be developed in the
context of our specific purpose. We ought to find answers to
questions such as if a medicinal plant, for instance, needs a
million hectares of arable land to support a viable industry, can
we find the land to grow the plant biomass? And, if this route to
using plant biodiversity were not an option for us, then which
conservation strategy would we adopt? Scientific discoveries
using plant biodiversity is heavily dependent on a strong S&T
base, which we lack at present, but it is certainly a worthwhile
area to pursue seriously and immediately because soon we may
loose this advantage due to loss of material, and strong
competition from other countries. Conservation can be addressed
at the social level such as awareness creation as being currently
done by some NGOs, and at the scientific level, which needs
skilled scientific manpower and costly equipment to do the
conservation work. Prudent decisions are to be taken on the
question as to whether we should do conservation here, or we join
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international efforts in the matter with due protection to the
sovereignty clause on biodiversity convention.
As opposed to plant biodiversity, we have the advantage
of human biodiversity. Our human genetic diversity is enormous,
and despite our best efforts to contain our population, it will keep
increasing through the better part of the century. An appreciation
of this fact, and measures to exploit this resource ought to be a
critical element of our planning. Bangladesh government is
considering legislation to protect our biodiversity in the light of
the Biodiversity Convention treaty to which Bangladesh is a
signatory. Two pieces of legislation – ‘The Biodiversity Community
Knowledge Protection Act of Bangladesh’ and ‘Plant Varieties Act of
Bangladesh’ – are now being considered. It is important that the
legislation also covers conservation of our human genetic
diversity.
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Seven
National Science and Technology Policy
Planning process in different sectors is based on specific
contexts of the country’s needs and its advantages, which in an
atmosphere of idealistic zeal can often be missed. In science and
technology planning for instance, the process is more difficult
than building roads or sinking tube wells. The nation’s S&T policy
that exists now suffers from many inadequacies.
There is often lack of clarity on the issues of ‘science
policy’ and ‘scientific planning’. This adversely affects proper
structuring of scientific activities in many developing countries,
because these words can be applied interchangeably, resulting in
overlapping and faulty planning. The relationship between policy
and plan is somewhat similar to that between ethics and rules.
Ethics determines the general principles, and provides the basis
on which rules of conduct are framed. For example, love and
knowledge can be considered as ethical parameters, and rules
framed on the basis of these parameters are more likely to be
beneficial to humankind, less likely to be harmful. Science policy
should, in fact, provide analogous directions by accurately
defining the important parameters relevant to the country, and it
ought to clearly suggest ways on the basis of which both the long-
term and short-term scientific workplan should be developed.
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POLICY STRATEGY
A policy takes into account the important socio-economic
and cultural aspects of the country and provides choices for
anticipatory decision-making. When several routes are available,
the policy would define or even dictate, what ought to be
followed in the nation’s science and technology development.
Every country has unique socio-economic attributes, human and
material resource profiles, and geographic and cultural
distinctiveness. A sound science and technology policy should
have two categories of statements. One category would be
generalized statements that would suggest certain principles in
general terms on which the policy is based. For example,
assertions such as the aim of the policy is to attain science and
technological competence and self-reliance in order to improve
productivity and employment, to advance the frontiers of
knowledge and such other intentions as one can find in most
science and technology policy preambles.
The policy should also contain another category of
statements pertaining to the circumstances of the country, and
present suitable options. The latter is critical in any situation, but
more so for us since in many ways our circumstances are unique,
as discussed in an earlier chapter. Certain policy statements in our
country contexts should receive the highest consideration. For
example, serious consideration must be given to the fact that in
agricultural sector we may never acquire any advantage of
economy of scale in production, so that planners understand how
much investment is justified, and for how long. Then there ought
to be statements on other critical issues such toxicity of land, air
and water, as we will have to use large quantities of fertiliser and
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pesticide for increased productivity, and the toxic residues will be
deposited in a relatively small landmass.
When the issue of environmental toxicity is evaluated
with two other attributes of the country – small landmass and a
large population – the result would have disturbing implications.
Toxicity level in our country is likely to be much higher per unit
land area because of high levels of fertiliser and insecticide use.
This would be aggravated by the fact that we do not have any
advantage in rapid dilution of toxicity, which a country with
relatively large land area gets. In countries with similar level of
use of these insecticides and pesticides, but distributed over a
much larger land area, the level of toxicity build-up on land will
be admittedly slower. Thus, the S&T policy statement should
address such issues, in order to bring these into intellectual focus.
These issues would then be more stringently reflected in the
action plan.
The S&T policy of any country has to be a carefully
designed document developed painstakingly by scientists,
technologists, economists and development experts working
together. This is an extremely important issue where lapses may
render even the most sincere efforts fruitless. Policy developers
must have sharp vision on the important country perspectives,
and not merely be driven by flamboyant perceptions, often
borrowed, which generally lead to the policy being a document of
pleasant tone, but little value.
The scientific action plan, as opposed to policy statement,
selects the appropriate route to undertake a given task at a given
time and under a given set of circumstances. It determines
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priorities and defines the modalities through which it is to be
executed. The action plan draws its force from the policy; it is by
itself without much intrinsic strength. An example may be
illuminating. When it is asserted in the policy that vertical
productivity of land must be ensured, the plan of action takes lead
from this assertion and decides, for instance, that one way to do
this is to use high yielding varieties of crop plants, and discourage
agricultural activities that put greater demands on land without
adding greater value to the products.
Priority fixation is an essential component of a good
science and technology action plan. Clearly, no country,
particularly no developing country can hope to do several things
simultaneously because of various constraints. Goals that are
identified as of high priority can be achieved through several
possible routes of which the one with the greatest potential for
success in the context of the country should be selected. The most
important thing that comes to influence the selection process is the
specific-country situation in terms of natural resources, the level
of socio-economic development, availability of trained manpower,
cultural background of the people and certainly political stability.
The S&T plan is thus a detailed description of the specific
undertakings that have been identified as reflecting the subject
and spirit of the S&T policy and is presented both as a short-term
plan of action, usually 5 years, and a long-term one, which could
span over a period of 10 to 25 years. The S&T plan thus charts the
most productive path scientifically and technologically, as it must
also define resource requirements and resource availability in
order to ensure successful execution of the plan. The plan thus
provides the operational details to the country’s overall S&T
activity over a given period of time, and must be very specific to
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the areas of work and the projects of priority. In many developing
countries one often finds the existence of an S&T policy that is
described only in broad terms without an accompanying S&T
plan, or just a ‘policy’ with a hybrid make-up that serves the dual
purpose of both a policy and a plan. This is reflective of an
improper perception of the overall issue of science in the context
of its relationship with economic development strategy.
It is suggested by experts that the S&T workplan should
be as detailed as the nation’s economic development plan, and
may span over a similar length of time (5 years) prioritising the
activities to be undertaken sector-wise, identifying the targets to
be achieved, developing methods for evaluation, specifying major
projects in some areas, and suggesting the critical implementation
path. The resources necessary for the entire workplan, manpower
requirement and funding, should be clearly indicated and source
of funding suggested, so that uninterrupted flow of funds is
ensured for the operation of the plan.
In the execution of an S&T workplan, a class of
institutions, the R&D institutions, are the vehicles for
implementation of the workplan. The relationship between
development goal, S&T policy and S&T workplan, and the
activities of the R&D institutions is generally seen as follows:
Development Objective : To increase, for instance, capacity
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of the manufacturing sector, causing
reduction in importation of capital
goods.
S&T Policy : The S&T policy will provide guidelines
to specifically determine the areas of
science and technology that should be
activated in order to reach the objective.
S&T Workplan : Development of a workplan specifying
projects, the participating institutions,
mode of operation, and budget
formulation.
R&D Activity : Execution of the workplan by pre-
industrial research that is carried out by
the R&D institutions.
In the development planning, S&T is a distinct sector in
Bangladesh. It encompasses the whole spectrum of activities that
relate to scientific and technological manpower development and
scientific and technological research, including R&D work.
Overall, therefore, the R&D activity of a country may reflect only
a fraction of nation’s total S&T activity. It is not clear what
distinction is made in our planning process between the above
aspects. All of our state-run general universities offer a range of
science subjects in undergraduate and postgraduate levels. These
are certainly part of nation’s S&T activity, but these are also parts
of the country’s higher education sector. The National Science and
Technology Policy adopted by a cabinet decision in 1986, which is
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in force with some minor modifications to date, does not clearly
define these issues.
THE POLICY
Background
Bangladesh did not inherit a science policy, because at the
time of independence in 1971, Pakistan also had none. With one-
eighth of 1% GNP being spent by Pakistan in the S&T sector for
the Eastern wing, little science could be expected. Overall, it was
the efforts of some towering scientists, personalities like Professor
Salam in West Pakistan that, in effect, solely presented our
nation’s scientific image to the outside world during the pre-
independence time.
Among the developing countries, India’s position is
laudable in science and technology planning. India enjoys the
advantage of a rich background of scientific culture, which greatly
contributed to the accomplishments that has India made in S&T
today. After independence in 1947, the then Prime Minister of
India, Pundit Nehru himself took the responsibility of the nation’s
science and technology sector. He had relied considerably on the
advice of the prominent Indian physicist Meghnad Shah in
developing the strategy of how to consolidate S&T in India.
Among the first steps that Nehru took to strengthen India’s
science and technology profile was the declaration that Indians
themselves must develop India’s science and that the home must
be the pulpit where Indian science has to be cultivated and
nourished. A strong research programme was initiated in the
universities to produce high-quality scientists with doctoral
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degree. The University Grants Commission was created to
facilitate the programme. Generous financial support was
extended to all deserving scientists, who showed promise in
research. Laboratories were equipped with the latest scientific
instruments at great cost in order to generate momentum in
scientific research. The Ph.D. programme launched at all the
leading universities of the country played a strong role in further
stimulating a culture of research and of self-esteem. This paid a
great dividend; soon the Indian scientists reached a position from
where they could successfully compete with the advanced
laboratories of the western countries. Indian scientists after
earning Ph.D. from Indian universities maintained their scientific
link with western laboratories through their post-doctoral
research work. They undertook this at prestigious institutions
abroad, where they were highly acclaimed because of superior
background. After post-doctoral training most of them returned to
India with the definite knowledge that on their return they will
find matching work opportunities at home. Thus, an environment
of both challenge and opportunity was created within the country,
almost entirely by the vision of Nehru and through his personal
efforts. Nehru saw that the future of the great country rests
entirely on cultivation of science and technology, and its
application to nation building.
A significant step for which Nehru received high
admiration was that he constituted in 1956 the Scientific Advisory
Committee to the Cabinet comprising top scientists of the nation
and with wide-ranging terms of reference. Subsequently, in 1958
Nehru introduced a historical resolution in the Parliament. The
resolution, which was readily adopted by the Parliament,
provided strong government support to the nation’s scientific
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aspirations. The Parliament resolved to “secure for the people of the
country all the benefits that can accrue from the acquisition and
application of scientific knowledge”. The resolution had far-reaching
effects on the development of science and technology in India. In
essence, it became almost a constitutional provision and all
governments that came to power honoured this resolution almost
as a constitutional obligation. The resolution gave the necessary
stability to the S&T planning process over the decades that
followed, and today India is the beneficiary of this far-sighted
vision.
The circumstances in Bangladesh were unfortunately
quite different. Bangladesh, in the decade that followed
independence, had to tackle the problems of a war-torn economy
and had little time or resource to devote to science and
technology. The 20 or so R&D institutions that were inherited
from Pakistan, some in important sectors such as rice and jute,
were already in a precarious condition during the Pakistan time,
and continued to exist in this manner during the early years of
Bangladesh. Towards the end of 1970s, conditions improved a
little, and it was then possible for the government to pay some
attention to the science and technology sector. This resulted in the
formulation of the first National Science and Technology Policy in
1980. But soon afterwards, the country transited into martial law
that again precipitated stagnancy in science and technology
planning. In 1983, however, renewed interest in science resulted
in the creation of high-powered committee, the National
Committee for Science and Technology (NCST). The NCST was
formed in May 1983, as per a cabinet decision, with the President
and the Chief Martial Law Administrator as the Chairman of the
Committee.
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The committee studied the S&T policy of 1980 and came
to the conclusion that it had major deficiencies. For instance, it
only outlined the ‘broad objectives’ in the S&T sector, without
defining the guiding principles that ought to drive the policy.
Furthermore, the committee concluded, the 1980 policy failed to
address one important issue – that is, it ‘did not form a part of the
national development plan’. The committee adjudged these
deficiencies to be sufficiently serious, and felt the need of a new
science and technology policy.
The new NCST Committee had fifteen members,
representing various ministries, and seven scientists selected by
the government to represent the major scientific institutions.
These seven scientists were selected by virtue of their being heads
of seven important scientific institutions of the country. The
institutions were: Diabetic Association of Bangladesh, Bangladesh
Agricultural University, Bangladesh University of Engineering
and Technology, Rajshahi University, Bangladesh Atomic Energy
Commission, Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial
Research, and Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council.
Interestingly, the nation’s oldest and the premier university, the
University of Dhaka, was not included among these seven
institutions. Why the University of Dhaka, which was established
at least half a century before these seven institutions were created,
and which had in its operational perimeter the nation’s entire
system of medical education, vital for in any developing country,
had to had to face this humiliation was never explained to the
nation. Similarly inexplicable was the fact that representatives of
some ministries were included in the Committee that had little
relevance to the activity of the Committee, such as, Secretary of
Local Government Division, and Secretary of the Cabinet
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Division. Furthermore, the committee had also the distinction of
having an odd ratio of administrators to scientists; it was 2:1.
Formation of an executive committee of the NCST was
also approved in order to carry out the functions of NCST. The
number of members in the executive committee was not specified,
but the executive committee was to include ‘concerned Ministers’,
‘concerned Secretaries’, and three ‘eminent scientists’ to be
nominated by the NCST. The executive committee was to be
headed by the Deputy Chief Martial Law Administrator, and it
had the power to include in the committee any number of non-
scientist members. Sadly, however, the number of scientists in the
executive committee was kept at an immutable figure of three.
Thus, the very structure of the executive committee was faulty.
An important committee, created by an important policy to steer
an important sector, was itself so poorly formed that a shadow of
doubt was immediately cast as to its ability to address any serious
scientific issue.
The NCST, however, undertook the task of preparing a
national policy on science and technology, a policy that was to
replace the one made in 1980, and expectedly, to be one of
superior merit. The task of drafting the policy was given to the
executive committee of the NCST that had three scientists in it.
The executive committee of the NCST worked for three
years to develop a draft of the National Science and Technology
Policy. Many seminars, workshops and discussion sessions were
held over these years to examine the issues involved, and to
develop the framework for the policy. After years of hard work, a
document entitled “National Science and Technology Policy” was
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produced, which the Cabinet approved in 1986, and after gazette
notification, the 19-page document was made publicly available in
printed form.
Core of the Policy
In the Preamble of the policy two important statements
are made – that science and technology is to be harnessed to reach
national socio-economic goals, and that there is a lack of clear
perception on the special nature of the R&D institutions and their
management. The aims and objectives of the policy are – to attain
scientific and technological competence and self-reliance, to help
increase production and employment in various sectors, to
contribute to worldwide pool of knowledge, to encourage
scientific co-operation between different countries and to provide
guidelines for institutional rearrangements in the R&D structure
of the nation, which will include education and training.
The National Science and Technology Policy is organised
under five major headings. A one and a half page Preamble
presents the meaning of the terms ‘science’ and ‘technology’, their
role in the socio-economic development of a nation, and the
reasons for our backwardness such as deficiency in science and
technology development and of scientific knowledge. It strongly
argues for high national priority to science and technology. The
next heading in the policy is ‘Aims and Strategy’ which provides
in one page, a description of the general aims of the S&T policy
such as attainment of scientific and technological competence and
self-reliance, contribution to global repertoire of scientific
knowledge, co-operation between nations in developing S&T and
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rearranging R&D structure of the country including ‘education
and training’.
Then the policy presents the important part of the
document, which is described as ‘Major elements of science and
technology policy’ which runs across twelve pages, with its
content described under twelve sub-headings. This section
outlines in considerable details a large number of functions, all
advisory, that the NCST is required to perform. These include,
among others, R&D co-ordination, selection of R&D priorities in
different sectors of the economy, institutional capability
enhancement, and manpower development.
The NCST also assumed a role in the improvement of the
standard of science education in schools, colleges and universities,
in securing career development opportunities for the scientists
and technologists, in creation of mass awareness of science,
development of indigenous technology, and organising a scientific
documentation system for the nation. A statement recommending
the enhancement of S&T spending from 0.3% of GNP at that time
to 1% was included together with some suggested measures to
supplement this enhanced S&T spending, such as participation of
the users of science, levy on all productive (manufacturing)
sectors, obtaining support from external sources, etc.
Section 4 devotes a paragraph on one of the most
important roles of the NCST, a role that was not given to the
committee under its terms of reference when it was formed. This
function was later incorporated; it was formulation of the S&T
Action Plan. Section 5 of the policy is a preview of the future,
visions of hope, and prosperity for the nation in the days ahead.
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The National Science and Technology Policy came into
effect in 1986, but the implementation of the policy lay in
hibernation until early 1990s, that is, after the country had
returned to civilian rule and took its first steps to democracy. At
about this time, winds of sweeping economic changes also began
to be felt across the world requiring fundamental changes in the
planning and management of most sectors, including S&T.
Transition to market economy demanded high priority to be
placed on foreign investments in profitable sectors in order to put
momentum to economic growth and the nation’s wealth building
process. There was consequently little attention given to S&T
development during the early 1990s, which continued through the
decade with the unfortunate consequence that we entered into the
new millennium with very little progress in the S&T sector.
Free market assumes as its primary function, rapid
economic growth – that is, rapid increase in nation’s wealth. The
radical free market advocates are also stern growth advocates and
are not willing to accept indigenous S&T development as a part of
economic development, because if economic development is tied
with indigenous S&T development, the former will move at a
slower pace, which is unacceptable to the proponents of the free
market. Admittedly, it was a difficult transition for the country
with no experience of the winds of change, and little expertise to
handle the crosscurrents of global trade. Economic development is
the major need of the time, according to the growth advocates,
and the necessary technology for this should be imported, if not
available in the country. In any event, the pace of growth cannot
be compromised by adherence to indigenous S&T development.
These circumstances had their anticipated effects on the nation’s
science and technology activities, which could not be pursued
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with any degree of seriousness. Thus, despite being an important
document nation, the policy could not be put to test.
The maiden steps of developing the science policy began
at a time when the ripples of the free market were not sufficiently
strong. But the final shape of the policy took place during the
period when Bangladesh began actual transit into the free market,
and thus had little scope to address the important issues related to
S&T’s place in a free market. In the free market, economic growth
is deemed to be the supreme need of the nation, which is to be
achieved, if necessary, bypassing indigenous S&T development.
The S&T policy, on the contrary, was based on the strategy of
integrating S&T fully with the country’s socio-economic
development plans and strongly emphasised promotion of
indigenous S&T development. Thus it collided head on with the
market forces immediately after its formulation.
By far the most important function of the NCST was
preparation of the S&T action plan. Certain attributes of the action
plan had been suggested in the policy. That is, the action plan will
be undertaken as a multi-sectorial, interactive and collaborative
process with scientists, technologists, economists and
development experts participating in the making of the S&T
action plan. The time frame of an action plan is an important
policy issue. An S&T plan requires a long time to prepare, and
obviously its working span has to be several times longer than its
preparation time. An action plan, certainly, cannot be a one-year
plan; it has to be either a three-year plan, or perhaps a 5-year plan.
The S&T policy ought to define these important parameters and
suggest actual resource allocation and tenable strategy for
resource mobilisation, in order to implement the action plan.
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The Misplaced Attributes
There are many elements necessary for science and
technology development in a country. One is a pragmatic science
and technology (S&T) policy, and a sound mechanism for its
implementation. A good S&T policy should not be based on
academic premises only, but should consider both the potential
areas of advantages, and the factors that are special to the
country. These parameters would influence the productivity of
scientific efforts. As noted, a reflection of these aspects has been
lacking in our scientific planning, which has significantly deterred
progress in science and technology sector. Although we adopted
the National Science and Technology Policy in 1986, the policy
failed to align itself with the socio-economic attributes of the
country. Indeed, the precision with which this alignment is
accomplished, determines success. This, unfortunately, is not
obvious in the policy.
Critical examination of the National Science and
Technology Policy presents a rather panoramic landscape to its
readers. It touches on nearly everything thereby compromising
with its focus. The functions of the NCST as outlined in the policy
are rather narrow in scope. It had three important advisory
functions given at the time of its formulation – recommending a
national science and technology policy, suggesting priorities of
research areas, and co-ordination of research activity with
development activity. The S&T policy has, in addition, given the
committee nine more advisory functions, and the additional
‘supervisory’ function over a national scientific documentation
system.
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One should not fail to note that most of the issues in the
policy were drawn in the context of Pakistan. This perhaps caused
some omissions in the policy. For example, in Pakistan at that time
there was no impending need to be concerned with land
constraints. West Pakistan had plenty of land relative to its
population, that is, it had a favourable per capita land quota and a
low population density (50 million people in an area of 800,000
square kilometres). These are still at a reasonable level in
Pakistan, due to the large area although population has increased
three times.
Pakistan may be pardoned for omission of these aspects
in our context, but when we wrote the policy the policy, it was no
more Pakistan. And, without doing serious homework we wrote
the policy with careless disregard to our circumstances.
The science policy conspicuously failed to address the
changed circumstances as it related to agriculture,
industrialisation, communication, housing and many other
important sectors. A sound policy must not only provide sound
working frame for the present, but it must also foresee the future
and develop a policy with sufficient momentum to tread along the
future years smoothly. We inherited institutions that were made
to work in the context of Pakistan, and we continued to work on
their strategy to build our future. That was perhaps a serious
mistake.
A National Committee on Science and Technology should
primarily involve scientists and technologists with, of course, the
participation of development experts. The example of India in this
regard is illuminating. The Indian National Committee on Science
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and Technology was formed in 1971, after the issue was
thoroughly discussed at a national conference in 1970. The
composition of the committee was remarkable. The committee
had ten members including the Minister for Science and
Technology as its Chairman, and nine working scientists, as
opposed to heads of institutions that characterised our National
Committee on Science and Technology. The working scientists
were selected from among the most talented pool of scientists in
the country with considerable sectorial expertise. No heads of
institutions were included in the committee, which was done to
prevent institutional loyalty from playing any role in the
functioning of the committee.
The issue of recruiting only the working scientists in the
NCST in India, and its conspicuous omission by us, merits
dispassionate debate. Admittedly, India has a large reservoir of
very high quality scientists in all fields. We are at a disadvantage
in this regard because the impact of brain drain on our relatively
small scientific workforce was more pronounced than that in
India. India was able to absorb the drainage impact better. No
doubt, we did have some talented working scientists in various
institutions of the country, but they were unrecognised. The drive
for becoming administrative scientist is strong in our culture, and
anyone not aligned to this track cannot be easily traced. Scientists
in the administrative ranks are by no means less talented, but the
enormous burden of administration, most of which is unnecessary
and wasteful, soon puts them out of the scientific work track and
soon they find themselves far removed from the mainstream of
science at work.
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Our National Committee on Science and Technology has
15 non-scientist members – the head of Government, Ministers
and Secretaries – and 7 scientists all of whom were selected on the
basis of their being institutional heads. Merit of this procedure
obviously is questionable, as much as it is defeating for proper
scientific development. The policy, one might note, had been
written under a military government, with the head of the
government preparing for a transition to civilian rule. Perhaps
this influenced the process and led to this populist approach to a
most vital activity of the nation.
The NCST has no secretariat, perhaps a meagre operating
budget, and it rarely had any meetings after it submitted the
Science and Technology Policy in 1986. Only during the early
1990s the committee began to sit in formal meetings, albeit at long
intervals, but to-date, as of the year 2006, the most important task
of developing an S&T workplan has not been completed.
A poorly conceived S&T policy fails to discern between
mundane matters of the country and the key elements important
in building the country’s future. The success of scientific planning
depends on a clear realisation of these aspects and how these are
likely to influence the outcome of the plan in the long run. The
important issues relevant to us were not altogether unknown at
the time the policy was written. It was already known then the
major elements of the demographic profile of the country such as
population growth, population density, decline in arable land, etc.
The meaning of these in our socio-economic contexts should not
have escaped attention The per capita arable land in Bangladesh
is already the lowest in the world, about 865 square meter
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compared to 1,109 in Sri Lanka, 1,377 in Nepal, 1,855 in Pakistan,
and 1,995 in India.
Errors In Research Thrust
The S&T policy identified 10 sectors for research and
suggested indicative thrust areas of R&D research in these sectors,
apparently without regard to what ought to have been a critical
question. That is, maximising vertical land use, which if not
emphasised as a policy statement, may be easily overlooked in
subsequent planning. Areas where we have comparative
advantage have not been identified in the policy, so that the rather
wide range of activities indicated under the thrust areas appears
to be largely academic in tone. Too many areas have been
included in the list without any qualification or explanation. No
doubt, many of these thrust areas are important, but more
important is the issue of deciding what we can do and what we
cannot, given our critical limitations. Decimating land, an
increasing population, lack of raw materials for industry,
population pressure on land, were the issues that ought to have
been considered in pragmatic terms. But the policy conceived
instead, for instance, the creation of heavy industry. One can see
today that very few of the thrust areas suggested in the policy
produced any tangible results. In fact, in most areas we retracted
on the face of strong global competition. It was soon to be found
that commodities that we produced in low volumes, and
consequently at high cost, could be purchased from external
sources at a far cheaper price.
Throughout the policy, nowhere is there a reference to
what eventually will be our primary and sustainable export. No
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country can survive in today’s world without exporting goods
and services. Can we export goods that require vast land to
produce? Can we achieve any economy of scale on our land-based
agricultural produce; indeed, can we compete in trading with our
agricultural goods on any significant scale for any significant
length of time?
The only sustainable commodity with a lasting export
market is the skill of the hands, skills for which there will be a
demand in the world market. Thus, a policy statement on
exportable technical skills and the strategy of their development
ought to have been the most important component of the S&T
policy. Human development pertains to the empowerment of
people with knowledge and skill that would, in turn, fuel socio-
economic development process. Creation of wealth is an economic
goal, and the ingredients that enhance the process are the
resource, which for us is our technical manpower. Although the
issue of human development has been mentioned in the policy,
the strategic route to achieve this rapidly and profitably was not
addressed.
Lack of a sound S&T policy and an S&T infrastructure led
to brain drain. The government had little incentive to invest in
S&T because the scientists failed to give anything tangible to the
country. The vicious cycle ensued – bright scientists left the
country, which in consequence further depressed S&T
development. No one could see an end to the cycle. But a
potential solution was hidden, in part, in timely discovering the
unseen scientists. A few talented scientists from the fleeing
caravan could have been stopped by only one thing – opportunity
for work here that would earn them name comparable to their
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western counterparts. These unseen scientists would stay back
home perhaps due to patriotism or their dislike for western life.
But we failed to realise that we do have such a crop of scientists.
We have spoken of centres of excellence, which have not come
forth despite good intentions because we could not foresee how
such centres should be created and operated. If all want to turn
excellent, only the true excellent disappears. If a single centre of
excellence had been created and operated properly, and if it could
deter one in ten, or even one in a hundred scientists from crossing
the sea, it could still make a difference in the structure of our S&T
today. One good centre of excellence with a small number of
talented working scientists would have created today ten such
centres, and a few hundred bright scientists.
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Eight
Scientific Publications
Science is for sharing, and the traditional vehicle for
sharing is publication of scientific work in printed medium, and
thereby, to place the work in public domain. Publication is highly
weighted in evaluating scientists in all countries of the world. The
means of evaluation are the subject of critical scientific study as to
methodology and efficacy. Scientific publication is so much
important now in the career of a scientist it often turns into a
passion in the scientific community. Publish or perish is a popular
joke in the most developed country of the world, the USA. But it
is often a cruel joke, for without papers scientists inevitably perish
there, as they perhaps do lesser degree, elsewhere.
Indeed, scholarly publication is an integral part of the
mankind’s creative activity. It is the vehicle by which knowledge
gained today is passed on to the posterity. Progress of science or
any other discipline of human inquiry has been intimately linked
with the practice of keeping records of discoveries, initially in
hand-written form and later in print. Written records relieved
modern science from the esoteric component that characterized
science of the past. This practice greatly facilitated dissemination
of scientific knowledge in a readily accessible manner. At the
same time, dissemination makes public revelation of scientific
discoveries possible and provides a platform for competition,
which is, for the most part, healthy as it contributes to
development of science as a discipline of free inquiry although too
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much emphasis on publication can also have its negative effects as
well. Unrestrained zeal for rapid recognition in the scientific
world is now so strongly evident among scientists that scandals
are common, which too often tarnish the nobility of science.
In earlier times, learned societies kept records of scientific
work in the form of proceedings of the scientific deliberations. The
proceedings were published and distributed to its members free
of cost. The cost of publishing the proceedings was met by the
society’s own resources, usually from membership fees and
donations received from different sources. As the level of
scientific activities grew, the volume of scientific literature also
increased. Today, scientific literature is indeed so vast that it
subdues every other discipline of inquiry at the present time. As
the volume of scientific publication grew, the cost factor was no
more a trivial matter. It became impossible to adhere to the
scholarly creed that let no scientific knowledge be left unknown
for want of money to print it. Although most scientific societies
still undertake publication on a cost recovery basis, the ripples of
market economy and profit factor are slowly infiltrating into this
domain. And indeed there are already examples of considerable
success in scientific publication trade made by some
organisations. This trend will grow further as the market forces
gain in strength.
PUBLICATIONS: LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL
As in science, scholarly publications in other fields such
as history, arts, humanities, culture, music, archaeology,
anthropology, politics and similar other disciplines reflect creative
potential of peoples of different culture and different heritage.
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Work in these disciplines, however, are generally of local or
regional interest, as the academic appeal of such work may not
ordinarily transcend the national boundaries, or even the barriers
of language within the nation. As such, in these areas, scholarly
journals that are published locally have traditionally played a
pivotal role in fostering the people’s creative efforts. We also have
a rich heritage in these fields, which is substantiated by the
existence of high quality local journals since long past in arts,
history, music, archaeology and the like.
Scientific publications are, however, somewhat different.
Science is international, a heritage of specialised knowledge for
humankind. Scientific journals are also expected to carry an
international in tone. It is therefore not surprising that within
scientific communities in most countries, particularly the
developing world, there is a noticeable zeal to characterise their
scientific journals as international publications. This claim is
usually established by the fact that these journals are distributed
in a token scale outside the home country. They also publish a
small number of papers received from other countries, and carry
an international serial publication number, the ISSN (International
Standard Serial Number), which can be readily obtained, as the
granting organisation only requires regularity of publication of
the journal for assigning a number. The ISSN, therefore, does not
impart any special value to the journal as to its scientific merit,
although it does add an international flavour to it, which, many
organisations of the developing countries take as a token of
recognition. Also, some journals have a few subscriptions from
abroad and are abstracted and indexed by some abstracting
organisations. Abstracting confers further credence to the
journals’ international tone.
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As such, and quite expectedly, there are great variations
in the standard of scientific journals published worldwide, both
from the advanced countries and the developing countries.
Among the hundreds of journals that are published regularly
throughout the world, only a few are of high merit, where only
the very best works of science find a place. But the number of
such journals worldwide may not be more than a few dozens
covering the different disciplines of science.
An important issue frequently discussed in connection
with the rather unrestrained zeal for publication of scientific
journals, is the quality of the papers published. Some scientists
believe that because science is international in scope and
constitution, only the best quality scientific work produced by
high profile institutions of the nation should be published in
outstanding international journals. In other words, they think that
national journals are not doing any good to the nation in this
respect; on the contrary, they think, these may be doing a
disservice. This view would support limiting the number of local
journals considerably, not their complete cessation, and raising
the standard of a small number of journals to much higher levels.
This may be a strong view, but it cannot be dismissed, for it is
through this fiercely competitive process, proponents of this view
believe, the cause of science would be best served.
There are different types of scientific studies. One type
can comprise mainly data collection, for instance, a study of the
yield of a certain variety of rice in different parts of the country, or
effect of certain fertiliser application on yield, etc. The other type
of study is what may be called experimental work that is based on
a hypothesis and testing the validity of the hypothesis by well
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designed experiments, such as studies aimed at crop
improvement by genetic manipulation, basic studies in physics
and chemistry, and in biomedical sciences, research on
development of new drugs and vaccines. These two categories
may have qualitative differences, but both are important and of
relevance to the country.
Local journals are protected from competition by virtue of
their isolation, which inevitably contributes to their poor
standard. However, national journals can serve and they do serve,
a significant purpose. Firstly, these can serve as tools for
development of scientific culture in the country. Through these
journals young scientists would learn how to write scientific
papers; relatively senior level scientists might find these useful in
acquiring the skill of critical reading of scientific work, and
refining their editorial skills. Second, local scientists invariably do
produce interesting papers through their research work that may
not have high international relevance, but may have considerable
local value. These ought to find a vehicle for at least proper record
of the data, if not for the high tone scientific worth of the work. It
is the responsibility of the nation’s scientific community to create
and operate such vehicles, but the operation must follow certain
guidelines to ensure at least a minimum standard without which
the very purpose of scientific publication will be severely
compromised.
FAST GROWTH OF SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS
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The first scientific journal that stands to our credit was the
Pakistan Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research published by
Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. It was
launched as an official vehicle largely for publication of scientific
studies carried out in different laboratories of the council located
in East Pakistan and West Pakistan, and also research reports
from other institutions of the country. The standard of the
journal, however, was poor as the amount of publishable scientific
work produced in the country was very low at that time due to
inadequate research facilities. However, there were some talented
scientists both in East Pakistan and West Pakistan who succeeded
in establishing modest research facilities in their respective
universities. Research work that originated from these
laboratories was usually of high quality that could be published in
standard journals abroad and, understandably, the scientists
producing the work preferred to send their papers to those
journals. The national journals thus received only the poor quality
papers, which the journal had to publish in order to stay in print.
The Pakistan Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research continued
its existence after the creation of Bangladesh under the name
Bangladesh Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research but its quality
declined further.
After the emergence of Bangladesh, a new trend
developed; the number of scientific journals began to increase
rapidly. This increase possibly resulted from the realisation that
since the Pakistan government deliberately neglected nationally
published scientific journals, a quick remediation of the fault
appeared to many scientists as a call of conscience. Therefore, as
the scientific societies in different disciplines of science began to
increase in number, so did the number of scientific journals. The
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action was probably well intended, but the possible adverse
consequences en mass publication of science journals was not
carefully examined. Scientific societies alone are not sufficient
factors for good science. The pivot of science is the university
where good scientific work is expected to be carried out before the
vehicles for publication such as journals are of any consequence.
So, the method that sought to correct a malady, in effect created a
new one. Many new journals began to appear as official organs of
different scientific societies in the physical and biological sciences,
in medicine, agriculture, geology, geography and other
disciplines.
The government of Bangladesh, at this time, took the
decision to support scientific journals with financial assistance.
The societies were given money to cover the cost of publication of
the journal. This policy of financial support was also well
intended. It encouraged scientific journals to publish critically
reviewed papers that would find a place of distinction in
international scientific literature. But, in effect, this produced
quite the opposite result. The journals spent the money, but many
of the journals began to appear in poorer formats both in material
quality of the journal and in the quality of articles published.
While increasing the number of journals, our zeal
superseded reason. Often we failed to distinguish between simple
data-reporting type of scientific paper, and those reporting results
of experimental work. The former category of study has an
inherent ‘archival’ content, and could be preserved as
‘institutional reports’ and made accessible through organisations
such as BANSDOC. This could avoid unnecessary reproduction of
data that differ only quantitatively, and, as a result only add to
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the bulk of the paper with little scientific content. Studies
reporting experimental work are admittedly different. It is
important to appreciate this difference, and the journal policy
should clearly define the nature of the work that it would
consider for publication. Most journals failed to appreciate the
importance of the issue, which led to weak editorial review of
articles, and inevitable decline in quality. Thus scientists with a set
of data in hand, slowly found its publication a relatively routine
affair. And, the easier the publication process became, the faster
was the increase in the number of journals. Since nearly anything
could be published in one journal or another, the number of
papers written also increased rapidly. The journals thrived,
number of published papers climbed, but it was the quality of
scientific work that paid the price.
The large number of journals that began to be published
regularly gradually diminished the freedom of the journal to be
selective for the quality of the articles received. To the publisher of
the journal, it is the uninterrupted publication that is more
important than what it publishes.
To this, one has to add another factor that became a
strong force in scientific publications. In all institutions,
publication of research work in scientific journals is an important
criterion for promotion, so many scientists preferred to increase
the number of their publications by simply splitting a particular
piece of work into several articles albeit on wholly inappropriate
scientific grounds, and sending those for publication in different
journals. As such the journals never ran short of articles, and
many scientists kept on stretching their publication list to very
considerable lengths. A casual look into our scientific literature for
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the past few years will reveal how extensive has this culture of
paper splitting become simply for the purpose of increasing the
number of papers. A couple of hundred papers flattering to the
credit of some scientists is not too uncommon, whereas scientists
of high talent working in advanced laboratories outside perhaps
would not have half as many.
This largely tells the story of the quality of scientific
publications as it gradually took a downhill slide. The large
number of papers reported by some organisations at certain
period of time simply reflects the emergence of an over-zealous
scientist skilled in the art of producing papers. The lack of any
system of institutional review of papers prior to their release for
publication added further to the declining quality. In many
research institutions of the advanced countries of the world, this
system of institutional pre-publication review is strictly enforced.
An article is reviewed within the institute by experts in the field,
modified by the author as per reviewer’s comments and
submitted to the head of the institution for final clearance,
following which the paper can be sent for publication in a journal
of the author’s choice. This system infuses a healthy scientific
competition within the peer, contributing to quality.
However, in many universities, even in the Western
countries, such practice is not common since the university
symbolises academic freedom. Fellow colleagues have maintained
this trust placed on them by the university authority through the
tradition of extensive informal review of the paper by peer within
the university, before sending the paper directly for publication
without an intervening administrative clearance from the
university.
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IN-HOUSE JOURNALS
In addition to about 40 scientific journals that are enlisted
with BANSDOC and are published on a regular basis by different
scientific institutions and societies, there are numerous intra-
institutional in-house journals such as the ‘university studies’
series that are brought out by various faculties and departments
of different universities. The 40 journals listed with BANSDOC
are considered the top journals of the country; these are perceived
to be so mainly in terms of their regularity of publication, not by
any qualitative criteria of the materials published.
In our country, the practice of publishing in-house
journals by different universities and scholarly organisations was
instituted in the context of disseminating the knowledge in such
disciplines as humanities, social sciences, history, literature, art
and culture. Research work in these areas can be highly original.
Our culture is our heritage, and despite the lack of strong
international competition in research in these areas, work carried
out by local scholars can have, often does have, high intellectual
content. In these areas, thus, these institutional journals came to
play an important role in disseminating, and preserving the
creative scholarly work. But with scientific research, the
perspectives are different because science is more international
and scientific publications ought to be internationally competitive.
This special perspective of scientific research, however,
received little attention. The overall situation turned gloomy due
to several confounding factors the most significant of which was
publication for the purpose of promotion in career. In all scientific
organisations it is required for the purpose promotion that the
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scientists show some evidence of scientific work having been
carried out by them at the institution. In this matter, publication is
a widely recognized yardstick, although not a perfect indicator of
productivity. The pressing need for publication without
significant scientific work gradually led to less and less stringency
in the scientific review of process. Since there was neither a
mechanism, nor a desire for a minimum standard for counting a
paper towards credit for promotion, the consequence was
disastrous. Almost anything could be published in any of the
myriads of journals that came out at regular intervals in different
disciplines. Thus, many in-house journals in science became
simply publication vehicles for promotion. Slowly the in-house
journals in science were seen to be opening the floodgate for
customized journals, publishing customized papers, and papers
catering tailored needs.
The ease of publication had contributed positively to the
increase in the number of journal numbers in the country, but did
not add much to improving science. This adds substance to the
fear that some scientists had entertained, and had favoured the
idea that we should encourage our research publications be
published in only high standard international journals. That
would have limited the number of local journals, and could be
helpful in enhancing their quality. Since this was not done, the
damage is obvious. One can only wonder now, what is the
remedy?
The BANSDOC receives about 40 journals published
regularly covering the disciplines of science, engineering and
medicine. In addition, there are the in-house journals of unknown
number. Most journals publish two issues in a year. Only with
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respect to the journals covered by the BANSDOC, a small piece of
statistics might be illuminating. If one assumes that on an average
20 articles are published in one issue of a particular journal, then
1200 articles will be published in one year in these 40 journals.
During the years 1994-96, the total number of research articles
published in different journals received by BANSDOC is reported
to be 2,843 or over 1400 articles per year, according to a
BANSDOC report. To this, one has to add the contribution of the
in-house journals. It is possible to make an estimate of the total
number of articles published in these in-house journals published
by different university departments, based on statistics such as
the number universities, number of science departments in each
university, and assuming that each department publishes two
issues a year each issue containing an average of 10 articles. If one
has the mood to do so, it may give a lofty figure on number of
articles published per year in these journals! This would represent
commendable quantity, but one that has been achieved through
enduring the pains of fallen quality.
To-date, no systematic study on the growth and quality of
scholarly journals in Bangladesh has been undertaken. But the
matter deserves attention, as interesting changes appear to be
taking place in this area. Research journals are disciplined-based.
Two major categories are recognised on the basis of character,
tone and substance of material published – science journals
represent one category, while the other category includes journals
in the humanities, social studies and liberal arts. All journals,
however, carry a common denominator. They are all claimed to
be of high intellectual content.
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Over the past decade, we have seen a phenomenal
increase in publication of scholarly journals, which some would
describe as explosive. In addition to the established journals in
various disciplines, numerous new journals are seen in the
market, and some of these do contain research material and
critical analysis on important issues. Even without substantive
research, one can say from casual observation that this explosion
is perhaps real. This would of course testify to our attachment to
the world of letters, and may be a reflection on our print culture
since long past. One would of course wonder why has there been
this explosion at this time?
Now-a-days, academic publications seem to fall in a
particular specialized category that is characterised by the
preponderance of information compilation rather than significant
innovative work. Sponsors of such publications include mainly
organisations, not individuals. Many of these books and
magazines are apparent products of information mix-and-match,
and in many cases aided by the Internet revolution. Combinatorial
mixing may vastly increase the number and diversity but creates
little depth. The underlying cause of the apparent publication
explosion is difficult to understand, and it perhaps deserves
careful study. Creative writings and books of thought are,
however, written but they readily fall prey to publisher apathy
because these books rarely sell well in the market. Serious
compilation works are few, but it must be admitted, there has
been recently some landmark work of compilation, for example,
the National Encyclopedia.
Knowledge is slow to develop; it is not generally
explosive in its genesis. It is like a long thread rolled into a tight
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ball. The thread can be stretched, coloured, fabricated, and given
an architectural tone in many different ways. This process is not
totally divorced from the element of knowledge. Indeed, in
scientific revolutions this probably has occurred many times in
the past. The very rapid increase in publications that we see now,
however, raises the question – does it represent creation of
knowledge, or it is a consequence of something else? The answer
is not easy to find without a systematic study, and such study is
not easy either because of difficulties in definitions of certain
terms relating to quality of scholarly work. One can, however,
take note of certain factors such as improved publication
technology, favourable cost factor, and availability of funds.
Explosion is a sudden phenomenon, not a gradual one, but a
culmination of a gradual process. The observed explosion in
scholarly publications could be the cumulative effect of some
favourable factors.
One cannot miss the fact that the explosive shift is
correlated in time with the country’s transition to free market.
This might offer a plausible explanation. For optimum
exploitation of the market and to extend its horizon, there is a
need for a spectrum of activities that are best carried out by
organisations outside the government, such as NGOs. It has been
a highly successful strategy in many countries; in Bangladesh, the
success has been widely acclaimed. Activities such as market
awareness, environmental studies, access to the nation’s
biodiversity for its assessment and conservation etc., are the
working areas with easy availability foreign funds. These are
activities that usually fall in a narrow zone between high tone
science, and popular journalism. Funds for publications that cover
these areas are easy to obtain. Proceedings of workshops,
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conferences, seminars and symposia are examples of publications
that come in a strange blend of science with something quite not
scientific.
Scholarly publication is the product of high quality
research. Efforts that create what one might call ‘synthetic’
knowledge that is produced by mixing existing knowledge may
lift the popular image of knowledge. The volume of publication
for example, might increase considerably. But at some point the
matter of quality in claimed scholarly works must be addressed.
Quantity would ultimately would stand to loose, if quality is
pressed to the corner.
GRADING: THE RULE OF 50
Whether the explosion in publication is matched with
quality of the material published, is an open question. The two
issues, intellectual content and intellectual impact of scholarly
work, and the method to evaluate them, have been the subjects of
much discussion. Opinion varies considerably among the scholars
on these issues. Most of our journals display a strange
phenomenon. Despite the fact that many are published regularly,
the post-publication picture in terms of their preservation and
presents a dismal picture. Many journals apparently vanish soon
after they come out of the press. Scientific societies distribute
these journals to their members free of cost, but libraries do not
receive these journals, as there is a price to pay, which involves a
trivial amount of money but a very complicated procurement
procedure. The cumbersome procedure and poor use of the
journals discourage many libraries to stockpile these items. The
quality of papers published is also of little appeal to individual
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members of the society who receive the journal as a membership
bonus, and thus they are also not keen to preserve the journals at
home or office.
It seems that just the act of printing the journal is the end
in itself. If indeed just the printing were the mission then it would
be important to search for the cause of this low tone journey of a
high tone academic pursuit, and suggest means to correct the
malady. The nation’s intellectual well-being would greatly
depend on how well it it finds the cure.
Evaluation of the intellectual content of a piece of
scholarly work is not easy an easy task. Yet, in this time of
explosion of information generation, production of new
knowledge, and fast dissemination of knowledge, it is essential to
develop a tool for evaluation, however incomplete this might be
at the beginning. The extent of citation of a scientific paper by
other scientific papers in the relevant field is used by specialized
organisations to determine the impact of a piece of work. The so-
called Impact Factor derived in this manner may not be ideal, but
useful.
Remediation of the poor state of scientific publication will
inevitably mean fixation of stringent criteria for reviewing papers
before publication. This will immediately depress the volume of
publication from its present lofty height to a significantly lower
level, and will surely meet stiff resistance from different quarters.
But the pain endured now may pay well in the future.
What can we do to improve the standard of science
journals? There are two ways that one might consider. One is the
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direct government participation with the actual task of
publication given to the National Council of Science and
Technology (NCST). To this option, however, there will be
considerable doubt in the minds of many as to its effectiveness. In
some countries, government participation in this sector has
worked well. In Canada, the federal government organ the
National Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)
publishes a series of journals in different disciplines of science and
engineering. Similarly, another organ of the government, the
Medical Research Council, has its own journals. Canada has many
scientific societies that are very active in organising scientific
meetings, seminars, and workshops and in these activities the
societies make significant contributions to national science. Yet, in
Canada, the federal government provides large amounts of
money for publication of these journals. One possible reason for
this support is that Canada could not compete well with
publications from the USA, and without this support the journals
may not survive. India also has made great progress in scientific
publication. Many high quality science journals are published by
the Indian National Science Academy, but there are also many
journals that are published by private organisations and scientific
societies.
As true in all countries of the world, there is a
considerable spread in the quality of scientific publications, but as
long as competition is maximised it will do its work and serve the
final purpose well. Government participation in scientific
publication may not be without problems but certain activities
need to be treated as obligation to the nation, as it seems to be the
case in Canada and many countries of Europe. We may try this as
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an experiment for the growth of the nation’s scientific literature
and overall development of science as a whole.
If, in our case, government participation is considered to
be a worthwhile route, then, first of all, a small list of journals
should be selected representing the relatively active and
potentially promising disciplines of science in the country at this
time. Obviously, the list will have to be changed with time, as the
spectrum of scientific activities shifts. The selection process has to
be stringent and done with care so that only those scientific areas
that are sufficiently active and relevant to country’s contexts are
included in the list. Operational responsibility for the journals
could be entrusted with the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences
(BAS), the apex scientific body of the country. The BAS boasts of
nesting the most talented crop of scientists but the attention,
which a national science academy is expected to receive from the
government, was never accorded to it over the decades that
followed independence. In many countries, such academies have
been the scientific repertoire of bright and dedicated scientists and
provided an atmosphere where science could be cultivated freely.
But this would require two things – strong government
patronisation and, on the part of the academy, a sharply defined
purpose, and its reactivation towards the desired level of
excellence. At present, unfortunately, the BAS is not a very active
organisation both financially and in terms of its mandated
activities. It does not have a premise of its own, no library, is
housed in a borrowed office space, and carries to its credit the
publication of a science journal with two issues a year. Ideally,
the nation’s apex scientific body should have regular meetings
where scholarly research work carried out in different institutions
would be presented before an intellectual gathering, and later
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these presentations would be published as proceedings of the
academy. Science academies in many countries in fact operate in
this manner.
Under the NCST participation in the publication process,
there should be no more than a dozen journals in its list. An NCST
journal should have an editorial board comprising people of
unquestioned talent and integrity and at least ten percent of the
editorial board members should be drawn from advanced
countries representing scientists of international repute. In
making the editorial board, no consideration other than scientific
merit and editorial proficiency, should count. The editorial board
will report to the NCST and will be responsible for quality of the
journal using a set of criteria for impact assessment, regularity of
its publication and rapid dissemination of the journal, nationally
and internationally.
Without a system of assessment, no scientific work can
stand well. Differences of opinion may exist as to the desirability
of introducing a grading system for scientific publications.
Frankly, there is no question about its desirability; the question
that merits debate is whether it is possible to develop an
acceptable system of grading against the backdrop of a very large
number of international journals that scientists from any country
can use for publication of their scientific work? The issue is
further confounded by the fact that, contrary to expectation, many
journals that are published from relatively developed countries of
the world are not of very high quality, compared to some of our
own national journals. It is not too uncommon that articles
rejected by local journals on the basis of scientific inadequacy find
place in journals outside the country, and hence, are often
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classified as more international. There is also the other side to the
issue; often many articles that we publish in our journals are
either too poor to be sent abroad or are those that have been
rejected by foreign journals.
In the past, the issue grading scientific or scholarly
publications has been debated with a blend of passion, and
objectivity, but no system has yet emerged. True, it is not easy to
develop a good grading system, but it is possible to develop an
arbitrary system that may be of some value to us at the present
time our purpose at the present time of crisis when journals are
created for publication of articles of designated individuals, for
the dedicated purpose of promotion, and once the intended
promotion is secured, the journal disappears. One may consider a
grade-point system based on acknowledged standing of a journal.
The system might have the following structure.
For a particular discipline, five categories of journals may
be selected – category A, B, C, D and E. An institution, which
could be a university department, an institute, a faculty, a
research organisation or its constituent disciplines, departments
or units, etc., would select through the opinion of their own
scientists, and perhaps experts in the field, a list of say 10
international journals of high repute that would potentially cover
the bulk of the research activities of the organisation concerned.
This first lot of 10 journals would be graded as group ‘A’ journals.
Publication of a full-length paper in a group ‘A’ journal would
carry let us say 5, points. A second group of 10 journals that are of
somewhat lower in standing, would form group ‘B’ journals,
where publication would receive 4 points. Similarly, there will be
group C, group D, and group E journals, with decreasing
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scientific standing. Publications in these will carry 3, 2 and 1
points, respectively.
Thus, an institution, through the participation of their
own scientists, can select a total of 50 journals that would
accommodate the bulk of the scientific research that is carried out
by the institution. Selection of this list of 50 journals would be the
sole responsibility of the institute, and the institute may revise the
list, add or delete journals as it deems appropriate, but it should
be entirely the responsibility of the institute. At this time, our best
articles in science subjects would perhaps find a place in no better
than a category C journal, since the state of our scientific research
cannot offer any better hope at this time. Today, even India with
its much higher elevation of its basic research podium, cannot
hope to publish a good research article in Nature, but India is
rapidly closing the gap.
The bulk of the national journals, at present perhaps all in
a particular discipline, could be placed under one single category,
category N, for instance, with a grading scale spread over the
range of 1-2, with decimal gradations such as 1.1 - 1.9 so that a
publication in a national journal will have a maximum point value
of 2, and a minimum of 1. This arbitrary grading system is
presented to highlight the principle only. Any journal outside
these 50 may become relevant in particular the institution itself
can determine its equivalence, and place it in proper category.
The grading will introduce a value system, and would
help to differentiate between the very good and the very bad. As
usual, the average category of publications is difficult to classify
in an objective manner anywhere in the world. Every institution
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engaged in scientific research should follow the grading principle,
which may be somewhat different for different categories of
institutions depending on the type of work done. So, the grading
system need not necessarily be a unified national system to be
followed by all institutions, but the principle is worthwhile to
consider. The government’s role in the implementation of the
system need not be any more than that of an overseeing body, and
one of co-ordination, to ensure reasonable uniformity between
institutions. If a grading system is introduced and applied fairly it
will be evident that many young scientists would surpass seniors
in grade points. This must not be feared, but encouraged.
The system may appear idealistic and disagreements may
be strong. But the system would deserve to be examined and
tested. If a research institution, a university department, or an
individual scientist cannot develop a list of 50 journals in their
respective fields of specialisation, it would indicate serious
intellectual weakness.
Publication of journals by the government will obviously
raise important operational issues. That is, is the ministry willing
to do the necessary work, which will entail more staff and, of
course, money? Second important consideration, will this not be
seen by the scientific community as an intrusion into scientific
freedom? Perhaps it will be, but this is where honest exchange of
views is essential. Admittedly, arguments will be put forward
citing examples of some of the world’s most advanced countries
such as USA, UK, Japan, Germany and others where the most
outstanding journals are published by scientific societies with the
lone and distinct exception of the British science journal Nature,
which enjoys the unique reputation of being the world’s most
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prestigious scientific journal where the vast majority of the Nobel
Prize winning papers are published, but Nature is published by a
private publishing company.
The notion of ‘publish or perish’ that is widely prevalent
in some of the advanced countries is not difficult to understand in
today’s nearly total freedom of the market. But it has its gloomy
sides as well, such as depressing the free development of science.
Today, it is no more a peripheral question, but a truly vexing one,
and one that is increasingly generating international scandals.
Questions are often asked in top science journals of the world
such as, is science loosing out in the face of recognition,
recognition for prizes and publications? The quality of scientific
publication is not separated from mainstream science done on the
laboratory bench. It is thus desirable that the government takes
effective steps to raise the standard of both simultaneously.
However, raising the level of scientific research rapidly in a
developing country is admittedly a difficult task, but raising the
level of scientific journals is somewhat less difficult. It is apparent
that the drive for publication has nearly destroyed the very
foundation of scientific research. Good scientific publications
without good scientific work are wholly unrealistic. Proper
appreciation of the various dimensions of science is impossible
without direct involvement with scientific work. If we are unable
to raise the standard of both scientific work and scientific
publication simultaneously, we should address the one we can
hope to redress. A rigour in scientific publication may create
parallel rigour in scientific work.
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Nine
Professionalism in Science
MEANING MISUNDERSTOOD
Many scientists entertain a naïve notion about
professionalism in their of work, that is, in the cultivation of
science. Professionalism, they think, is a mark of the trades-people
that does not quite match the sparkling horizon of intellectualism.
They prefer to do experiments for the simple pleasure of just
doing so, with no obvious end in sight, but with a subdued dream
that the knowledge acquired will be of some use to the
humankind in their efforts to understand nature.
But to some scientists, the idea of science devoid of
professionalism is not appealing. Those scientists would argue
that even a theoretical physicist would take sojourn through his
imagined world, but that has to be done with a spirit of
professionalism to reach the end of the imagined world in a
manner that would satisfy the staunchest realist, and the most
ardent idealist. When a scientist discovers black sand in the sea
coast of Chittagong, the scientist must chart the working course of
that discovery as precisely a business person – that is, one must
not only do the necessary scientific work as best as possible, but
also keep in view many of the things that a good businessman
would in his trade, such as cost, benefit, time, competition, and
commercial value of the product. If a scientist stops at just the
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discovery of the material, and after making only crude
calculations on the imagined potential of the material, the work
ought to be characterised as non-professional. Just the scientific
study, the ecstasy of new discovery, and the hurried and often
unrealistic calculations would be counter-productive. Examples of
such ‘scientific work’ are many in the relatively short history of
our nation.
The Nobel laureate in Physics Professor Abdus Salam
noted in the context of development strategy of science and
technology in the third world countries ‘….. it is very important for
people in developing countries to realise science is highly professional.
The days when you thought you reached the truth without being a
professional experimenter or a professional theorist are gone’.
Today this view deserves high appreciation of the
scientists today than ever before, since the opinion reflects on the
transformations that have taken place in science over the past few
decades, and the place that science has assumed in the changing
social architecture of humankind. This view, specifically told
about the third world scientists, is also important to consider.
Many the third world country scientists, according to top
scientific thinkers, suffer from an emotional aberration to the
effect that anything not seen from the top of the ivory tower is not
truly good science.
Like all revolutions, social and political, humankind
creates innovative ideas at all time, but their impact on society
remain imperceptible until suddenly a pattern emerges linking all
of these developments in some coherent manner. This is Kuhn’s
paradigm shift in scientific revolution. All revolutions must have
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a purpose, and scientific revolution cannot be without a purpose.
The renaissance was the product of such paradigm shift in human
knowledge, knowledge that was created and had brewed for
many years before being woven into a pattern. And, the purpose
hidden in the scientific revolution is clearly manifested in the
post-renaissance history of the world – creation of comfort for
humankind – the pinnacle of which can now be seen in some
countries.
We have to think ourselves today not simply as biologist,
but professional biologist, professional chemist, or professional
physicist. A professional undertaking is clearly distinguished
from the pursuits of amateurs. In the former, one takes recourse to
a certain spirit, possesses a definite purpose, and follows
established methods. Amateurism, on the other hand, consists of
doing things out of just a liking for doing it, and is generally
devoid of any of the above attributes linked with professionalism.
A professional person possesses certain skills, which he also
professes and let it be known publicly. A professor, for instance,
has to profess the skill in public, or practice the skill in a socially
recognisable manner with a certain spirit, with a defined method,
and a stated purpose.
Thus, a scientist trained in a professional spirit can see
things that an ordinary person with just the love for science
cannot see. A professional scientist should be able to see clearly
the purpose of the work. In the context of one’s country, such a
scientist should be able to clearly appreciate the assets and needs
of the nation, and guide the scientific efforts in directions that
would bring prosperity. Scientific activities devoid of this
professional spirit have undoubtedly caused considerable
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wastage of our wealth and energy. Professionalism in science does
not conflict with freedom of inquiry, or the issues of basic research
and applied research, fundamental research and technological
innovations.
In science, it is often seen that scientists are classified into
two categories: those specialised in what is called basic research,
and those skilled in application-oriented research. This
classification has produced a class of scientists with idealistic and
academic views as to the purpose of their work. To many of these
scientists the purpose of science is to gain knowledge, knowledge
for the sake of knowledge, and knowledge for the love for
knowledge only. In reality, however, the scientist must be both a
visionary and a professional. Not only a scientist should be the
master of the science he or she pursues, the scientist must also
have basic understanding of the different aspects of the science
that he produces, and about the society that would enjoy the
benefits of the science and also bear the associated burden.
A scientist may not just sit on the secluded premises of
disinterested knowledge, but he or she should also acquire
knowledge the fundamentals of economics, planning, and the
world of business. Scientific undertaking divorced from these
considerations often meet a dead end, and sadly the scientist
discovers the dead end too late when the end of the career is close.
Of course, while fostering professional approach, one should
admit freedom for the genius, but their work also need not be
divorced from professionalism. Mendel counted the number of
peas in his experiments in hybridisation, Darwin kept detailed
records of his observations, Einstein found the right target for the
most abstract view of the universe – all of these activities do carry
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some flavour of professionalism. Thus, when it is demanded of a
scientist that he should calculate how much black gold is lying
along our shores, how much would be the cost to the market, and
what would be the income, it should not be taken as an
infringement on scientific freedom, but rather as common sense
scientism, the version of science relevant to most of us.
INSTITUTIONAL PROFESSIONALISM
The spirit of professionalism is critically important in all
R&D activities. The nature of the R&D activities inevitably
demands an appreciation of the fact that the target of R&D effort
is the product, and the mission is the market. In our country the
operation of the various R&D institutions portrays a mixed
picture, some of success, but mostly of failure. The failures relate
to faulty scientific approach to the problem and method followed
– that is, due to overall lapses in scientific professionalism.
Institutions where scientific approach with the right
professionalism well defined, the achievements have been
commendable. In this respect, scientific activities in various
sectors can be reviewed in terms of achievements and failures.
Agriculture
The R&D activity in the agriculture sector is essentially
confined to a few crops of which rice is the major one, followed by
tea, jute, wheat and pulses. In the field of research on rice, the
Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) has done a
commendable job over the past few decades. Establishment of the
institute coincided with the beginning of the green revolution
characterised by the use of high-yielding varieties, adequate
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chemical fertiliser and pesticide, and establishment of irrigation.
Over the years, the activities of the institute have been sustained
at a reasonable level of productivity. The institute has developed a
number of high yielding varieties of rice through conventional
methods of pure line selection and hybridisation. To date, a total
of 40 varieties has been released and are being used by the
farmers, and many new varieties are in various stages of
development. It is widely believed that the BRRI has succeeded in
creating a coveted image for itself home and abroad. The success
of BRRI is due partly to the fact that our staple crop is rice, and
that the institute was closely affiliated with the prestigious
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Manila. The BRRI
had its research focus sharply defined from the beginning. One
cannot fail to notice the fact that BRRI followed traditional
research methods of genetics, instead of modern methods of
genetic engineering, in its breeding programmes. This was done
because it was felt that in the latter route there would be little
immediate advantage for the institute, but a lot of time will have
to be spent on just developing the research facilities. The institute
precisely determined its area of advantage, and research projects
were developed that were sharp and mission-oriented. In only
three decades, approximately from the year 1970 to 2000, BRRI
has accomplished what no other agricultural sector has been able
to do – it helped the country to achieve self-sufficiency in food in
the year 2000. Admittedly, the self-sufficiency cannot be sustained
for long due to our very fast population growth (2 million people
is added to country every year). But the research trends set by
BRRI should be an example of professionalism in science. Future
programs of BRRI are directed both towards improved varieties
including the ‘hybrid rice’ production technology, along with
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research on management practices such as use of fertiliser,
insecticide and pesticide use, and proper irrigation techniques.
The thrust of the institute would be to double the country’s cereal
production, of which rice will be the major crop, but wheat will
also increasingly gain in importance. This doubling, from the
present 5 metric tonnes per hectare to about 10, is to be achieved
by the middle of the next century when, experts predict,
population of Bangladesh will also double, to about 300 million.
With the quantity of arable land available at present and by using
high yielding varieties and intensifying management practices,
this doubling of food production may be achieved, as examples of
other countries would suggest, but in our case the land toxicity,
which will build up fast due to heavy input chemical fertilizer on
a small land area, and poor dilution rate of the accumulated
toxicity due slow rate of flow of water over the country during the
rainy season.
In contrast to good research work on rice, that on jute
once recognised as the ‘golden fibre’ has been of poor
productivity. This is partly because of falling world market and
partly due to poor planning. We did not foresee the competition
that jute would face from the synthetics. Now that environmental
concerns due to use of synthetic non-biodegradable substitutes
have been growing, we could hope this to be reflected on our jute
sector, but no significant effect of this is yet visible. Bangladesh
Jute Research Institute (BJRI), and the Bangladesh Rice Research
Institute (BRRI) were the two most active R&D institutes of the
country in the agriculture sector for a long time. But the success of
BRRI has not matched by BJRI. The BJRI has developed a number
of varieties, some of which are used by the farmers, but low price
of jute has steadily receded jute acreage over the years by as much
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as fifty percent, and the acreage would decline further in the
future. In recent years, the institute has placed thrust on its
technology wing aiming towards diversification of the use of jute.
Here again, availability of sufficient land for jute cultivation in
order to make jute-based industry sustainable is an important
concern, which is unlikely to change in the future. The institute,
despite its low productivity, still maintains a large scientific staff,
which, in the absence of adequate financial support and active
scientific programme, appears to have accepted the painful fate of
sedentary existence.
Tea has a good world market but Bangladesh being in the
third position, after Sri Lanka and India faces stiff market
competition. New entrants in the world tea market such as Kenya,
enjoy the advantage of extensive expansion of tea acreage, and
would certainly offer strong competition to us in the near future.
The Bangladesh Tea Research Institute (BTRI) is a fairly old
institution, which was established in 1957. The institute has been
working on improved methods to raise quality and yield of tea
and optimising the tea processing parameters. Recent
accomplishments include development of several cloned varieties,
varieties that are obtained by vegetative means not through
sexual process that causes significant genetic degeneration of the
variety with time. These cloned varieties are now in the market,
both for domestic consumption and for export. However, the
future of tea as a foreign currency earner appears to be doubtful
again due to severe land constraints, which is limiting the volume
of tea production in the country. Some expansion of tea
plantations is being done in Chittagong and Dinajpur districts, but
that will still not provide the needed acreage for us to be globally
competitive. At present, yield enhancement through improved
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management practices, is one area that the tea estates are
concerned with, but increasing biotic interferences in the tea
estates caused by tourists and automobile traffic would certainly
have adverse effects on production. Most tea traders believe that
within the next two decades Bangladesh may not have sufficient
surplus for export after meeting the rising domestic need.
The Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) is
mandated to conduct research on crops other than rice, jute and
tea. The activities of the BARI include crops such as wheat, pulses,
fruits and vegetables. The institute has an extensive network of
sub-centres throughout the country with staff trained in extension
services, and performance trials of different crops. It is also one of
the better-funded institutes in the agriculture sector. According to
a BANSDOC survey, BARI has a revenue budget that is the
highest among the R&D institutions in the agriculture sector. One
reason for this high level of funding is that the institute is one of
the biggest recipients of foreign credit in the agriculture sector on
account of fertiliser, insecticide and pesticide use. At present, the
primary focus of the institute is the development of high yielding
varieties of a large number of crops – wheat, millet, barley, pulses,
vegetables, spices, tuber crops, oilseeds, fruits and cotton. The
institute founded in 1976, has to its credit the development of 203
improved varieties of different crop plants. This is a laudable
testimony of success, achieved in just about two decades. Despite
this success, import of agricultural products that are included in
BARI’s own inventory is steadily increasing both through formal
and non-formal routes.
It would be of interest to take a more critical view of the
research agenda of BARI. Improved varieties, mostly high
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yielding varieties (HYVs), of fruits, vegetables, spices, etc. are
now available that could be field-tested in our setting to optimise
the production parameters, and in such efforts donor funding is
also easy to obtain. But, the fact that land will be the critical
impediment to growing anything other than rice and wheat is an
important factor to examine critically with a professional outlook.
HYVs would require good quality land. If we are unable to
provide that, should we not select only a small number of crops
and maximise their production in the minimal parcel of land?
That would call for a new land use strategy, as discussed before,
and a professional approach to this important matter is a need
that should not be ignored.
Unfortunately, many R&D institutions suffer from poor
professionalism in their research outlook. There is at present a
noticeable tendency in some R&D institutions to cling to the
caravan of biotechnology research, irrespective of whether it fits
into their mandated activity. In our country plant tissue culture is
an area that is considered by many scientists in our country as
biotechnology. This technique of artificially culturing plant tissues
in the laboratory allows basically two types of manipulations. One
is the micro-propagation technology by which it is possible to
produce healthy seedlings and other propagating units in large
numbers. The other type of manipulation is introduction of
foreign genes in cultured tissue to raise transgenic plants. Many
laboratories are now seen to work on culturing plant tissues of a
broad range of economically important plants, again with little
prior feasibility study as to how much of it is being duplicated,
and how much of it bears commercial potentials. At present,
about a dozen R&D institutions are active in plant tissue culture
research. Many different plants are routinely cultured without
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defined purpose. Several institutions, for instance, carry out work
on tissue culture of jute basically for the same purpose as
conventional breeding, that is, to create better varieties. These are
needless duplications and have so far failed to produce anything
of superior value.
True, plant tissue culture and micro-propagation
technology is useful, but when technology is applied to jute, a
crop that has lost international market long before, and when one
considers the depletion of arable land and the rapidly diminishing
jute acreage, there would be little merit in investing on genetic
improvement of jute by using this technology. Again, some
scientists are heard to talking about creating better timber-
yielding trees by applying modern methods of genetic
engineering when the existing forest cover is rapidly disappearing
due to human activities, and availability of sufficient land to be
dedicated to timber-producing trees on a 50-year tenure, seems to
be a remote possibility.
Then, of course, one cannot ignore the same trends in the
newly created universities of science and technology, where the
discipline of biotechnology constitutes an advanced degree-
course, such as M. Sc. degree. Facilities in these universities are so
rudimentary that with these facilities biotechnology even in its
very basic form would be difficult to teach. For curriculum
development, however, these universities include the
conventional agricultural technologies such as fisheries, forestry,
livestock, etc., in the biotechnology programme. It is difficult to
see how the need of even conventional biotechnology, as opposed
to sophisticated contemporary biotechnology that uses expensive
molecular techniques, can be served through such expansion of
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institutions without resource and manpower support. Creating an
institution is usually not difficult and can often be done with a
little political support, keeping them running in a symbolic
manner is also easy, but keeping them running as productive
units is certainly a different matter.
Natural Sciences
In the natural sciences, the major R&D institutions are the
Bangladesh Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
(BCSIR), and Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC).
BCSIR has three laboratories, the central laboratory in Dhaka, and
two regional laboratories, one in Chittagong and one in Rajshahi.
BAEC has several component research arms – the Atomic Energy
Centre (AEC) located at Dhaka, the Atomic Energy Research
Establishment (AERE) at Savar, Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear
Agriculture (BINA) in Mymensingh, and Institute of Nuclear
Medicine at Dhaka.
Research publication is considered to be an important
indicator of performance. Publications from these organisations
and those of a few others have been complied by BANSDOC for a
period of 10, from 1986 to 1996. The Table below presents an
overview, which highlights trends in the type of papers published,
and their number by different institutions. More
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- = No publications reported na = Information not available
Organisations include all of their associated institutes, research centres etc. Source: BANSDOC.
recent data are not available, but the picture may be similar, with
the exception of biomedical sciences where the number of
publications appear to have increased considerably over the past
few years.
Great variations are seen in the number of research
publications. The institutes, which are engaged in laboratory
research, or small-scale field studies, and those where scientific
data are generated within a relatively short period of time, are the
ones that produce large number of publications. In this regard, the
Organisation
1986-89 1990-92 1992-94 1994-96
BRRI Rice Res.
Inst.
13 9 na na
BCSIR Sci. Ind.
Res. Council
34 102 113 248
BJRI Jute Res. Inst. 23 - - -
BINA Nuclear
Agri.Inst.Mym.
4 - 171 -
BARI Agri. Res.
Inst.
8 4 na -
BFRI Forest
Research Inst.
260 43 55 55
BLRI Livestock
Res.
28 56 15 10
FRI Fisheries Res.
Inst. Mym.
Na 54 17 -
AERE Atomic
Ener. Res. Est.
Na Na 18 142
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place of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) is not highly
remarkable. But when its actual achievements in the field are
weighed in terms of the release of 40 rice varieties that greatly
enhanced country’s rice output to near self-sufficiency, one may
not deny due credit to this institution. One factor that may partly
explain the low output of research publications by BRRI is the fact
that plant breeding work usually takes a long time to get
sufficient quantity of reportable data to publish, about 10 years or
so. During this period, however, valuable scientific information is
gathered that comes from the different phases of the scientific
studies. The data are usually recorded as institutional reports, not
published as scientific papers.
In terms of number of publications, the position of BCSIR
is noteworthy, which has been consistently high and has steadily
increased over the period under the BANSDOC review. This,
however, is not true in the case of other institutions. For instance,
BINA reported a massive number of papers published during
1992-94 and AERE during 1994-96. These two-year segments
markedly contrast with publications both before and after. What
factors are responsible for such spurt of research publications are
not clear.
Obtaining patents, by which intellectual property right is
protected on inventions, can be indicators of productivity. A
patentable invention is one, which is not obvious to persons of
ordinary skill in the particular trade. New knowledge about
things and phenomena are routine things in our day-to-day life
but we do not claim those to be inventions because these are
obvious to persons of ordinary skill in the art, and are of no
commercial value. A patentable invention must have the intrinsic
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value of being so rare in our ordinary business of life that
ordinary knowledge and skill cannot readily reveal it. Such
knowledge is thus protected as intellectual property by the laws
of patenting system. The essential elements of protection is based
on the innate quality of the invention itself, the patenting process
only reinforces that quality. Patent protection can be very costly if
such protection is seriously pursued. Both the patenting process
and maintenance of patents are expensive in the industrialised
countries, and unless an invention has sufficient merit, no patents
are sought. A rigorous internal review process determines
whether the institute should seek a patent for any invention.
In our country, neither a good legal framework on
patenting exists, nor the spirit of patenting well understood. We
have a national patent office that usually grants patents without
critical review, and the cost of obtaining a patent is very low. This
is not intended to say that the patents given through such a loose
system are illegal, but to only indicate that such loose systems
dampen the impact-making potential of the patenting process.
Among our R&D organisations, the BCSIR tops the list in
the number of products and processes that have been protected
by patents. During the period 1994-96, a total of 218 projects were
completed by BCSIR, which produced 235 research papers and 64
patents and processes of which 39 have been leased out to private
companies for commercialisation. The number of patents is
indeed commendable, and far outshines other R&D institutions
except one. This exception represents a relatively new
organisation in the health sector, the Rehabilitation Institute and
Hospital for the Disabled which has, during the same period,
developed 173 processes and leased out 17, which mainly
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includes gadgets made from indigenous material for use by
handicapped people and accident victims. Many processes have
been leased out by BCSIR to private companies in the country. No
process, however, with the exception of a few related to food
items such as high protein soy biscuit, low calorie biscuit for
diabetics, pickles etc., can claim authentic commercialisation.
Whatever is the nature of the product developed by our
R&D institutions, one important consideration should be kept in
view. The value of a patent lies in how much of the market share
the patented product has captured. It is a part of competition
within the business community, and is an integral part of the free
market. As to market capture, we have no mechanism to assess
this parameter for the products based on the leased out patents.
The market share, in simple terms, it is the relative share of the
domestic market in sale volume compared to the competing
products in the market. Pickles and biscuits with some novelty in
their making may be, for instance, patented, but these are also
produced through traditional knowledge. Thus, if the patented
product has no significant edge of the total market share over
those made through traditional knowledge, then one has to
assume that the product has not successfully competed, and can
claim little credit. Patents obtained by BCSIR and inventions
leased out to industry ought to be evaluated on the basis of this
market capture criterion. If this criterion is applied it may turn out
that the market share is too small to merit any patent protection,
and the conclusion is unavoidable that the work had been
executed with little professionalism. Nevertheless, the system of
patenting of inventions by our R&D organisation will continue,
and as elsewhere in the world, total number of patents will far
outnumber commercially successful patents.
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Interestingly, some patents on processes have been
secured by BCSIR and BJRI that are on natural products with
significant commercial potentials. These merit further
development, and products based on these inventions should be
taken to industrial readiness by extensive R&D work carried.
Unfortunately, lack of finance and expertise has prevented the
work from proceeding beyond the laboratory stage. Instead, the
intellectual property right to these processes or products has been
leased or sold out to business enterprises in consideration for a
one-time payment, not on the basis of royalties on sale of products
made by using these patents. Thus, one cannot avoid the sad
conclusion that many decades of work, and many patents
obtained by our R&D institutions have failed to produce any
mark on nation’s economy.
The number of patents for inventions made by different
R&D organisations is admittedly valid indicator of productivity.
This, however, varies with the type of research that the
organisation carries out. BRRI, for instance, has developed many
methods for creation of novel varieties of rice, and some of those
could be patented, but there are no trade incentives in this work,
so no patents have been obtained. High yielding crop varieties
have been traditionally a non-commercial activity, entirely carried
out by government initiatives so that in this sector, protection of
the knowledge as intellectual property was not attractive.
The Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) has
charted its course along more practical lines, although it still
retains in its program establishment of nuclear power plant in the
country to produce electricity. In this respect we are caught in the
middle of two opposing forces. On one hand, electricity is rapidly
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becoming important to us in industrialisation, while at the same
time the likelihood of our acquiring the nuclear technology
remains as illusive. The predicament is partly due to fear that the
technology required for power plant operation can also be used in
making nuclear weapons. The other reason is inherent to our
country context – that is, small land area and extremely high
population density. It is not difficult to see that we may not find a
suitable location to set up a nuclear power plant. When the issue
was being discussed at its formative phases, this matter was not
given much attention. Setting up of a nuclear power plant
anywhere in mainland Bangladesh is to be discarded in the
context of high population size and relatively uniform and high
population density throughout the country. Today’s population of
over 140 million will double in about 40 years and there will be
hardly any place suitable for setting a nuclear power plant that
could be cordoned off from the public without enormous and
costly fortification. Then there is the issue of accidental reactor
explosion. If that happens, we will very rapidly expose several
million people to high-level radiation. The Chernobyl accident
affected 7 million people; a similar accident may affect perhaps 30
million in Bangladesh and 10 million in adjoining regions. Thus,
the size of the population at high risk of radiation exposure here
due to nuclear accident will far exceed the combined population
of many countries of Europe. Our offshore islands are few and are
quite unsuitable for setting up nuclear power plants because of
frequent cyclones and flooding, and perhaps our neighbouring
countries will not feel comfortable of having such an
establishment located in the water that may flood their coastline.
The AERE is equipped with a 3 megawatt TRIGA Mark-II
research reactor that is updated from time to time to widen its use
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and it is currently serving the intended purpose of producing
limited quantities of a few clinically useful radioisotopes, 131I used
for diagnosis of thyroid function and treatment of
hyperthyroidism is important.
The Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA)
depends for the ‘nuclear’ component of its program to the AERE.
Since the scope of BINA was not carefully defined when it was
established, the institute failed to develop in the intended
directions – that is, blending nuclear science with agriculture to
enhance agricultural productivity. Thus, it had to make the choice
of turning to conventional plant breeding programs including
plant tissue culture technology, and classical agronomic research.
Some of the activities are potentially useful, but by and large, its
research efforts generally overlap with those of other agricultural
R&D institutions, causing duplication and little productivity.
Biomedical Sciences
There are about 15 R&D institutions in the biomedical
sector. This number does not include the 13 government medical
colleges since the medical colleges are not active in research. Most
of the R&D institutions in the biomedical sector are involved in
field research that include epidemiology, disease prevalence,
nutrition survey, vaccination, health awareness creation, public
health, and similar other areas. A few institutions have the
technical infrastructure and manpower support that would allow
modest level of basic research towards the development of
biomedical products and services. Among these are: Bangladesh
Institute of Research on Diabetes Endocrine and Metabolic
Diseases (BIRDEM), National Institute of Cancer Research and
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Hospital, Institute of Public Health, and Institute of Postgraduate
Medicine and Research at Bangabandhu Shiek Mujib Medical
University (BSMMU) campus. Of these, BIRDEM is relatively
active R&D activities compared to the other institutions where
research on improved treatment and development of diagnostic
methods are carried out in addition to disease prevalence, and
work on social medicine.
A far better equipped biomedical institution is a research
centre that was created in the early 1960 for research on cholera.
The high prevalence of Asiatic cholera in Southeast Asia, and
increasing US military involvement at that time in the Vietnam
War, stimulated interest in basic research on treatment and
prevention of cholera. This led to the establishment of SEATO
Cholera Research Laboratory in Dhaka in 1960, which later
became Cholera Research Laboratory after the birth of
Bangladesh. In 1978, it was converted into an international centre
under the name International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease
Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) by a landmark Act of the
Parliament of Bangladesh, the first of its kind in the country,
establishing the first ever international biomedical research
organization in the world with wide mandate to carry out
research on diarrhoeal diseases and associated problems of
nutrition and fertility. The ICDDR,B has made significant
contributions towards development of the medical marvel of the
past century – the oral route to correcting dehydration caused by
severe diarrhoea with oral saline. Since 1963 it also carried out
field trials of cholera vaccines and other anti-diarrhoeal vaccines,
but no effective vaccine against diarrhoea has yet been developed.
During the late 1980s the impact of globalization was also obvious
in the operation of ICDDR,B and the centre made changes in its
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research agenda, and its fund raising mechanism. Research
emphasis changed from basic biomedical research to applied
field-oriented research. Research areas were also widened to
include broader health problems of the country in addition to
diarrhoeal diseases, the main mandated function of the centre.
Soon the centre assumed the profile of a Centre for Health and
Population Research. This shift ensured better flow of funds from
external donors. Specific projects were supported by international
development agencies often reflecting the interest of multi-
national pharmaceutical companies and these projects received
priorities in the centre’s research agenda. Indeed, by about the
mid-1990s one of the stated mission objectives of ICDDR,B
included work “in improving both supply of and demand for
existing health technologies”.
The ICDDR,B is equipped with advanced facilities for
basic laboratory research but these facilities are primarily used for
work towards refining diagnostic and therapeutic products that
are under development by external organizations. This is done
through collaborative research with the participation of external
development agencies, research laboratories and pharmaceutical
companies. In these efforts, the centre has optimally utilized the
talents of bright local scientists in foreign-funded contract-
research, but failed to stimulate innovative research that could
lead to the development of novel biomedical products. If the
centre had adopted this path, it could possibly add to the centre’s
financial independence, and greater freedom to pursue its own
research agenda, rather than carrying out primarily donor-driven
activities. The stated reason for this apathy towards basic research
being done at the centre is the notion entertained by its
international board of trustees that the centre should only
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undertake research where its strength is the greatest, that is, in
field-oriented work, not in expensive basic research where it
cannot compete with the Western laboratories. Validity of this
argument has long been debated, and is a highly controversial
issue in the public mind surrounding the centre.
Both our national institutions working in the area of
better treatment and biomedical product development and the
ICDDR,B generally undertake collaborative research with western
laboratories as part of their working strategy. This is both a
necessity for funding and technical support for these institutions
and offers the advantage of high disease prevalence and large
patient population for conducting well-controlled laboratory,
clinical and field studies with new drugs, vaccines and other
biomedical interventions.
To date, neither ICDDR,B with its impressive facilities
and external scientific linkage nor any of our national institutions
has developed any significant biomedical product that they own,
although they have substantively assisted foreign partners in
developing products. Reason for this failure, in the case of
ICDDR,B is the organisation’s almost total dependence on
external donor agencies including the pharmaceutical companies
for targeted, often contracted research, which, as a consequence
severely restricts independent research in this direction under
centre’s own research agenda. For the national institutions the
reasons lack of significant progress are the country’s poor S&T
base, and the consequent lack of significant basic research in
contemporary areas of molecular biology in the universities.
Universities are to provide the driving force for application-
oriented research in the R&D institutions by producing sound
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graduates with vision, technical skill and professional spirit to
provide direction to nation’s R&D activities.
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Ten
Science and Industry Interface
Scientific research leads to the development of
technology. Application of the technology to the country’s socio-
economic development is carried out by the necessary pre-
industrial termed R&D. Thus R&D institutions should have both
S&T component, and development component in their operation
strategy. This duality of function of R&D organisations is
generally emphasized in the aims and objectives of most R&D
institutions. For instance, the aims and objectives of the country’s
first R&D institution, the Bangladesh Council of Scientific and
Industrial Research (BCSIR), include:
- initiation, promotion and guidance of scientific and
industrial research bearing on problems connected with the
establishment and development of industries or with any
other matter referred to the Council by the government;
- establishment or development of national institutions for
research, testing and standardisation with the overall
objective of utilising the economic resources of the country
in the best possible manner;
- undertaking and fostering ‘development research’ for the
utilisation of discoveries and inventions resulting from
research of the Council.
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An R&D organisation can carry out both laboratory
research related to development of useful products such as drugs
and vaccines, and also field research such as testing of drugs in
the field setting for safety and efficacy. Field research in this
context can be of two types. First, testing the efficacy of the drug
in a field population, which is part of biomedical research, and
second, testing public acceptability of drug, and identifying
potential barriers to acceptability and suggesting means to
overcome those barriers, which is called operations research.
R&D PERFORMANCE
Nation’s R&D performance has been far from satisfactory.
The involved parties lying at the interface between science on the
one hand, and industry on the other have taken a position that is
characterised by some amount of passion. This has considerably
overshadowed the important issues. Scientific research leads to
creation of knowledge some of which offers useful products and
services, a function that usually is carried out by the R&D
organisations. Industry then assumes the responsibility of taking
these products to the people by bulk production and
commercialisation.
The two groups – scientist at research end, and
industrialists on the production line – are both interested in
getting the benefits of science to the common people, but their
vision often gets blurred at the interface. The degree of this is
largely the product of the economic circumstances of the country.
Almost always, the discordance is acute in poor economies
because the country cannot offer the critical minimum financial
support to the scientist. Too little resource is shared by too many,
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leading to loss of focus and ultimately little of meaningful
scientific work. In Bangladesh, as it is true for many other
developing countries, it is a general notion that our R&D
institutions have failed to deliver the fruits of their research to the
socio-economic development of the country. Reasons for poor
performance of the R&D sector are many. One important reason is
perhaps the lack of a sound national S&T Action Plan, and the
other is our inability to correctly focus our R&D efforts in the
context of our own socio-economic conditions, resources and
constraints.
The Missing S&T Action Plan
Many years have now been passed after the adoption of
the National Science and Technology Policy by the government,
but no Science and Technology Action Plan has yet been
developed. This was an important mandated function of the
National Committee of Science and Technology (NCST). The S&T
action plan is critical for the success of science policy. It defines
the course of action in the different sectors with details of high
priority projects, identifies institutions to undertake those projects,
and makes budget provisions within the economic development
plan. The S&T action plan developed in this manner would then
become the instrument for mission-oriented operation of the R&D
institutions.
In the absence of an S&T action plan, different R&D
institutions drew up their individual research agenda. Generally,
the projects that were undertaken could be shown to be falling
within the S&T policy frame, and would qualify for funding.
Individual scientists were free to select research problems, and
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pursue those according to individual plans with little critical
review as to scientific merit, relevance to the need of the country,
technical feasibility or commercial potentials. Generally, the leads
for many projects came from external sources, and often our
scientists failed to appreciate the potential limitations in our
contexts. As such, many projects could not proceed beyond
laboratory experimentation stages.
Inadequate Project Development Protocol
A major impediment to R&D success has been the poor
project appraisal and feasibility study before undertaking a
project. Most R&D institutions have highly qualified scientists,
many with foreign Ph.D. degree from reputed universities abroad.
The Ph.D. work of most scientists pertains to basic research, as
expected. After return, they cannot easily match their learning
with the available facilities at home institution. Thus, the scientists
are immediately required to re-orient their thinking and develop
their workplan in entirely new directions, often improperly
perceived. This transition requires difficult adjustments to be
made by the scientist. But however difficult the task may be, it is
an inescapable reality with which the scientist has to learn to live.
Unfortunately, however, this is where the most costly mistakes
are made. Imbibed with the spirit of free inquiry and a strong zeal
to serve the motherland, young scientists quite often fail to
identify the components of a project in terms of R&D needs and
potentials for commercialisation. This has often led to wasteful
spending of resources in pursuits of activities with poor
technology content1, and potential invitation of failure.
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Proper project identification is a key element for
successful R&D research, but it is an easy task. For a sound R&D
project, the scientist needs to examine many issues before
undertaking the project. Although project sharpness from
scientific perspectives is important, both in R&D initiative and
basic research, it is only a small part of the complex set of issues
associated with an R&D project. These are: technical and
economic feasibility, market demand, sustainability in terms of
raw material availability, and the time factor required to complete
the project, which can slip off rapidly decimating the value of the
product before it is ready for the market. Even issues pertaining to
ethics, religion and cultural background of the people to whom
the product is targeted are to be considered.
These various aspects of R&D initiatives are considered in
a special type of study called scientific feasibility study, an
elaborate procedure requiring skill, experience and critical review.
In many cases our failure at this phase of project development
greatly impedes success
1. Waliuzzaman, M. 2003. Role of R&D in industrial development. In: Bangladesh
Vision 2021. Bangladesh Academy of Sciences pp. 81-96..
of R&D projects. An example may be illuminating. The use of
indigenous raw material is an important consideration in a good
R&D project. Decades ago, it was suggested that molasses from
our sugar mills could be used to produce citric acid, an important
industrial raw material, by growing fungal organisms (moulds) in
the molasses that would convert the molasses into citric acid.
Projects on production of baker’s yeast grown in molasses were
also considered. Yeast being rich in protein and vitamins, it was
felt that it could be used as feed supplement in poultry industry.
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Against these multiple uses of molasses, certain important aspects
escaped notice of the R&D scientists. For instance, the molasses
production and the world economic trends involving these
products were not critically examined. The Bangladesh Atomic
Energy Commission undertook the project on citric acid
production in the mid-1960s. By the mid-1980s some progress had
been made and it was determined at that time that about 100 tons
of citric acid was our annual requirement, and that if the product
is made in the country we could save about 50 lac Taka in foreign
exchange annually. With the quantity of molasses available, 50-70
thousand tons per year1, this quantity of citric acid could indeed
be produced. But there were a few contingencies. Molasses that
would actually be available for citric acid production after its
other uses such as ethanol production, and the potential savings
that could be made, were not rigorously worked out. Also,
increased citric acid requirement of the country could not be
projected, and the time that would be needed to travel from that
particular stage of the work to industrial production was not well
charted. After nearly two decades of laboratory work, there were
no industrialists found with interest in the product. The time
taken was unduly long for the laboratory work, and in the
meantime sugarcane
1. Islam, M. S. and N. Choudhury. 1986. Genetic improvement of industrial microorganisms: Induction of high citric acid accumulating mutants of Aspergillus niger with the help of gamma-rays. In: Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering. Ed. Zia U. Ahmed and N. Choudhury. Bangladesh Academy of Sciences.
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acreage declined due to increasing pressure on land for cereal
production, and the coming winds of market changes meanwhile
made it obvious to the entrepreneurs that imported citric acid
would be far less costly and of perceived superior quality than the
small quantity of locally made product. Here, we lost many years
of R&D work in a manner typical of many other R&D efforts.
INDUSTRY APATHY
Why are the entrepreneurs not responsive to our R&D
inventions? We complain that our industrialists are venture-shy,
and are neither willing to spend on industrial R&D efforts of their
own preference, nor would they support institutional R&D
ventures. The issue important to business is whether the local
product has a substantial pricing edge over the imported material.
To an industrialist, no product is satisfactory if the market of the
local product is several times higher than the imported product.
In the case of baker’s yeast production, scientists at BCSIR
calculated that locally produced yeast would cost Tk 150 per kg
while imported yeast would cost Tk 250 per kg. To an
industrialist, this difference of Tk 100 is not a big margin in low
volume production ventures. A product such as this, according to
the thumb rule of business, should have several times higher price
to be commercially attractive.
For the past several years, many R&D activities are being
carried out in different institutions on storage of dry vegetables,
preservation of vegetables by radiation, preservation of
vegetables in salt solution, canning of local fruits, etc. While
undertaking such studies one should consider whether in our
climatic conditions, production seasonality, consumption rate etc.,
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there is any potential for commercial use of such processes? These
are the questions that an entrepreneur will ask. Storage of fruits
and vegetables by keeping them at low temperature is the most
appropriate way to maintain their natural taste and other
consumer-preferred properties. But cold storage is expensive and
highly energy dependent. Thus it is beyond the easy reach of
many developing countries. The question of canning fruits in our
country is to be seen in the perspective of whether there is
sufficient need for canning. That is, do we produce enough of the
fruit item with sufficient surplus over the normal level of its fresh
consumption? Does the item have the important characteristic of
biological uniformity, a factor that is important in preservation
process? Two varieties of mango, for instance, will almost
certainly require small changes in the preservation protocol. For
preservation, one ought to select a particular variety and through
programmed breeding one has to raise a uniform crop for the
applied preservation process. This is also be true for other fruits
such as pineapple – one single variety should be used, for which
its cultivation has to be customised preferably in one cultivation
facility; otherwise, batch to batch variations will invariably affect
product quality and customer acceptability. Canning of pineapple
was taken up as a commercial project with export objectives.
There are two issues for consideration: production volume of
pineapple and local consumption. Pineapple production is
seasonal and its production cost is low. It does not put stress on
prime agricultural land because it can be cultivated on hill slopes
where no other crop can be easily grown. The price that the
farmer gets is perhaps adequate to cover the cost of production
and make some profit. But the project failed, perhaps due to
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heterogeneity in the quality of pineapple and consequent process
failure.
Canned fruit is not much in demand in our country
because fresh fruits of different types are available throughout the
year. Whether our background is compatible with the canning
culture, and whether the small number of lovers of the canned
product would prefer our products over those that can be flown
from abroad at only a little extra cost, is important to consider. In
external market, our products would face competitors. Thus, we
must first ask, do we have a competitive advantage in this trade?
Canned mango may be an exportable item with established types
of mango of uniform quality, but to increase production volume
for economy of scale, considerable increase in acreage will be
needed for mango cultivation, which is not feasible. Vegetables
such as brinjal and cauliflower can be preserved in salt solution
and marketed in jars, will our people develop a taste for the
product when fresh material is easily available? On one side,
brinjal is a relatively low cost item and it grows in all parts of the
country, and cultivation of several varieties throughout the
country more or less ensures its supply round the year. So an
industry based on salt-preserved brinjal is not likely to make a
market. Cauliflower is highly seasonal and although it is
cultivated now in a fairly large scale, it is not in great demand in
the countryside largely because of its cost. If, for instance, we
assume that it will continue to be an item of the relatively well to
do section of the society in future, then the preferred preservation
method is cold storage. Thus, the expectation that R&D work in
these lines would lead to the development of any commercial
product is unrealistic.
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There are, however, potentials for microbial
biotechnology. In Bangladesh, trained microbiologists are
produced in fairly large numbers now who do meet the needs of
the service sector such as quality control in pharmaceutical
industries, shrimp culture, food processing industry and the fast
growing sector of clinical microbiology. But microbiological
product development is a difficult matter where fierce
competition is to be met from the industrialised countries owning
advanced technologies, which is a strong deterrent to this sector
in all developing countries.
Most of our R&D institutions in the health sector are
engaged in adaptive research, mainly testing diagnostic kits in the
field setting. Also included in such studies are testing new drugs
and vaccines, or enhancing demand of marketed products
through awareness creation and market promotional activities.
Basic research on the development of drugs and vaccines is, at
this time, beyond the capability of our national health research
institutes. An international health research centre which was
created by an Act of the Parliament and which is now famous for
its contribution in the area of diarrhoeal diseases carries out small
amount of basic biomedical research. This is the International
Centre for Dirrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B)
with modern facilities for basic research. But ICDDR,B being
entirely a donor supported organisation with no reserve funds or
endowment for basic research, has focused most of its efforts in
well conducted field trials of new drugs and vaccines including
the now famous oral saline for diarrhoea. Donor countries have
profitably used ICDDR,B’s excellent field facilities to test many
health products. In the clinical facilities of ICDDR,B trial of drugs
in volunteers, sick or healthy as the study may require, is a
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priority area and many western pharmaceutical companies are
available with funds to field-test their products. Thus, contrary to
the expectation that ICDDR,B would promote basic research by
spending a fraction of its resources, it turned out that basic
research cannot be carried out by the centre even if funds are
available. This stems from the fact that no donor country or
company with a product under development will like to finance
an organisation that would stand as a competitor. Attempts made
by local scientists in this direction in the past met with stiff
resistance both from the centre’s administration and the donor
community.
With the transit of the country to market economy the
range of testable health products increased considerably.
ICDDR,B made good use of the emerging opportunities. Key
research areas were opened in Child Survival, Population and
Reproductive Health, Application and Policy, and biomedical
research on human molecular genetics and Molecular Diagnostics,
turning many of its filed studies to no more than market
promotion activities for the available products in diarrhoea,
family planning and child health. The government while
approving these changes in the centre’s work strategy could do
little to encourage basic research aimed at development of
biomedical products as opposed to testing such products. The
necessary will was not there in the government, and when donors
expressed the view that basic research in Bangladesh is not their
business but a business of the government of Bangladesh, the
government quietly accepted the view. Microbiological product
development in the biomedical arena thus remains a distant goal
for us.
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These considerations although very pessimistic in tone,
are, however, not trivial to the entrepreneur. An industrialist will
ask precise questions on viability of the product, and its market
potentials. In most cases, we cannot present a product with strong
competitive edge. It is through such questions that differences in
perception arise between science and industry. Scientists are
blamed by the industry as living in an imagined world; the
industry is blamed by the scientists for being non-receptive to
scientific inventions. The interface between science and industry
thus remains blurred.
INDUSTRIAL R&D
In developing countries, the results of laboratory research
are taken to the market in a few discrete steps. Conception of a
project and study of its feasibility is the first step. Laboratory
research then defines the basic procedure of the process leading to
pilot scale production, which examines whether the scale-up
procedure works well, and wherever necessary the needed
modifications are introduced in the process. Next step is
evaluation of the pilot lot in a small-scale field trial. If the product
is, for instance, an edible item, it is to be subjected to a market
assessment as to its acceptability, price and competition. If it is a
biomedical product, the product is subjected to a clinical
evaluation for safety and efficacy, prior to testing a pilot
production lot in a small field population.
This stage sets up the need for another level of R&D,
which is different from research R&D, which is sometimes
referred to as industrial R&D. This involves such studies as large-
scale field trials of the product, consumer acceptability, for
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biomedical products the safety aspects in field conditions, ease of
use of the product in the field setting, market survey for potential
demand, determination of production volume, study of export
potential, establishment of production technology and finally
release of the product.
In western countries, industries maintain R&D
infrastructure at both the levels – that is, industries maintain both
laboratory R&D and industrial R&D infrastructure, the latter for
the transit of the product from near industrial readiness to full-
scale industrial production.
In the developing countries, however, the situation is
different, because of government’s direct participation in
laboratory R&D, as opposed to the industrialised countries, where
the industry gets substantial tax benefits for R&D work. In those
countries, therefore, maintaining a laboratory for basic R&D work
is a private sector undertaking. The government’s role there is
primarily regulatory, relating to safety of the product. In the
advanced countries research funding provided by the government
is restricted to supporting basic research in universities and
specialised high profile research institutions, whose discoveries
provide the driving force for industrial R&D. In developing
countries, the interface between research organisations and the
industry has to be viewed in the context that most of our R&D
work is government supported, and the interaction of the
scientists with the industries is weak. The industry would be
interested in a product only after the product has passed the
following stages:
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A. The product has reached the stage of licensing;
B. The pilot production lot has performed well in
the market or in the field setting;
C. Production technology can be easily acquired;
D. The product is backed by sustainable raw
material supply from within the country;
E. The product has a substantial market that will
recover investment within a short time which
in most cases will be in the range of 3-5 years
and;
F. There is export potential of the product.
These conditions are difficult to create readily in a
developing country that makes the industry take cautious steps
before investing in industrial R&D. It is important to keep in
mind that in our situation one of the foremost considerations of an
industrial enterprise is the assurance that the product is sold
immediately for sufficient profit that will enable rapid cost
recovery. This is also the strategy of industries in other countries
as well, but there is a substantive operational difference. That is,
in industrialised countries the high profile industrial
establishments have sizeable amounts of ‘idle money’ – money
that cannot be invested readily for high-return economic
activities. Small profits are not tempting to large industries in the
industrialised countries. As a result, these industries often choose
to divert that money to R&D. The industries either carry out the
necessary R&D themselves, or give the money to research
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institutions as contract research projects, or simply as research
grants.
In developing countries, idle money is not available.
Industrialists can re-invest all the profit that they earn, either in
the same business or in a new business. Since all new industries in
developing countries are based on established readily available
technologies, immediate profit is almost guaranteed. As the
economy grows, the magnitude of their profit also grows, some of
which could then be placed in the idle pocket and used for R&D.
But we don’t see this happening in our country yet due to several
reasons among which socio-economic factors are important. We
do yet not know the point in our culture where our industrialists
would put some of their profit into the idle pocket, instead of
funnelling it into the chain reaction of rapid amplification. When a
nation wins over the amplification syndrome, there is the
appearance Ford, Rockefeller and Carnegie. But one might also
wonder how much money Henry Ford had when he established
the Ford Foundation, or Graham Bell when he founded the Bell
Laboratories? Did philanthropy play any role, or it was a function
of the personal fortunes?
There is also the element called ‘venture fatigue’ within
our industrial circle. This is evident in the fact that even if our
industry is given an indigenous technology, and the necessary
fund, either as grant or soft loan, there is little enthusiasm because
the time and energy that will be required to make the product a
commercial success can be better given to an adaptive technology
of proven market and high profit margins.
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While there are blames, which science and industry can
trade against one another, the role of the government cannot be
overlooked. Lack of funding is one and it is quite miserable one
indeed. It is well established that when less than 1% of GDP is
spent on S&T, it cannot produce any good results. Our S&T
spending is as low as 0 .05 - 0.1%. This amounts to spending the
money to keep the scientists alive as individuals, a sort of welfare
benefit to this scientific community. In addition to this well-
known malady of poor funding, the overall apathy reflected in the
administration of the R&D sector, particularly that related to
industry as opposed to agriculture or health, has been
conspicuous since the time of Pakistan. There was no uniform
policy of recruitment of young scientists in different R&D
institutions, which resulted in several tiers of scientists within the
R&D framework. Some institutions got the brightest products of
the university, while others found it difficult to attract them
because of differences in opportunities and benefits. It is true that
all institutes cannot be of the same standard with respect to talent
or infrastructure, but science is a highly specialised activity, and it
is essential that a certain minimum level is attained by an
institution, and to ensure that science does not suffer
marginalisation into an off-line activity.
In summary, while the mono-disciplinary R&D institutes
such as those on rice, wheat, sugarcane, etc. in the agriculture
sector, have done significant work over the past years on
improving yield, similar tributes cannot be paid to institutes in the
industrial and biomedical sectors. The agriculture sector had some
special advantages – the support of the government, ready fund
availability, and the fact that by and large they carried out simple
adaptive research rather than basic research. Agricultural R&D
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had little to interact with the industry. In the agriculture and
biomedical area, our interaction with the industry was non-
productive because we could not offer any product with which
they felt confident about profit. This was due to the fact that we
failed to identify projects that would attract entrepreneurs. With
our transit to market economy, we cannot expect our businessmen
to support indigenous R&D at the cost of ready technologies
available from abroad for immediate use. This brings up the
question of how, in the changed economic order, should the
government address the crucial issues of science and technology
development in the country?
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Eleven
S&T in New World Order
CHANGES AND CONSEQUENCES
The new economic order that swept through the globe
beginning in the 1990s signalled many changes including changes
in the scope of science in the changed world. Balance of political
power fast disappeared, which gave the economic order both an
enormous and a scathing competition for wealth accumulation.
Improved travel and movement of goods, and rapid information
transfer, changed the world into a global village, a phenomenon
that was considered illusive even a decade ago. Free market was
projected to be the cure for all of the world’s economic ills, in
different covers and colours. Developing countries opened their
doors readily qualification, exposing a huge population to
everything that the industrial countries had to offer, from onion
and orange juice to cricket, and the fun culture mania. The free
market requires liberty, freedom, democracy, and good
governance for optimal operation. In the absence of these in many
developing countries social murmurs were evident, but market
reforms slowly picked up pace in the predicted manner. Western
mannerism, and marketism transformed the large cities into what
may be called mini-countries within the country. Scientists in the
developing countries saw these changes as an impediment to their
freedom, but they had little time to think for long. The changes
were fast and sweeping.
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Standing on the crossroads our scientists were
bewildered. They are often irritated when their work are put to
the searching tests of the market, and not too infrequently, they
blame the government for failing to protect their scientific
freedom from the sharp edges of the market culture. They
wondered should S&T be left to the swings the of market forces?
This is a difficult transition in any setting, and for us the
task was further confounded by certain facts of our history.
Thirty-three years have passed since Bangladesh came into the
world map as an independent nation. The first few years had to
be spent in mitigating the devastations of the war. Both the
economy and the state machinery fell victim of a crippling
political instability, which as a consequence, caused deep
fractures in the rudimentary foundations of the nation’s S&T
infrastructure. Increasing the scientific manpower was a priority
but training and infrastructure development remained
dangerously neglected.
Lack of competition in scientific research in the
availability of research funds was damaging. It has long been the
practice in our S&T institutions to receive funds directly from the
government, and to dispense the funds to different units of the
institute as per internal rules. But the rules often failed to address
an important scientific issue, that is, preferential funding of
projects of high merit due to lack of stringent procedure of
institutional scientific review. This inevitably led to mediocrity,
which was perpetuated by the system of permanent appointment
and poor performance review. In most cases, scientific
publication, and occasionally patents of little value, were the
criteria to judge performance. Publications often mean appearance
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of an article in one of the many local or institutional in-house
journals, and authorship means appearance of one’s name in the
long list of authors that appear in the paper with little scientific
and intellectual input, but a good public relations profile. This
almost guarantees promotion. These are the ills of a lack of
competitive climate.
SCIENTIFIC REVIEW SYSTEM
A shift from core-funding to project-specific funding
would create an atmosphere of competition. The core funding
should be greatly reduced, as centralised operations are to be
more inefficient. Decentralisation of scientific efforts to individual
levels is desirable, as this will boost individual initiatives. In such
a shift, the enterprising scientists may well outperform their past.
This shift in scientific research that will be more ‘individual-
based’ is important since it will help proper identification of
talents without internal tremor.
By far the most significant lapse in our R&D activities is
the lack of a sound system of review of scientific activities. A
system of rigorous project review is critical for any project-based
funding system. In the USA, such review process is thoroughly
searching. Government funding agencies usually take about one
year for a project to be reviewed. The grant application, what we
call project proforma, is designed in such a manner that to present
just the skeleton or summary of the important aspects of a project
it would take about 25 pages. To this, is added the scientific
portion of the project with review of literature, experimental
procedure, rationale, and budget with full justification of every
item of expenditure, etc. A grant application is routinely an
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elaborate document of about 50 pages. The application is given to
several reviewers and a panel of experts selected by the granting
agency for evaluation. Through this searching exercise the merit
of the project comes to sharp focus. Although it is a highly
involved procedure, the system has proved to be effective in
selecting projects of high merit.
We have not yet been able to develop a good project
review system, as much as we have no definite granting agency,
with defined scientific work programme. There is no standard
project format that is sufficiently elaborate to allow critical
assessment of the project, and no worthwhile monitoring
mechanism to review the progress of research projects. An active
monitoring system would deter sluggish performance or
mediocrity, and the competition, which will be generated through
such a system, will both encourage young scientists to stay home
and those abroad who are looking for an opportunity to return
home, to come back.
The transition from centralised to project-based financing
may not be easy, strong opposition may be encountered. A
scientist has to win competitive research grants, and obtain funds
both for the scientific work, and supplementation of his salary.
Strong political will be necessary to accomplish this change, if
S&T is to be properly organised in the present time. Important
contingencies ought to be appreciated – funds and grand plans
are not enough without bright scientists in leadership positions,
and young talents in the pipeline. Without this, much of the
money may simply vanish. Nehru had an uncanny ability to
identify such talents. He had kept science under his direct
administrative control and story goes that he would sign blank
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cheques to hand over to them without reservations. The outcome
as we know now was brilliant!
Importantly and perhaps signalling a major departure, it
is to be expected that as a result of such changes, there will be an
automatic freeze to permanent employment because such a
system with an ingrained sustained high level competition can
only operate under short-term employment at entry, and when an
individual has achieved the desired level of accomplishment,
longer term employment can be provided but with the clear
understanding that there is nothing like permanent employment
in the new system – persistent non-productivity will inevitably
result loss of job. Scientific research is no less stringent a business
than traditional business, so no complacency deserves any
attention.
THE NEEDED FOCUS
It may be unacceptable to many when we say that at the
present time a good option for us is perhaps the free market. Our
circumstances – high population, scarce resource base, small land
area, and high population density –may stand to our advantage.
Our main economic resource is our large population. Our
products and services will earn for us the needed wealth to buy
all that we need but cannot produce because we do not have
enough land. The need will be wide- ranging, almost everything
for food, clothing and shelter, since we will in the future produce
very little of any of these on our meagre parcel of available arable
land, which would face the heaviest human pressure and turn
rapidly highly poisonous. Thus our survival kit is not our land,
but our hand. If we can make products of high demand and freely
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sell those in the global market, the wider is the market and the
greater is the freedom, the better it will be for us.
SEPARATION OF SCIENCE FROM TECHNOLOGY
In these contexts what should be the focus in S&T?
Science generally is independent of its immediate practical value;
it primarily strives at understanding nature. Some findings of
science do, however, carry potentials for application, which the
discipline of engineering picks up for further development with
additional input research to enhance its utility. Finally, technology
takes up for large-scale operation. Thus, science has generally
broad objectives but technology has specific goals of practical
value. Technology is created by scientific knowledge, but the
purpose of technology is to modify the knowledge in a defined
manner, that is, to convert the scientific knowledge to an easily
usable format. The greater is this conversion, the better it would
serve the industry. Scientific results are regarded as universal, but
technology has an inherent secrecy component. Technical
knowledge is protected for commercial exploitation as intellectual
property.
These differences carry significant implications on
planning, and unless these differences are understood in their
proper contexts, mistakes may be made. The scope of scientific
research is knowledge-oriented, hence much broad-based.
Scientific planning cannot ignore this element of profundity in
scientific research, and cannot easily dispel the inherent element
of uncertainty in scientific research. Technology, on the other
hand, must be fixed and based on certainty. And, largely because
of these attributes the utilitarian value technology must be
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amenable to measurements. While the measurement of scientific
research is largely confined within the scientific community,
technology is inevitably measured externally on the basis of its
contribution to socio-economic development, and human comfort.
For the scientist, however, these distinctions are not
always easy to comprehend. The mindset of the scientists is
inherently fixed to the notion that science is first and foremost a
free enterprise of the creative mind, and must thus look at
creation of knowledge as its first and foremost goal. But an
appreciation of the distinction is important. Many developing
countries plan science and technology together, but some
countries avoid this mixing of which Maldives, Malaysia, Korea
and some other countries of the Asia-Pacific region offer
examples. These countries emphasized on only technology
initially with little attention to basic science. After having attained
a certain level in technology, they are now trying to raise the level
of basic science. But this strategy may not be without problems.
Intellectual stagnancy is dangerous, and firmly grounded it is
often very difficult to uproot.
Among the developing countries, India provides an
example of significant exception as to the fact that India has
pursued science and technology planning together since its birth
due to the highly fortunate circumstances. India had its scientific
base already formed when the market transition was initiated.
Specific country context should determine what route to follow in
S&T efforts. We also have done our S&T planning through the
mixed route, perhaps due to historical antecedents. We lived in
undivided India for hundreds of years, and perhaps failed to see
our highly different contexts in new Bangladesh. This blending
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was perhaps inappropriate. This has been reflected in our
National Science and Technology Policy. The policy is widely
believed to have major lapses, but no new policy has yet emerged
correcting those inadequacies. This is again due to the fact that the
significance of this blending has not been fully appreciated, that
led to our failure on deciding our options. In a situation of relative
affluence, a country can take to the luxurious recourse of blending
many extempore flambuoyant intentions, and achieve little with
not much impunity, but for us it would be a highly defeating
path..
It is important that that we define our science agenda, and
our technology priorities. We may ask ourselves how much of
high-tone basic science can we realistically hope to do, and how
much of technology should we aim at, and in which direction?
This is a difficult question to which a ready answer would also be
difficult to find, but one that cannot be evaded. Traditionally,
universities have served as the focal point of science as for other
creative pursuits. Universities thus have raised an umbrella with
some measure of legitimacy over the scientific activities of a
nation, and for the most part, this has worked well. Our
universities also had the same role when the country was under
the British rule, and very significant contributions were made in
the physical sciences. But the Muslims unfortunately fell behind
the Hindus in this respect. The effect of this was that there was a
very weak foundation of science in Muslim society, the legacy of
which is painfully felt by us today. This sad state was further
accentuated by the notion that university education must be made
accessible to many through liberal enrolment and high subsidy.
The effect of this has been catastrophic.
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Scientific research must strive for excellence because of
the universal nature of science, and as such it must face the
inescapable global competition. Since at present we cannot face
the competition well, we must take the decision as to whether we
should invest in hard-core basic research. This is not to negate
basic research, but as I will elaborate later, to fix our priorities in
the global context. Development of strategies for basic research is
something that a nation with our heritage cannot ignore.
Some scientists would like to think that we should take
lessons from the global changes and approach the issue of
scientific research with new pragmatism, not unrestrained zeal.
That is, we may consider separation of science from technology
and, of course, put greater emphasis on technology initially. This
has been done by Japan. But there is a risk that basic science might
suffer, and one can see that it indeed happened in Japan. Japan
through its highly disciplined workforce and technical skill, has
revolutionized its manufacturing sector with magical levels of
proficiency. It has done so not by lofty achievements in creative
science, but by applying the skills of copying to add value to
material. Countries like ours cannot neglect the potential
economic benefits that would accrue from such a compromise.
There will of course be criticism to this, such as by sealing basic
science into a crystal vessel and allowing only technology to reign
over the nation’s intellectual horizon, can we build the long-term
future of the nation? This is certainly true, we cannot. Today
Japan has earnestly begun to appreciate the mistake, and now
places great emphasis on basic research, because it feels that
without basic research, progress in the longer term is impossible.
This is a crucial issue that merits serious thinking
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Prior to the 1990s, there was no separate ministry for
science and technology in Bangladesh. Science and technology
was placed under the ministry of education as a division. A
separate ministry of Science and Technology (MoS&T) was
created in the early 1990s, which was later renamed as Ministry of
Science and Information & Communication Technology
(MoSICT), for emphasis on the emerging ICT (Information and
Communication Technology) sector. These metamorphoses and
the strange nomenclature style were not associated with serious
policy shift, which thereby failed to bring any good even in the
ICT sector. As of 2004, there were about 400 software exporting
companies in Bangladesh, that earned about Tk 42 crores
annually, a rather trivial amount. The reason for this poor
performance of the ICT sector deserves careful study. We often
exclaim with pride when young Bangladeshi youths win prizes in
international competitions in computer contests. This would
certainly bear testimony to the merit of our youths, but it also
contrasts sharply with the poor growth of this sector. Our
performance in this sector should be dispassionately analysed it
casts reflection on the pitfalls of our S&T planning.
The S&T sector needs strong background in basic science
in subjects such as physics and mathematics. Sadly, due to the
general decline in the standard of our university education, the
teaching of these subjects has also suffered. If the universities
could maintain the expected high standard by investing more
prudently, these departments could be the springboards for our
ICT ventures. In a fiercely competitive ICT world, innovative
skills are those that effectively supplement the copying skills.
Imitation with innovation requires a strong base in science.
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PRIVATE SECTOR S&T
The prospect of private sector S&T in Bangladesh is poor
at this time. Science has been traditionally regarded as a sector for
the state to develop. Private sector S&T would be obviously
highly focused and tailored to the market demands, and there will
be no external interference in its course of development. Thus, its
scope of work would be very different from that if it had been in
the hands of the government. It is not easy for the government, for
instance, to restrict highly basic scientific research to a small
number of specialised institutions, and to segregate science from
technology at this time. One may then wonder whether it would
be a correct course at this to place selected S&T packages into the
domain of the private sector and see how it performs under the
market forces?
Private sector science will be application-oriented that
could be rapidly transformed into technology, and to marketable
goods and services. Many experts of S&T planning believe that in
most developing countries, a prudent approach would be the
sectorial approach, as opposed to integration of various
dimensions of S&T in one intricate conglomerate. For us, the
sectorial approach can be initially considered depending on the
resources available in discipline-based or even narrower
packages, such as specific activity-based undertakings.
The specific-activity-based approach may be easier for the
private sector to adopt. In this scheme, the development of S&T
ventures will be contingent upon an important preceding
parameter, that is, scientific attainments of the type that can
produce immediate commercial benefits. Here, one has to
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recognise the fact that technology will precede science for a time.
Thus initially such ventures would most likely be an adopted
technology to be adapted to local conditions – so called reverse
technology. This reverse period would be intellectually dull, and
certainly unattractive to bright scientists, as it would be simply a
period of adoption of established methods and available
technologies to make marketable products. This period may last
for quite some years depending on a myriad of circumstances,
after which the system itself would force a contingency upon the
sponsoring organisations to enhance their technical capability in
order to adopt higher-level technologies. At this stage, the
organisations would be required to invest in scientific research, or
risk serious financial loss, even their survival.
Some significant transformations would then take place in
the relationship of the private sector and the research scientists,
working in dedicated research institutions. Admittedly, the
private sector will be unwilling to tread along the difficult and
costly track of highly basic research in science and technology all
by itself. Instead, it will prefer to work in partnership with the
universities and R&D institutions, where the infrastructure is
already available together with the needed manpower. A
productive operational linkage might thus be established. This
linkage would be sustainable because it would be of benefit to
both parties, and would be cost effective. But the private sector in
its truly professional outlook would only look for the very best in
the trade – the best scientists and the best laboratories in the
universities that would match with their requirements and the
universities would be required to provide the right kind of these
things for the interaction to develop in right directions.
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For this scientific interaction, understandably research
centres of high reputation ought to be available. This would be the
time of a critical transition. Pressure from the private sector will
force research scientists and research organisations to develop
professionalism in their work, and at this stage the universities
will have to break their dormancy and rise with new vigour and a
positive mindset. The university at this time would appreciate the
benefit of learning while earning from this partnership. Some
shifts in the university’s operating strategy would then have to be
brought about by changing the operating.
As private sector S&T may be intellectually less
stimulating, finding right kind of private sector organisations to
do the job may not easy. Private sector enterprises that can be
identified at this time for such technology ventures with the
necessary operating gadgets are few. Indeed, only some private
universities operated by large NGOs, and some pharmaceutical
companies, are the ones that may be considered at this time.
Front row private universities are few, and they should be
prepared to make the necessary investments in infrastructure
creation for programme-based S&T ventures. It has to be hoped
that given the pressure of the new economic order, the private
universities will soon find it possible, and also necessary, to
accommodate science research within the folds of their stated
purpose of fulfilling market demands, which at present is
restricted to training students only for the job-ready business
establishments. This advantage will soon wane; and already there
are signs that the process may already have begun.
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At present, S&T activity is very restricted in the
pharmaceutical industry, although they have the necessary
infrastructure. The reasons for this are many, and some have been
outlined in a section on science and industry. One problem is fund
availability. The pharmaceutical industries expect the government
to provide the necessary funds and incentives for S&T work,
which the government has failed to do. But this shift would offer
new options; it would not be necessary for the industry to extend
its arms to the government for financial help. Instead, they now
can tread freely into the free market to develop collaborative
ventures with national and foreign investors and partner
companies. Opportunities for the pharmaceutical companies are
vast, and our industries should be prepared with new vision to
seize the opportunities in the areas of our advantage.
One particular field that can be readily identified, which
has been discussed later, is the biomedical field. This is the area
where an international NGO, the International Centre for
Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B), has been
working in the country for the past few decades. It has made
significant contributions towards the development of new drugs,
vaccines and other biomedical interventions, by blending the
basic research carried out in western countries and performing the
necessary field testing and laboratory based studies on field the
material here, to develop biomedical products many of which
have been successfully commercialised by western companies.
Our local pharmaceutical companies and some local
NGOs working in the biomedical area and possess field facilities,
can easily compete in this area. They are likely to succeed in this
competition because of the critical advantage of low operating
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cost compared to the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease
Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) where a system of high salaried
international level positions are mandated by the ordinance which
the Bangladesh Parliament enacted in 1978 to create the Centre.
The international positions are structured after the United Nations
system, which entails very high cost on the part of the Centre.
Since the Centre is almost entirely donor-supported with no
significant resource of its own to cover its operating cost, and as
there are increasing signs of donor fatigue in funding the Centre,
the centre has now turned to project-based funding in areas that
are of interest to the western pharmaceutical industries. The
Centre’s scientists develop research projects in collaboration with
external partners working in advanced laboratories. The latter
usually maintain linkage with the different independent and
different funding agencies in the industrialised world. Western
pharmaceutical industries also maintain close linkage in this
funding system. Thus, in the biomedical sector, project-based
research money is easy to find, with which the Centre has been
operating well.
However, this advantage cannot be long lasting in a
world of free enterprise. Already, because of its high operating
cost the Centre has fast loosing its monopoly in the competitive
free market. The edge of advantage that the Centre currently
enjoys almost entirely now comes from the support that it receives
from the Government of Bangladesh as per provisions of the
founding ordinance. The support provides protection of
protection to the Centre in its activities. In order to attract more
external funding, the Centre has broadened its work area much
beyond diarrhoeal disease research – the Centre is now informally
called Centre for Health and Population Research. Through this
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shift it is now possible for the Centre to write projects on different
areas of health research. In essence, this strategy has all the
flavour of private sector S&T which is supported by high-level
funding assurances from international multilateral sources and
government agencies, that act as business promotion arms of
respective governments and multinational pharmaceutical
companies.
Our advantage in collaborative S&T with foreign partners
in the biomedical area is significant. This should be understood by
us clearly and prudently exploited. The private universities are
the ones that can quickly orient themselves to fit into the folds of
this advantage, than the state-run universities. This advantage in
biomedical sector that the new economic order offers to us should
not be lost for lack of vision, and it is the private universities that
have the circumstances more congenial to exploiting the
advantage.
The new economic order should stimulate new thinking
about our S&T planning. Routine financial support that the
government has to provide at present to keep the state-run
universities operational cannot be withdrawn. It will perhaps
continue at the present level. Sadly, this in effect will also mean a
decrease in real value of the investment because of uncontrollable
factors such as increased enrolment of students without matching
increase in funding and enhanced inflationary pressures. Without
massive investment the public universities cannot be lifted from
the abyss of stagnancy, which the government cannot do by using
a uniform policy for all universities; it cannot be selectively as it
this will be immediately turned into unpleasant slogans. When a
government rests on a platform of underdevelopment, poverty
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and illiteracy, any denial can be politically penalising and the
voting constituency is usually seen to inflict the necessary
punishment correct such aberrations every few years through the
institution of election, but the punishment as a rule fails to correct
the malady. It resurfaces soon after the elections are over creating
grounds for another penalising episode few years down the road.
Twelve
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Exploiting Advantages: Biomedical Research
Human health and primary education are the two sectors
that received special attention of our development partners
during the early 1980s. Studies on how best to deliver health care
services to the people in the developing countries also received a
share of this attention. Research in the health sector can be
operationally divided into two categories, biomedical research
and health research. Biomedical research involves basic laboratory
research related to understanding of disease, and making
diagnostic tools, drugs and vaccines. The latter category of
research operates at the community level, aiming at providing
health care in an efficient and cost-effective manner, and is
generally blended with diverse disciplines such as epidemiology,
anthropology, behavioral science, and other branches of the social
sciences.
History of basic biomedical research in Bangladesh is
neither very old nor highly substantive. It was, in fact, through
international collaboration that the maiden steps of biomedical
research in Bangladesh were taken. This involved the historic
disease cholera. The high prevalence of Asiatic cholera in
Southeast Asia, and increasing US military involvement in this
area during the Vietnam War in the 1960s, stimulated basic
research on treatment and prevention of cholera. This led to the
establishment in 1960 by the then South East Asian Treaty
Organization (SEATO), a research laboratory in Dhaka named
SEATO Cholera Research Laboratory, which became Cholera
Research Laboratory (CRL) after the birth of Bangladesh in 1971.
In 1978, the CRL was changed into an international centre under
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the name International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research,
Bangladesh (ICDDR,B). The ICDDR,B was created by a landmark
Act of Bangladesh Parliament, the first of its kind enacted by the
Parliament, establishing the only international NGO in the world
with wide mandate to carry out research on diarrhoeal diseases
and associated problems of nutrition and fertility. The Act gave
nearly unlimited freedom to the Centre to obtain research funds
from international sources. The organization also enjoyed
substantial exemptions from duties and taxes, and significantly,
immunity from legal proceedings. Over the years, the ICDDR,B
has made significant contributions towards development of the
medical marvel of the past century – the oral route to correcting
dehydration caused by severe diarrhoea through drinking saline,
instead of intravenous infusion. Since 1963 it also carried out field
trials of cholera vaccines, and other anti-diarrhoeal vaccines.
However, no effective vaccine against diarrhoea has yet been
developed.
During the late 1980s the impact of globalization was
reflected in the operation of ICDDR,B and the Centre made some
changes in its research agenda, and in its fund-raising mechanism.
Research emphasis changed from biomedical research to field-
oriented applied research. Areas of research were widened to
include broader health problems in addition to diarrhoeal
diseases, which was the main mandated function of the centre.
The Centre added the epithet ‘Centre for Health and Population
Research’ as part of its logo, to emphasize this shift. This shift
ensured better flow of funds from external sources. Specific
projects were supported by international development agencies
often reflecting the interest of multi-national pharmaceutical
companies, and these projects received priorities in the Centre’s
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research agenda. Indeed, by the mid-1990s one stated mission
objective of ICDDR,B was work “in improving both supply of and
demand for existing health technologies”.
The ICDDR,B is equipped with advanced facilities for
basic laboratory research but these facilities are primarily used for
work towards refining diagnostic and therapeutic products that
are developed by foreign organizations in links with Western
pharmaceutical companies and development agencies. In these
efforts the Centre has optimally utilized the talents of bright local
scientists in foreign-funded contract-research projects, but failed
to stimulate innovative research at the Centre that could lead to
the development of competitive biomedical products. Basic
research if supported at the Centre could possibly add to the
Centre’s financial independence, and greater freedom to pursue
its own research agenda, rather than carrying out primarily
donor-driven activities. The stated reason for this disinterest in
basic research has been traditionally the notion that the Centre
should only undertake research in areas where its strength is the
greatest. This view was automatically translates into research that
involves testing drugs, vaccines and other biomedical
interventions the large rural populations of Bangladesh and in the
burgeoning urban slum populations in large cities that were
readily accessible to the Centre.
In the national scene, a small number of R&D institutions
do carry out research in the biomedical area. They also generally
follow the working lines of ICDDR,B albeit in much smaller scale
in that they also have funding linkages for carrying out similar
trials in clinical settings in their hospitals. Some private sector
clinics and hospitals are also seen to have interest in research, but
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the type of research that they do is generally linked with the ‘drug
development’ and marketing efforts of the multinational
pharmaceutical companies. Overall, by late 1990s market forces
also caused noticeable changes in the career vision of our young
scientists, and medical professionals. They became instrumental
in product promotion while serving the nation with better health
services.
OUR WEALTH: HUMAN GENOMIC BIODIVERSITY
Advances in genetics have been phenomenal over the
past few decades. Genetics deals with the activities of the living
organisms, how they produce the like, and how the almost infinite
number of chemical steps in the complex life process are
controlled in a manner that preserves the biological uniqueness of
different life forms in the planet. Genetics added a new dimension
in its development with the discovery of the structure of DNA by
the biologist James D. Watson and physicist Francis Crick in 1952.
This epoch-making discovery quickly set the course of the life
sciences in a new direction that today touches the realms of
chemistry and physics. It undoubtedly will embrace more
fundamental aspects of the physical sciences, such as quantum
mechanics to fully explain the phenomenon of life.
DNA carries the biological information needed for
functioning of life in the form of a language that has only four
alphabets. These alphabets, the building blocks of DNA, are the
nucleotides or bases. Human beings contain about 6 x 109 bases
(six billion) carried in two spirally twisted long molecules that
make the classic DNA double helix structure proposed by Watson
and Crick. That is, one strand of the double-stranded DNA
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molecule contains 3 x 109 bases, representing the human genome.
A fraction of these bases make up about 35,000 or so functioning
genes, each of which is different in the sequence of bases. The
complete sequence in which these 6 billion bases are arranged in
the two DNA strands has now been determined through the
mega-project under the name Human Genome Project. The of
human genome sequence is a landmark event. Understanding the
information inherent in the sequence carries vast potentials in
human medicine.
The humankind is one single species, the Homo sapiens.
Like all of the nearly 20 million identified species of plants,
animals and microbes that inhabit the planet, each species with
unique genome sequence, the genomes of individual human
beings are also similar. But there are rare changes in the base
sequence of individual genes that are brought about by mutation.
These changes introduce variations in the genome, and are
responsible for genetic diversity within a species. No two
individuals, except identical twins, are likely to have identical
genomes. It is not easy to sequence the genome of each and every
individual nor it is perhaps necessary. But there are numerous
ethnic groups in the world whose genetic diversity is important as
it may add new knowledge to genetics and help in the discovery
of new genes, and new drugs.
Furthermore, as the genetic blueprint is eventually reflected
in human habits, behaviour, disease susceptibility etc., there will
be great benefit in being able to correlate genes with these
attributes. In the human genome 99.9 % of the sequence is
identical in all humans. Only about 0.1% of the sequence show
individual variations involving single nucleotides. These single
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nucleotide variations serve as useful diagnostic tools and many of
these differences relate to genetic diseases. The frequency of these
single nucleotide differences is about one base per 1000 bases. In
the human genome, therefore, there should be approximately
three million such changes. In 1999, a consortium was formed in
the UK to map 300,000 such single base differences representing
one tenth of the total number, and to correlate genetic variations
with disease. For this purpose, a total of 500,000 individuals of
age ranging from 40 to 70 years have been selected on the basis of
physician’s recommendation. Blood samples from these subjects
will be used to obtain DNA, which will be sent to a national DNA
database for analysis.
Today, genetic resources are tradable goods. How the
developing world should trade with this resource is currently
under intense discussion. It is to be hoped that from within the
myriad of complex issues associated with it, some mechanism will
emerge, perhaps a new order for trading with unconventional
resources such as human genetic biodiversity.
Soon the Biodiversity Convention was adopted at the
Earth Summit in 1992, the long awaited General Agreement on
Tariff and Trade (GAAT) came in force in 1993. A significant
clause in the Biodiversity Convention, which was included in the
GAAT, relates to patenting of biological material. Global patent
practice does not recognize simple discovery of life forms as an
act of invention, because these life forms are the gift of nature.
Emergence of genetic engineering made it possible to create novel
genetic entities. This required many aspects of patent laws to be
modified in different countries for commercial exploitation of the
new inventions of genetic engineering. Slowly, genetically
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engineered organisms, also now called. However, genes in their
native state in the organisms were still not patentable. But the
notion began to change with the success of the genome
sequencing efforts, which was initiated in the early 1990s.
Article 35 of GATT provides patentability of genes of
known function. So does the World Trade Organisation (WTO),
the successor of GATT, that went further and granted
patentability of genetic material of both known or unknown
structure and function. The 35,000 genes in human and their
numerous variants thus constitute a biological wealth of
enormous value. Genes are responsible for both health and
disease. Knowledge of disease-causing genes such as those related
to cancer, and genes that confer resistance to diseases such as
cholera, can provide valuable tools for treatment and prevention
of many diseases.
Change in base sequence in DNA causes genetic diversity.
Since such changes are rare it is obvious that the larger and more
heterogeneous is a human population, the greater will be the
number of the changes in the genome. In humans, as opposed to
microorganisms, these changes cannot be experimentally induced,
but must be picked up from what nature has provided in the
population. We certainly have this advantage, but in addition, we
also have the advantage of large family data that are invaluable in
genetic analysis. In western societies, both of these, that is,
population diversity and large families are uncommon. Some
countries of the world, therefore, have been enriching the human
genetic biodiversity base through prudent immigration policy.
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The new premises that are developing of the human
genome are very significant. Most developing countries are not
fully aware of the promises that they hold. For us, an appreciation
of these facts and measures to exploit these to our advantage
ought to be critical in our long-term S&T and indeed national
development policy.
PROTECTION OF BIODIVERSITY
It is widely believed that implementation of sovereign
rights on biological resources would be in conflict with the trade
globalization strategy. International collaboration in science and
technology is essential for the poor countries, and sharing of
biological material in such collaborations is unavoidable. Science
is for sharing1 and sharing is of intrinsic value. The difficulty lies
in the method of sharing. Collaborating scientists from
industrialized countries who often obtain funding from
multinational companies directly but more often through indirect
channels, such as governmental development agencies, are
unwilling to enter into any profit sharing agreement with their
developing country partners. Instead, the notion that drives such
collaboration is that the benefits of the research will eventually
come to the doorsteps of the poor countries in the form of
1. Sen, Amartya. 2002. The science of give and take. New Scientist, April 27, pp 51-52.
products and services. Developing country scientists value the
scientific merit of the work, and consider the financial support
received in this connection a sufficiently satisfying reward to
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justify the collaboration, and in the process transfer biological
material often without record from most of the developing
countries of the world. Potentially valuable wealth thus is lost.
How can this be checked? This is an important regulatory
issue currently being addressed by many developing countries.
India has enacted several pieces of legislation that makes it
mandatory for both bilateral exchange and exchange through
individual collaborative research to be approved by appropriate
national bodies. The laws in essence ‘require foreign researchers
using genetic material taken from India to ensure that any resulting
technical advances – as well as a share of the profit from the eventual
exploitation of the material – are returned back to India’.
The full benefit of such profit-sharing agreement will
obviously depend on the honesty of individual scientists, a matter
that can only be enhanced through provision of research
incentives at home, and creation of awareness, awareness of a
superior kind about our place on the planet and our obligations
towards the motherland. Scientific societies can play an important
role in awareness creation and motivation. For example, Indian
Society for Human Genetics drew up guidelines calling for a ban
on transport of whole blood, cell lines, DNA, skeleton and fossil
samples without formal agreement approved by the government,
and clearly specifying the objectives of the project and the
anticipated scientific, material and economic benefits and the
manner they are to be shared now and in the future.
Genetic diversity of our people is a treasure for our
people. Other countries are making good use of it, but our
appreciation of this wealth is far from adequate. Mutant genes are
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indispensable tools in genetic research as they provide the only
route to discovering new genes. Almost any gene that one can
think of may have its mutant version in our population. Our
scientists working in the biomedical area are poorly informed
about this unique advantage that our large, heterogeneous, and
highly inbreeding population offers to us. This is entirely because
genetics has yet to make entry into our medical curriculum. As
there are genes that can cause disease, there are also genes that
can confer resistance to disease such as cholera, typhoid, hepatitis,
tuberculosis, leprosy, AIDS and so on. In Kolkata, the National
Institute for Cholera and Enteric Diseases have reported
identification of genes that may be related to cholera-resistance. In
our country, the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease
Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) is perhaps working along these
lines as well, but so far no public revelation has come on any such
discoveries.
COLLABORATION WITH A ‘HOME’ FACE
Whatever is the potential resource of a country, its
ultimate value depends on how it is used for public benefit. For
example, natural gas lying underneath is our wealth, but it is of
little value to us unless we have the technology to lift it. Today,
nearly identical scenario characterizes the biological wealth of
nations. It is important to appreciate that we have to share our
wealth with the owners of technology in order to develop
products that will give us economic benefits. Developing
countries with large population provide suitable grounds for
what has come to be known as ‘gene hunting’. The undertaking
takes many forms among which a common mechanism is
scientific collaboration where biological material is sent to foreign
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laboratories for studies for which we lack the necessary
technology. These transfers often occur without any record, not to
speak any formal agreement protecting our sovereign rights.
Many countries of the region have participated in such
collaborations in biotechnology in the past, and transferred vast
quantities of biological material including plants, animals, insects
and microbes.
As we enter into business with genes, an example may be
illuminating. Genes that may provide resistance to AIDS is the
subject of an intellectual property right dispute in the USA. An
individual recently gave his blood sample for routine genetic tests
to a clinic in the USA. The clinic identified in his genome 10 gene
sequences that may confer resistance to AIDS infection. The clinic,
therefore, patented these genes as its own discovery. The blood
donor in turn then set up a company to sell his blood samples for
use in research by biotechnology companies thereby nullifying in
effect the anticipated patent benefits of the clinic. A patent dispute
ensued. In this case the dispute is within a nation and the
country’s patent laws will perhaps settle it. If, however, the blood
sample came from a person from an African country for instance,
with proper record of the transfer and profit-sharing agreement,
the issue would have to the settled in a different manner possibly
to the advantage of the donor country
True, we must collaborate with external laboratories since
we do not have the necessary technology, but it must be done on a
platform of mutual benefit. It is important to ensure that we
collaborate, but in doing so, we should not give away our
precious wealth. Our scientific collaboration must not only be
done with a ‘human face’ while we offer biological samples for
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the benefit of the humankind, but it must also carry a ‘home face’
to bring benefit to our people.
The flow of genetic material from the developing
countries is quite a widespread phenomenon. It is not easy to
control the flow or, in the case of plant material particularly, to
establish sovereignty claims. A plant species is often of
cosmopolitan distribution that makes it difficult to easily identify
as to the place from where that particular material was obtained.
In contrast, a human being anywhere in the world carries a
precise legal address fixed to him or her by birth, and is thus a
unique biological entity in the context of nationality. A legal claim
on genetic material of man or woman is thus far easier to
establish, if proper record of transfer is kept.
The Government of Bangladesh has been considering
legislation in respect of biodiversity conservation, but nearly a
decade has passed just to produce a draft of two pieces of
legislation, and that also on plant materials only. One is the
“Biodiversity and Community Knowledge Protection Act of
Bangladesh” and the “Plant Varieties Act of Bangladesh”. Among the
important features of these pieces of draft legislation there is no
reference to the sovereignty issue of our human genetic resources
and their conservation.
It is vital to realize that a person born and raised in
Bangladesh is not only a citizen of Bangladesh but also a potential
biological asset to the nation. On this issue unfortunately there is
as yet no academic discussion within the biomedical sector. Most
of our physicians are not exposed to recent scientific
developments in the area due to inadequate medical curriculum
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where genetics, not to speak of human molecular genetics, is at
best a topic of passing reference. Awareness creation on general
societal issues, issues of environment, human rights, governance,
etc. that are carried out by NGOs, and other voluntary
organizations, is rapidly becoming a global phenomenon. Now a
new type of awareness creation for conservation of our human
genetic diversity and protection of the knowledge emanating from
this wealth must be considered important. Here efforts have to be
targeted to the scientists, physicians and the educated segment of
the society who due to ignorance of the issue or due to
professional enthusiasm, may trade with the wealth without
ensuring protection. One may argue that since the target
population, in this case scientists and physicians, is highly
educated, and is able to judge and understand the problem, this
awareness creation is unnecessary. But this is a mistaken notion.
Gene hunting in different regions of the world is a highly
rewarding professional adventure. Specific and targeted
programs carried out by scholarly and scientific societies and
NGOs must be developed for this special awareness, the superior
awareness, to protect the living treasure of the nation before mass
transfer erodes this important edge of advantage of the diversity-
rich third world countries.
Legislation is thus an important pre-requisite. If there is
legislation to ensure that transfer of biological material must be
done under an agreement, then there may be some overt and
some covert bypass events initially, but awareness creation and
motivation will slowly decrease their incidence. The general
culture of science has been historically based on shared
knowledge, but today there are substantive academic and
material incentives for scientists ‘who are thinly disguised
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businessmen’, as the Nobel Laureate in Economics Amartya Sen1
noted recently. These scientists may wish to tread along a track of
financial gain, and give away for good valuable biological wealth
in return of small personal profit. This would be a transient gain
for a person, but a lasting loss for the nation. Awareness creation
in these contexts, and enactment of proper legislation may indeed
be the only route to protect our biological wealth.
SEIZING OPPORTUNITIES
For any significant long-term gains in the area of our
advantage, that is, in creating skilled manpower, the S&T sector
has to be activated not in a general manner, but in focused areas.
We should do either basic research or applied research, but not
the hybrid type in the same undertaking. Unfortunately, the latter
dominates the S&T scene today in our country as exemplified by
many ill-conceived R&D projects carried out by leading R&D
institutions in the physical, biological and biomedical sectors
without any tangible products or technologies having been
developed after many decades of work. It is only in the field of
1. Sen, Amartya. 2002. The science of give and take. New Scientist, April 27, pp 51-52.
agriculture that has there been notable success in adaptive
research and extension services carried out by R&D institutions
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working in the field, but innovative research, basic or applied,
have been inadequate even in this sector.
A strategic long-term S&T plan is essential for our survival.
Our S&T thrust cannot afford to be a mere description of schemes,
but must have priorities sharply defined. In human medicine, one
such area has recently emerged as a consequence of the Human
Genome Project. The enormous quantity of data on the human
genome sequence and handling of the data, is already a nightmare
to the specialists. This has given rise to new disciplines of science
called Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology. Bioinformatics
aims at developing computer tools and software for genome
analysis, while computational biology focuses on studying
genome function with the tools of bioinformatics. Today, by
analysing sequence data with the tools of bioinformatics, a
computational biologist can recreate complex functions or even
the image of individuals in cyberspace. In essence thus
bioinformatics and computational biology is a blend conventional
information technology (IT) with DNA biology in its background.
This sector, particularly the one related to biomedical sciences,
deserves to be an S&T thrust sector. It should be pursued with
aggressive zeal and manned by high caliber scientists. No new
institution building is necessary for this work. Instead, existing
institutions can be strengthened with trained and dedicated
scientists and infrastructure. If properly done, this will be more
productive than recourse to institution-building whose vision
initially stretches no further than just raising the building itself,
and acquisition of equipment, and before any significant work can
be started, signs of fatigue caused by various constraints become
apparent.
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A strong S&T base that may be created in this sector
through proper planning will equip us to enter into external
collaboration on a balanced footing. This sector is particularly
relevant to our country context – it is independent of land since
most of its activities are based in cyberspace. Because of this, it
has vast potentials to expand vertically in contrast to
biotechnology that spreads only horizontally, where we have
invested much over the past few decades with little gain. With the
lowest land-man ratio, which is decimating at an alarming rate to
approach the limit of the land’s carrying capacity, the cyberspace
is an option that we cannot not ignore.
The intensely competitive IT business of the world today
is more a business of the brain than of the finger; in the former our
weak S&T base severely limits progress at this time. It is not
possible to think of any long-term advantage in global IT without
a strong S&T base. The nation’s IT guidelines, the ICT policy as
we call it, ought to take cognizance of this fact. Admittedly, this
limitation equally applies to bioinformatics and computational
biology and has to be addressed by targeted S&T support. But
unlike the IT sector, we have in bioinformatics the ‘human
biological advantage’ – that is, we have a large and diverse
population with genetic diversity that would self-propel future
developments in the sector if our skill-creation strategy is
properly executed, and of course, if we can protect our genetic
resources.
Selective thrust in S&T is imperative, but how it will be
done is a matter for dispassionate discussion free from scientific
and political activism, for which we may even consider
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parliamentary mandate, not just executive decisions. The matter is
not just scientific pragmatism but, one of our survival.
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Thirteen
The University : Sliding Pivot of Research
Towards the end of the British rule the country’s first
university, the University of Dhaka, was established in 1921. The
University was modelled with respect to residence requirement of
students, its administration and in its serene location after the
Oxford University in England. The university established itself as
a centre for excellence in the physical and mathematical sciences,
history, literature and art. The famous physicist S. N. Bose who
worked closely with Einstein, and Meghnad Saha who attained
rare distinction in physics for many pioneering work, had their
early scientific career based at this university. After partition of
India when most of these scientists moved to India, an intellectual
vacuum was created. It took us many years to reach just the
fringes of recovery when a political turmoil befell us. It was the
nation’s struggle for independence won through a bloody war.
From the ruins of a war-torn nation, the shattered universities of
the country made a move towards a new beginning.
All over the world and at all times in history, the students
had participated effectively and often successfully, in politically
triggered movements. This they could do because of their ability
to understand issues of collective good, and due to their large
numbers under one institutional framework. They earned for
themselves much glory, and received tributes from poets and
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politicians. Ghandi asked the students to enter into politics for
freedom of India although many Indian leaders did not like this
blanket appeal. Students on the campuses of America also rose
against the Viet Nam War that enhanced the end of the war.
Ghandi’s call had a special tone, love for the deprived, and
opposition of Viet Nam war had special humanitarian appeal, and
in both, the effectiveness of the students in turning the course of
history was noteworthy, and received due recognition. But the
issue of students in politics remained a matter of deep
controversy; perhaps students were never in it.
Historically, students of this part of the subcontinent had
been an effective force in the struggle against colonial rule. In our
case, students and have deeply etched our history with the glory
of liberation. They inspired the people to fight for the
motherland, and also themselves took up arms. These are
examples of what the collective strength of people can do. But
politicians tend to equate this phenomenon with politics in a
blanket fashion. For the students, it was perhaps not politics. In
this issue, one should dispassionately ask this question: do these
acts represent politics, or could these better be described as
examples of patriotism? Free thinkers proclaim the virtue of
freedom of thought and speech as essential ingredients of
university education. Many educationists add high values to
politics in the university as a necessary condition growth of
patriotism, democracy, and freethinking in the minds of the
youth, but in this there seem to be a n undue mixing of politics
with patriotism.
Practice of democracy need not be independent of
circumstances. The link between concept and its application
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cannot always be defined in a straightforward manner. In the
family, the binding force has historically been the force of love,
not a system of election. Size, structure, purpose and intellectual
constitution of a community are important factors in the practice
of democracy. Grand social experiments may fail if the relevant
parameters are not properly defined. Patriotism need not be the
product of politics. In love for self, love for children, parents, for
homeland, there is no need to draw politics within its folds; the
drawings for these are already engrained in human nature, and
politics cannot inspire them any better.
NEW NATION NEW CHANGES
An Act of Confusion
In 1972 a piece of legislation called the Bangladesh Act 1,
probably the first Act of the new nation, was passed which
formally brought all the state run universities under direct control
of the government, and in 1973, the full-fledged University Act
was passed that required the universities to conduct operation on
the principles of democracy and through a system of election. The
innate urge of our students to serve the nation was exploited after
liberation war in an aberrant manner. The law gave democracy to
the university administration. Certainly, it was done with good
intention, but it lacked the crucial elements to produce good
results. The virtue of a law lies not only in its good elements, but
also in its ability to produce the desired effects. A good piece of
legislation should have sufficient force within it to inspire the
intended acts.
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The reason the law failed to deliver the anticipated good
perhaps lies in the confusion between our way of doing politics,
and our understanding of patriotism. Politics simply is the art or
the science of government. It need not have high intellectual
content in its practice, but certainly it must have deep moral
precepts. A moral rule has to be self-imposed; one has to obey the
rule of which he is the maker. This is the spirit of democracy. The
university would teach lessons on democracy, and patriotism
would emanate from these teachings, but the university need not
run practical sessions on the functioning of democracy.
The Act gave the opportunity for democracy to be
practised first by its creators, the university. No one would argue
against this view. Exercise of democracy is the right of all people,
not to speak of the most enlightened, such as the university
community. If the world were to be filled with intellectual giants,
then democracy would perhaps be practised in a certain manner.
They would perhaps refrain from campaigns that create division
among people, and instead find a way ‘election’ that would in
essence be a selection, or a method of ‘selection’ that would in
effect look like election. And in this, there would be not be any
disregard to democracy.
This scenario may be far too idealistic, and obviously
cannot be applied to ordinary people. But the community of
university teachers does not represent ordinary people. They
represent a rather small, and highly enlightened community
where one could expect such exceptional things to happen. To an
enlightened mind, establishing the right to vote is an act of virtue,
holding the right in trust a sacred duty, and creating conditions
that would make its application unnecessary, is glorious.
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The Act appealed to some people at that time, but as it
was based on erroneous ideas, that many people felt that it would
do much harm to the nation. The democratic rights were given to
the university by the stroke of a pen, but we were not told that we
might live and work happily in the university without standing in
need to exercise this right. There are organisations, particularly
scholarly organisations, all over the world with provision for
elections in the charter, but election often times becomes
unnecessary because the voting constituency nearly always can do
the work by consensus. We were not taught that possession of the
right is a sufficient reward for the enlightened minds, and ability
to live without exercising the right is a virtue of superior order.
The Act, however, did not draw the students into politics;
students were not required to elect the principal of the college, or
the Vice-Chancellor of the university. They were drawn into
politics by the default of those for whom politics was mandatory.
The Act required elections at four important levels of
administration – the office of the Vice-chancellor, the Dean of
Faculties, members to the University Syndicate, and members to
the University Senate.
Teachers with an academic bent of mind, the senior and
the scholarly ones, had little interest in those offices, as they
disliked contesting elections. Those who found the system of
election attractive, the activists and claimed defenders of
democratic rights welcomed the system as they could walk easily
along the twisted ropes of politics. Groups were soon formed
within the university, which aligned themselves with national
political parties. The linkage was informal but quite visible. Inter-
group rivalry in disguise of competition surfaced that slowly
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percolated down to the process of recruitment of teachers,
particularly at entry level where, as all good politicians know,
proper selection gives lasting political returns. Lateral entry of
good teachers at senior levels became almost impossible because
such persons lacked qualities that are of value to the politicians,
and were not thus supported by any group. Senior teachers with
high academic credentials thereby became nearly barred from
entering into the university, while simultaneously entry at junior
level became easier for politically active teachers. These
developments had all the elements of an impending erosion in the
very foundation of the university.
No law was perhaps enacted in Bangladesh with so much
of good intention but delivered so little. It was assumed that the
election process given to the top intellectual client of the country
would add a new lustre to the academic climate. In effect, it
produced quite the opposite, and signalled a grave intellectual
decay in the making. Over three decades that have passed,
opinion on how the system has been functioning does not vary
much – most people within the university and outside think that
the law has done lasting harm to the university.
But the Act cannot be inactivated, and it continues to exist
despite the dislike of the vast majority of the people who have
lived directly under the purview of the law for the three decades.
This bizarre situation is again perhaps the consequence of
democracy as commonly practised. The Act came by the activism
of a few, it also perpetuates by the voice of a few. But as the Act
carries democratic connotations of democracy, it tends to flourish
under its shadows. Since democracy is virtuous, its perpetuation
can be ensured by the voice of just a few. To abandon democracy,
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it would take the collective force of the vast majority. That force
has not been forthcoming, and there are no signs that in the near
future it would happen.
Populist Shift in University Education
After independence, we were led to the notion that
student number should be increased in the universities in order to
take higher education to the doorsteps of all. To increase the
number without parallel increase in resources and without
compromising with quality is certainly a difficult matter.
Successive governments have justified in the past, and even do so
now, the creation of new universities using various statistics,
largely of convenience rather than objectivity. In Bangladesh, of
the total number of youths in the age bracket of tertiary education,
that is, between the age 18 and 25 years, only 6% get the
opportunity of entering into tertiary educational institutions, such
as colleges, to study bachelors, and masters level courses that are
offered in the colleges, and the universities. The corresponding
figures in India are 12%, in Thailand 27% and in Malaysia 36%.
The 6% value in a large population with high birth rate can
indeed produce a very large figure in terms of the actual number
of individuals lying in the tertiary education window. The vast
number of youths in this age bracket, about 15 million, is far too
large for our economy to manage in a reasonable manner. But this
6% figure is not altogether bad because there are many countries
in the world with socio-economic conditions similar to ours but
far lower percentage of university enrolment.
Of the 6% students in tertiary education institutions in
Bangladesh, only one-tenth or 0.6% representing about 0.08% of
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country’s population, study at the universities. Whatever these
figures might mean, these would be far removed from contexts
unless related to parameters such as GDP, per capita income, and
population size, etc. The table presented below provides some
statistics on Bangladesh and a other countries.
Country
Population
(million)
GDP trillion
US$
(Purchasing
Power Parity)
University*
Enrolment
Australia 20 0.64 1,000,000
(5.00)
Bangladesh 114 0.30 100,000
(0.08)
Canada 30 1.07 800,000
(2.60)
India 1000 3.68 9,500,000
(0.90)
Indonesia 210 0.90
Not
available
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Malaysia 23 0.25 275,000
(1.30)
Pakistan 160 0.38 362,000
(0.20)
N Zealand 4 1.00 70,000
(1.80)
Thailand
60 0.55 Not
available
UK 60 1.86 2,000,000
(3.30)
USA 263 12.40 8,000,000
(3.30)
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The number of students in different institutions of tertiary
education in Bangladesh are as follows:
‘FORMAL’ UNIVERSITIES OF BANGLADESH
State Universities : 100,000
Private Universities : 50,000
NON-FORMAL ‘UNIVERSITIES’
National University Colleges : 800,000
Open University :
500,000
Madrasha : 200,000
Total : 1,650,000
University education cannot be cheap, as higher
education ought to be the privilege of the highly talented
individuals and it can only be achieved at a cost. The purpose of
the university is basically two – to create professionals and
achieve academic excellence. Relative emphasis on these may
vary. Often it is the former that is favoured because of low cost,
but the latter should not be neglected, as this would defeat the
whole purpose of university education. Our low (0.08%)
university enrollment as a fraction of population is often cited in
support of higher enrolment in our universities against examples
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of 3% in the USA, 1.0 % in India and 0.2 % in Pakistan. Student
performance in secondary education examinations is the usual
criterion considered in university enrolment. But we may ask the
question, those who are admitted into the universities every year,
are they all suitable for university education? Answer to the
question would be in the negative; indeed only a small fraction of
those whom we admit actually deserve and possess the right
aptitude to benefit from university education. But a large number
gets entry because of a populist tone in enrolment, which is
supported by the government perhaps as an act of prudent
politics to enhance public image.
In order to maintain excellence there cannot be any place
for a populist tone in university education. The cost of university
education has to be high if high standard is to be maintained. It is
interesting to examine how costly is higher education in advanced
countries in terms of indicators such as per capita income, fraction
of family income spent per university-going child, and fraction of
GDP spent on running the country’s universities. The GDP of
Bangladesh is now about 75 billion in US dollars, or $ 300 billion
purchasing power parity (PPP). Cost of operating the 23 state-run
universities is about Tk 500 crores (year 2006 estimate) equivalent
to $ 80 million, which is approximately 0.08% of the GDP of $ 75
billion. This amount is spent for over 100,000 students enrolled in
the state run universities, excluding enrolment in Bangladesh
Open University where student number is almost 500,000, and
National University where also the number is nearly 800,000. In
Bangladesh, the cost per student per year at university is
approximately Tk 50,000 that is about a quarter of the annual
income of an upper middle class family with five members. In the
USA, the yearly cost of university education for one child is about
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$ 45,000 against an average middle class annual family income of
about $ 75,000 for a family of four.
The fraction of GDP spent on the universities of the
country would also be interesting. The example of USA may be
used to highlight the issue, as it will reflect the situation in many
of the developed countries of the world. The GDP of USA is some
12 trillion dollars at present (year 2005 estimate). Estimates of
total cost of operation of all the universities of the USA are not
available, but one could get a rough idea. A top university,
Harvard University for example, operates on a yearly budget of
about $ 3 billion, and University of California approximately $ 5
billion. On this scale, one may assume that the top 25 universities
of the USA might spend about 0.1 trillion dollars per year, and the
entire university system of the nation perhaps ten times this
figure. If these assumptions were reasonably close to actual
figures then one would come to a cost figure of about $ 1 trillion
per year for the entire university system of the USA, which will be
about 10% of GDP. In any case, a conservative estimate of the cost
the entire university system in the USA may well represent at 5%
of GDP. In contrast, Bangladesh spends about 0.08%.
Experts believe that for sectors like higher education the
critical minimum resource allocation necessary for perceptible
impact has to be in excess of 1% GDP. But we run our universities
with 50 times less; this can only produce certificates with little or
no quality. As science is international in scope, as much as
knowledge is universal, all nations serious in university education
should be prepared to spend comparable amounts of money to
attain a standard that would match with the international
standard.
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Many of the new state universities carry a new epithet.
They are called ‘science and technology’ university because
spending under this head is more attractive to the people. These
novel creations, although lacking in very basic infrastructure for
S&T do nevertheless strongly project government’s commitment
to science and technology for improving the lot of the people. In
many cases, colleges are converted to universities. Then there are
the disturbing trends of expanding the existing universities with
new science departments, and increasing the enrolment in
different departments without matching increases in physical
facilities and funding levels. The reason is, of course, the same – a
populist approach often under pressure of the politicians and
patronisation of the government. The government in its pleasant
mood understands the detrimental effects of all these acts, but
soon it finds itself in no mood to ‘interfere’ with the affairs of the
university, which is ‘autonomous’.
The prospect of science and technology development in
the country’s state-run general universities thus is bleak at this
time, as much as that of imparting good quality basic education in
various science disciplines. Sadly, the universities have become a
closed system bracketed by bright young teachers in perpetual
readiness to leave the country, and a much smaller number of
senior scholars who exist there just because of their love for it.
Lying in between them is a large number of teachers whose work
is etched with sectional politics, and poor academic dedication.
It has been argued by some that higher education ought
to be a privilege, rather than a right, and ought to be given to the
most able1. The most able cannot be a bulk product as it is not the
rule by which nature works, that is, the phenomenon of
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probability. The most able would obviously be located at the
extreme right of a normal curve, but a populist policy of higher
education would fatten the middle, and flatten the ends.
Birth of Private University
Towards the end of the 1980s the country’s state-run
universities assumed a destructive face ready to destroy its very
foundations. The universities turned into full-scale battlegrounds
where rival factions employed their cadres and hired gunmen to
face each other in professional battle plan using trenches and
equipped with all the necessary gears and gadgets. The nation
witnessed these events with awe; the world saw pictures of trench
battles on sites where one would expect students in sober
intellectual pursuits.
At this critical time, some retired civil servants along with
some educationists floated the idea of establishment of private
universities along the lines of a small number of private
universities in some developing countries such as India and
Pakistan. They took the move on the basis of the stated purpose of
catering to increased market demand for higher education,
particularly in disciplines compatible to the emerging free
1. Shafee, A. 2003. Higher education: priorities and pitfalls. Proceedings of Second
National Symposium on Science and Technology. Bangladesh Vision 2021. Ed. A. M. Harun ar Rashid. Bangladesh Academy of Sciences. pp 63-79.
market. The near-catastrophic situation of the public universities
helped to mobilise popular support for this venture with cautious
optimism. Many also saw in the private universities the
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important attribute of competition to the state universities. This
the state universities perhaps needed at this time of crisis. There
were no other means available to the nation to cover the trenches.
It was hoped that private universities could put up at least a
measure of psychological pressure on the state universities. One
could argue, for example, that if a private university can stay
open every working day of the year, the state universities should;
if the former can make graduates in four years, why should the
latter take seven years; if teachers of the former can stay away
from politics, why those of the state universities cannot? These are
legitimate questions, which the public universities will have to
answer to the nation.
The idea of privatisation of university education,
however, was not extensively discussed within the academia. The
government enacted a law in 1992, the Private University Act, by
which the road to private sector university education was
formally opened. Thus also opened an avenue for market
competition within the university education system. The first
private university was established in 1993, and by 1996 the
number rose to 14. By 2005 the number of private universities
became 52, plus one ‘international’ university, which had various
nomenclatural transformations over a short period of time such as
Islamic Centre for Technical and Vocational Training and
Research (ICTVTR), Islamic Institute of Technology (IIT), and now
renamed as International University of Technology (IUT).
However, during the years of rapid proliferation of
private universities, the important issue of quality of education
presented a dismal picture in these universities, similar to the
state run universities. Most of these private universities started
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with poor infrastructure, inadequate teaching staff, little zeal for
good education, but much of it for good business. Some
universities were, indeed, so poor that they were no better than
coaching centres housed in makeshift buildings. Allegations on
the purely business-like operations of many private universities
even turned into popular jokes; some universities were harboured
beside posh restaurants, and some were sandwiched between
floors where garment factories ran 24-hour work shifts.
At present the private universities offer courses that have
immediate market demand. Most of them generally place little
emphasis on investment in anything other than improvised
classrooms, and borrowed part-time teachers. Technical subjects
that have been opened in some universities include computer
software, architecture (which is given the name ‘engineering’),
and some such subjects as pharmacy that largely trains students
to be skilled sellers of drugs. As the major thrust of private
universities is creating professionals, some private medical
colleges and medical universities were also established to produce
medical technologists to serve both the local needs, and the
perceived demand abroad.
There is little evidence at this time that any of the private
universities will be interested in opening science subjects soon. As
long as enrolment in the existing subjects remains high, and a
satisfactory level of financial return is assured, there little
incentive for investment in science subjects. Science departments
has an initial capital cost required for making and equipping
laboratories, which the private universities are not willing to incur
at this time.
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This is not to say that the private universities should
immediately open highly academic subjects on basic science,
which will neither catch on enrolment nor will provide adequate
financial returns. But there are many science subjects that have
high market potentials. Subjects such as microbiology,
biochemistry, biotechnology, etc. may be considered. But the
university has to display, like any good business organisation,
entrepreneurship and introduce these subjects to create conditions
for future growth of the institution. This would in the course of a
few years create a demand for their graduates in these subjects in
both public and private sectors. But, the financiers of the private
universities are guided by a strict consumption-oriented business
strategy. The market must consume their product in the shortest
possible time after its release and, no lag period is to be tolerated.
The private universities are founded as non-profit bodies
that seek to carry out an important social service. A foundation
receives donation for creating the university from big businesses,
banks and industrial establishments. The requirement of
permanent campus for the university within five years of opening
has been conveniently used by some private universities to
acquire large quantities of prime land in or near Dhaka city. Over
the years the land value has appreciated many folds but campus
construction has dismally slow. If a university decides to shut up
its doors it can lift very high price from the land. There is no strict
monitoring for the academic, administrative, and legal parameters
of the university. The University Grants Commission that has the
mandatory role of overseeing the academic activity of private
universities has very little in its power to do since the Ministry of
Education exerts much influence in key decisions.
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How the future will shape the private universities is a
matter of conjecture. The private universities, as much as they are
providing the necessary challenge to the state universities, will
not themselves be without challenge. This challenge will come
from two fronts at different times. Initially, it will come from
within the private university itself; it will have to be competitive
in attracting students to stay functional. For this the university
would offer attractive packages to students with considerable
compromise with academic standard. And, further down the
road, more genuine competition to excel other private universities
with academic programmes of high standard, and ability to
attract students from outside, may be necessary to stay in
business. About the latter, one cannot be sure at this time how
long it will take, because at present there are no indicators for this
since very few of our private university graduates are exposed to
international competition. Also, in future there may be
competition from the state universities as well, since despite many
shortcomings of the state universities, they still get the best talents
and some universities may rise to the expected level of excellence.
Obviously meeting these challenges would be less easy
than founding universities. At present very little is invested by
these universities in extra-academic infrastructure development,
and co-curricular and corporate activity, but these are integral
parts of a good education environment that cannot be left
neglected. There are divergent views on the relative thrust that a
university should place on imparting professional training to
students on the one hand and, making creative individuals to
enrich the reservoir of knowledge, on the other. A university has
to strike a balance between these two functions. The university
must be a place for free enquiry, and also be sensitive to societal
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obligations. Needless to say, the relative thrust will vary from
time to time, in tune with the changing socio-economic
circumstances, for which provision for necessary adjustments has
to be a part of any long-term strategic plan.
Fourteen
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Premises of New Vision
Four premises could be considered in drawing new vision
of our science and technology. These are, a composed approach
to the problem, appreciation of the Darwinian perspectives in our
context, nature and scope of scientific research, and science in a
climate of free enterprise.
SCIENCE CULTURE
As the Greeks in ancient times could not have lived
without the culture of free thinking, as people of the Middle Ages
could not ignore the church, and as the eighteenth century people
could not escape from the dominance of political thoughts in their
life, humankind today cannot imagine existence without science.
Science is creative work, expression of superior thoughts and
beliefs. Science is cultivated for survival, and becomes a part of
culture so as to maximise the benefits of science for society.
Without a culture value to science, the practice and purpose
would be greatly compromised. Understanding science is far
more important today than it was at any other time in the past,
because science can now change society much faster than at any
other time in history.
The mindset of our scientist needs to be tuned with the
realities of our life and society. As we approach the plateau in
population growth by the end of the century, we also face
monumental problems such as unprecedented population density,
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resource scarcity, high-level social entropy, and massive
poisoning of the environment. These would shape, on the one
hand, the social architecture of the population, and on the other,
the character of the physical environment. Poisoning of the
environment will be unique and rapid; be unique in terms of
pollution density affecting the entire nation, not only just the areas
around factories and industrial units. These are the edges of
limiting biology that cut through a massive population in the
nature’s unique playground of experimentation. An in-depth
understanding these facts would be an important element of our
science culture.
The quality of frank admission of lapses is not highly
expressed in our culture, but this not without historical reasons.
When the Abbasid caliphs moved their capital to Baghdad around
the 750s, the city of Baghdad developed as a centre of scholars
under the patronage of caliph Harun-ar-Rashid, and his
enlightened son Al-Mamun. The successors of the Abbasids – the
Fatimids and the Ottomans – also made significant contributions
to science and philosophy. The renowned Muslim mathematicians
Al-Battani and Al-Khwarizmi, flourished during this time. But the
Muslims of this subcontinent became victims of historical vices,
and fell back because of their geographical isolation. For this they
paid dearly in their creative endeavours in arts, architecture, and
in mathematics, the legacy of which persists in various forms.
Imagined glory and overt pessimism led to a psychological
confrontation that overshadowed important issues.
We suffered even more than other parts of the
subcontinent because of greater degree of isolation and
underdevelopment. The scientific community became dull and
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decimated, loosing objectivity. Few scientists are now willing to
think pragmatically about the impediments to science and
technology development in the country. An undesirable
consequence of this is rise of activism and fatalism.
Scientific activism flourishes in proportion to the negative
internal feedback from improper understanding of relevant
issues. The culture of awards, and the manner it is practised is
interesting. The value of awards declines in proportion to their
number. The decline in value is compensated for by the politics of
dispensation of these laurels. Today, even awards of some sort are
seen to be created, not only by the government but also by
autonomous bodies, social organisations, family trusts and
memorial funds, and by some international bodies that publish
poorly conceived yearbooks where the developing country
scientists are ‘selected’ for inclusion as the nation’s celebrity
scientist by a questionable body of experts and through a system
of evaluation that is equally questionable, often ridiculous.
However, the selected scientist is offered an attractive citation
parchment on payment of a couple of hundred dollars. Many
scientists acquire this, which they view as an award of merit, and
are frequently seen to make it news in local newspapers.
Science culture is built by adherence to the purpose of
science. In this highly specialised activity and only the highly
specialised individuals can contribute best to its development.
Activism, superfluity and verbosity would little serve the purpose
of science. The profile of science is one of tranquillity, not of
turbulence.
RECKONING DARWINIAN BIOLOGY
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As we stand in this fast changing world, helplessly at
times, we need not loose faith in destiny. Facts of biology are often
cruel, but the pace of biology is slow. Humankind will continue
live on this planet for quite a long time, despite cataclysmic
changes, many of our making. Global warming is not a fancy, but
a fact. We lift fossil fuel for our comfort, which was lying harmless
deep inside the earth, and burn it for our comfort. Every drop of
oil burnt produces heat, and we burn billions of barrels every day,
round the year, year after year. The amount of heat produced
must be dissipated as radiation. The earth does with amazing
efficiency. However, the efficiency of the heat dissipation process
is now declining due to increasing cover of gases emitted during
burning of fossil fuel, the so-called greenhouse gases, which
hinders radiation of heat. The quantity of reserve fossil fuel inside
the Earth is large, and its lifting is relatively inexpensive
compared to developing alternative sources of energy that would
do work efficiently, and safely. We will do this someday, but over
the intervening time, we are impatient. We want to do what is to
be done now, not tomorrow. And, this can only be done by
turning the harmless liquid into an ominous blanket of ruin.
Scholars of human social biology warn us about the
terrible consequences of rapid growth of the human population
on this planet. The human species has chosen a dangerous course
in procreation biology. All available resources of the planet are
used for two purposes. One is war, and the other is increasing the
number people to do the war. This seems to be the biological
wisdom of the human species that represents the bulk of the
human population. Procreation is favoured by biology, while
efforts to the contrary are social, and are less favoured by biology.
Biology at some stage would face competition, and many experts
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believe that population growth cannot continue in the present rate
for much longer. Examples from other species that now live on
this planet and those that are extinct, suggest that for the human
species, continued increase in numbers would result in
catastrophic collapse of the planet. Survival of the human species
in a tolerable state beyond the present century seems very
doubtful unless economies and religions of the world learn to take
account of some facts of biology. Tolerable state denotes a
plethora of conditions but increased number disproportionate to
wealth will inevitably cause increased social entropy, the
magnitude of which can only be reduced by more balanced
distribution of wealth. This is, however, a complex process and is
confounded by grouping of peoples along lines based on religion.
These lines are increasingly becoming thicker.
An appreciation of some facts of biology is particularly
important for us. Our population density is perhaps the highest
that any land mammal ever attained in the history of the planet.
Its pitfalls are many, but there may be some gains as well if we
can identify and exploit those potentially gainful areas with
prudence. Facts of biology would predict something very
dramatic for us. An example would be of interest. As noted
before, demographers predict that by the end of the century,
population growth curve will attain a plateau, as the effect of
population momentum would end, concurrent with fertility
decline. But it is possible, as trends that are now faintly
perceptible, that we may not see a very pronounced plateau. This
would happen if the institution of marriage ceases to be the
vehicle for controlled procreation of the human population at the
replacement level of fertility. The result will be a sudden
depression in the procreative potential of men and women
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causing a decline in the growth curve without a pronounced a
plateau. Darwinian biology predicts that population growth
cannot be independent of the complex interaction of three factor –
resource, food and competition. Transformation of the human
being into a human machine, stuck up in a technology web, seems
to be a definite possibility of the future. The human machine
admittedly will not need any family but only work, food, health
support and pleasure. All of these would be built-in components
within the technology web. Sadly, signs of such transformation
are becoming visible in many countries, in some countries at a
rather fast pace. In our country, the conditions for such
transformation do prevail, and we should take due note of the
possible changes that may come in the near future. If the
institution of family becomes socially irrelevant, a scenario of no
child or one child per family, and in many cases bypassing
marriage into a no-family-no-child route to a ‘happy’ life, may be
in the making. The high population density and a transit from
grinding poverty of a large a population may accelerate this
psyche and bring dramatic transformations.
Biology of existence predicts that extreme scarcity of land
would raise land prices to unprecedented levels, and laws
concerning government control on land would largely be the
writings on paper with little force of possession1. Rural land is
appreciating in price at a fast pace due to improved
communication and industrialisation. It would be increasingly
difficult to implement laws against illegal ownership of land.
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SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
The premise on which scientific vision should rest has
two aspects – one is science of production, and the other science
for knowledge. These two are admittedly related, but we should
understand the nature of this relationship and avoid confusion.
The science of production or applied science will admittedly be
the preoccupation of the vast majority of the professionals in
science. These will include a wide range of people – technicians,
technologists and working scientists in the laboratory. The
working scientists would make the scaffold of the R&D
institutions to which the end of the journey is the market, not from
test tube to conical flask. Hence, realistic planning is critical. If the
raw material for a technology is barely available in the country
now, then why one would plan a technology spanning over a time
frame of say 25 years, by which time the raw material will
inevitably become the limiting factor for viability of the
1. Mahmud, Wahiduddin. 2002. Bangladesh Economy: Performance, Prospects and Challenges. In ‘Bangladesh on the Threshold of the Twenty-First Century, Ed. A. M. Chowdhury and F. Alam, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, pp. 598.
technology. Unfortunately, unrestrained zeal on the part of
scientists in R&D institutions and universities severely masks the
important distinction between the two levels of science. The
consequence is that often the wheel is repeatedly rediscovered.
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The knowledge-creation aspect of science is distinct from
science of production. The former flourishes in the highest seat of
learning that a nation can afford – the University. The universities
in Bangladesh unfortunately are not in good health at this time. In
this section some important issues are discussed on our university
education. This section might appear at places redundant; it
highlights certain imperatives that might bring changes for the
better.
Our vision of scientific research ought to be
pragmatic with respect to the level at which we fix our attention.
Our heritage of a scholarly past provides strong justification for
pursuit of excellence in scientific research. But in the present
circumstances our concern should be focused to certain important
national contingencies. Very high quality basic research in science
cannot be carried out in our universities and R&D institutions at
this time because of various constraints. The R&D institutions
may thus be developed as technology service centres open to the
market needs. The government may allow the R&D institutions to
undergo some sort of privatisation-transformation, that is, greater
freedom to interact with the private sector and a requirement for
income generation through this participation. The universities
may also continue with its emphasis on training professionals in
business and service sectors, skilled salespersons in specialised
disciplines of the biomedical sciences and agriculture, and large
population of lawyers. These do constitute important
contributions of the university, but these would loose significance
if the university neglects the vital purpose, that is, serving as
centre for cultivation of knowledge and attainment of excellence.
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But for basic research, special mechanism would be
required. Scientific research of fundamental nature must be of
high standard. As this type of research does not carry potential for
immediate application, it is usually disfavoured in many
countries except in countries where the economy is so dynamic
that it must be fed by high turnover of basic scientific information.
Creating new centres under the title centre of excellence is widely
favoured by our scientific community, but the issue is a serious
one and deserves penetrating debate. A better course perhaps
would be to enhance the capability of the existing institutions in
specific areas based on the strength of the institution and turn
them into centres of high quality scientific research.
If dedicated centres of excellence are to be created, ideally
some important contingencies should be defined. Firstly, they
should be created with highly focused mandate, not holistic
approach. Second, their number should be small. Third, these
should be fully funded. If the government is the sponsor then
these should be created by a special mechanism such as by an Act
of the Parliament, so that the funding is both sufficient, and more
importantly, sustained through the ripples and tremors of
political change. Fourth, the centre should be ‘internationalised’
with respect to its scientific programme and its administration.
That is, the centre would be advised by an international advisory
board to help with developing the scientific workplan of the
centre and provide policy guidelines for selection and evaluation
of its scientists. Such internationalisation is important but with
one important contingency. That is, the government must nearly
fully finance the centre for its core scientific and operational
activities. In other words, the financial control of the centre should
rest on the government, not on the international community.
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Some centres of excellence created along these lines are
well known – the International Centre for Theoretical Physics
(ICTP) in Trieste, Italy, the International Centre for Genetic
Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in New Delhi, India, and
the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research
Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The first two are
the outcome of UN patronisation, but these are now pursuing
high quality research largely independent of UN funding. The
Trieste Centre specialises in research in the physical sciences,
mostly in theoretical physics and mathematics, while the New
Delhi centre focuses on biological science. Italy provides a large
share of funding for the Trieste centre, and India for the ICGEB.
The ICDDR,B was created by an Act of Parliament of Bangladesh,
and in its genesis and character in terms of funding, it is very
different from the other two institutions. While the major share of
funding for the Trieste and New Delhi centres come from the
respective governments, ICDDR,B is empowered by the Act to
freely receive funding from multilateral sources, a very significant
deviation from the former two. Its scientific programme being
entirely donor-driven, the centre has often drawn criticism to the
effect that it serves mostly the interest of the multinational
pharmaceutical companies.
The issue of funding of such high quality research centres
by the Bangladesh Government and a greater role of the
government in operation of the centre is very important. This
comes from lessons learnt from ICDDR,B. The ICDDR,B was
created by the government of Bangladesh as an international
centre for research but with authority to receive money from
external sources for the entire operation of the centre. With full
external funding that the centre had to secure made it necessary
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for the centre to tune its scientific programme with donor interest.
This gradually required the centre to orient itself towards product
development and product promotion type of work under the thin
disguise of scientific research.
In contrast, ICGEB is operated with financial support of
the government of India. It was created under the patronage of
the government of India, and was initially housed within a
national institute, the famous National Institute of Immunology
(NII). The government of India took the major financial
responsibility for the centre. The result was that its research
agenda were developed with full international participation of
high calibre scientists, while largely the Indian scientists led its
operation. The result was remarkable. The ICGEB was
independent of donor support and the scientific work done there
on plant genetic engineering is outstanding in quality and its
research agenda is relevant to the interest of the third world
countries.
Admittedly, the cost of maintaining such centres of
excellence would be high, many times more than that spent for
other research institutions of the country, but if excellence is the
issue there is no way to avoid the cost. We ought to appreciate
that maintaining a truly high standing centre of excellence is not
easy; even many rich countries cannot support such centres. If,
however, the focus is very sharp, it might be possible to mange
some centres with limited resources. The centre at Princeton
where Einstein worked was called Centre for Advanced Study,
which the university of Princeton operated. It was centre of
excellence and it was not created to be grand in style so that the
university could maintain from its own resources. As opposed to
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theoretical work in the physical sciences such as physics and
mathematics, experimental work in both physical and biological
sciences is so much more expensive that the cost of maintaining
even one centre of excellence would be high for us. The purpose
of a centre of excellence is to serve as a place for the best brains of
the nation to work freely and carry out fundamental research and
enrich the reservoir of human knowledge. A poor country thus
faces the difficult question as to whether our resources would
allow us to compete in these areas where only the giants tread.
Creating centres in some sort and in some manner is not
usually a difficult task in a situation of political activism; the
problem is with their operation. We have seen that creation of
such a centre in a particular discipline often sets the train on the
move, and soon other disciplines also want such centres. No
country in the world can hope to excel in all areas and the nation’s
think-tank cannot be therefore over-crowded. The expressions
‘centre of excellence’ and ‘think-tank’ when used in a blanket
fashion masks their true meaning.
Realistically, experimental science today has become so
heavily instrument-dependent and so fast moving that many top
scientists of the developing countries express strong pessimism
about the prospect creating and maintaining a truly high profile
centre of excellence by a developing country. In fact, our own
attempts in this respect have met with failure. Even India with a
much stronger S&T base could not make any significant headway
in basic research in science when measured in terms of scientific
papers published in the two most outstanding science journals of
the world, Nature published from UK and Science from the USA.
This is admittedly due to the fact that today’s science is heavily,
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although not of necessity, technology-dependent. Some scientists
think that it has been made so by industrialized countries because
they have unbeatable advantage at this time in technology. Over
the past few decades, there has been no single publication in
Nature reporting work carried out in the laboratories of the
developing countries, including India, the famous Indian scientist
….. Rao.
Many top scientists of India are inclined to tone down
highly competitive fundamental research in the experimental
sciences. Instead, they view that the creative talents in science in
the developing countries should rather be directed to areas where
the scope for theoretical work, not dependent on high technology,
is good, such as in mathematics and physics.
So, should we then attempt to do what is possibly out of
our reach to do in a reasonable manner at this time? Should we
spend money creating excellent research centres to house our
think-tank with little gain? This is a serious issue where scientists
with pragmatic view must come forward to create an objective
climate for frank debate. We must be prepared to do it someday
as pressure of global pressure would require us to do so.
FREE ENTERPRISE
The rising tide of free enterprise boosting the latent power
of individuals is a significant phenomenon, which should not be
lost from our vision. All revolutions, social and scientific, have a
specific pattern behind their genesis. Ideas bloom, the horizon of
knowledge widens, thoughts mature, but all remain in a lull and
disorderly state, until almost suddenly they assemble into a
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pattern that link them together – a paradigm shift thus takes
place, a revolution is born. The triumphant globalisation
phenomenon has been possible by many revolutionary leaps, one
of which is the communication technology.
Views on globalisation differ according to the place of
their origin. The view that generally comes from the poor
countries has understandably a dissenting tone. The poor
countries equate the system to a pattern of exploitation
camouflaged by the doctrines that serve few a few at the cost of
misery to the vast majority. To them, it usually means
disproportionate accumulation of wealth in the hands of a few
with power to dominate over the world. This accumulation is
achieved by the support of global financial and social institutions,
created and operated by the rich countries of the world at the
expense of the labour of the poor. Labour in its various levels of
skill and value addition capability, are abundant in the
developing countries, which is exploited with little attention given
to preserving their land and environment from pollution. But
destruction of the environment is forced upon the poor countries
as the rich countries want to keep their land, air and water free
from this menace and thus prefer to relocate their industrial,
manufacturing and agricultural activities to the poor countries.
The poor countries cannot resist this because resistance would
mean starvation and death for them and their children.
The other view of globalisation, which is favoured by the
rich countries, is that globalisation is a rational path to progress.
The progress is seen to be achieved through free trade, integration
of the world economies, exploiting the relative advantage of
countries for common good for the vast majority, faster
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communication, economic and cultural reforms, dissemination of
knowledge, enhanced mobility of labour and capital, and finally
increased competition that would together turn the wheels of the
system in a synergistic manner to bring benefit to the poor.
The debate on globalisation, which is always charged
with a blend of reason and passion, is not likely to fade. But quite
independent of these controversies, one can see that the free
enterprise system is based on a strong biological attribute that is
universal in the living world – that is, innate love for self. It is a
social force that emanates from the very core of the individual’s
conscious existence. A human being would do the utmost under
the right circumstances to protect and preserve the individual
interest. All productive and creative potentials would be directed
towards its fulfilment, while some parts of these would be
directed towards more noble causes such as helping others after
self interest has been tamed to some degree. A complex functional
framework could develop through the blending of individualism
and interdependence that would under a correct operational
frame, might bring the intended results, the common good.
Impact of these changes in the contexts of Bangladesh
would be vast, and painful. Level of social entropy will rise as
good education will be increasingly difficult to provide, and
values will plunge. Corruption in its most perverse form will
reign supreme in society, making the rule of law its worst
casualty. When everybody breaks the law at every possible
opportunity, and the law enforcing agents themselves commit the
offence that they are supposed to prevent, the society has to take
serious stock of the situation, if a transit to barbarism is to be
avoided.
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Here a shift in our mental orientation would be necessary
to understand the issue in our context. Indeed, there has be major
shift in strategy of feeding the world’s nearly one-tenth of a
trillion people that will live on this landmass that comprises
Bangladesh by the end of the century. Free market will bring
major shifts in world agriculture due to need and convenience.
Agriculture is land-dependent; a resource, which is fast depleting
in some parts of the world due to large number of people, while
in some countries it is still abundant, and gains in potential value
with every passing day. These areas will be the feeder of the
future human population of the planet, while land constrained
parts of the world will be the makers of things, large and small, by
employing the skills of hands and working by a new version of
the clock that does not recognize day and night as a valid
compartmentalization the time. Bangladesh is fast turning into a
manufacturing country producing goods and trading with these
goods to create the wealth necessary for survival. Industrialised
countries will relocate their technology in Bangladesh at a faster
pace as outsourcing prospects gradually improve in the country.
All of these would present us with a scenario that is difficult to
fully comprehend at this time, but we should be ready to pluck
the good that it might offer.
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Fifteen
Beyond the Fading Horizon
Doomsday predictions, and fading into fatalism are easy.
One might have seen a fair share of the doomsday scenario in the
preceding sections. But beyond a dark, dismal and dreary night
there is a good morning in waiting. We must hope that it would
be bright. Whatever shades of gloom may have overcast the
horizon of our science and technology, however intimidating the
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crosscurrents are in the vast expanse of the problems, we have to
assure ourselves that there are ways to navigate through the
turbulence.
We are in the middle of a distinctive socio-biological
transition whose genesis lies on certain important elements such
as large population, high population density and low material
resource base. The large population is a resource, but it is at this
time under great stress. The consequences of stress are many.
Social scientists do recognise this phenomenon, which is
manifested as uncontrollable and often inexplicable disarray in
social order. Under these circumstances, certain instinctive
weaknesses in human nature would surface to further add to the
chaos. These weaknesses are transient and potentially correctible.
We have to do our part to make that happen.
Intense discussions on the maladies, and lengthy
prescriptions for cure have been a luxury that we have long
indulged in for long with little impunity. Perhaps focused
thinking and clear vision can no more be evaded without risking
penalty. Lying beyond the fading horizon of science and
technology and the veil of decadence is hope for a better future.
No people, and no species of living organisms can easily perish
because the biological equation that governs the existence and
evolution of life on this planet does not usually allow such
catastrophic outcome. The demise of a species occurs through the
slow process of organic evolution. Sudden destruction of a species
is an extremely rare event and has happened in the planet’s
history only a few times. We will continue to live, and rise with
dignity obviously with an intervening lag period the length of
which would be inversely proportional to the sharpness of our
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vision and the depth of our ingenuity with which we approach
the coming days.
The three important issues closely connected with
rejuvenation of nation’s science and technology profiles are
research at the universities, the strategic route to S&T planning,
and private sector participation.
THE CAMPUS
No nation can survive with dignity without the capital of
knowledge, knowledge to help make things by joining the bits
and pieces together, and knowledge to create the bits and pieces
themselves with increasing levels of sophistication. Together these
two facets of knowledge comprise the nation’s science and
technology platform, and no nation today can afford to neglect the
pulpit of science and technology development, the university.
Research to create new knowledge is the basic purpose of
the university, which must of course go together with the other
important purpose, that is, training professionals. Research is the
only tool for creation of new knowledge in all disciplines of
human inquiry – science, humanities, liberal arts, and social
sciences. Teaching is certainly an essential function of the
university, but research creates the intellectual podium on which
the foundation of successful teaching rests. In our universities,
unfortunately, research has been worst victim of the changes that
swept nation over the last few decades. Unless the university is
able to create knowledge, which can only be achieved through
research, it cannot deliver any good to the nation. It should be
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recognised that that research is the pulpit on which creativity
rests.
However, basic research is expensive as it has to be
internationally competitive and one has to maintain very high
standard matching with the advanced countries of the world.
Clearly, this will not be possible for us now as the universities
where the bulk of the basic research ought to be done are
inadequately prepared for the work due to a variety of
circumstances. The universities are poorly funded, and they have
to support a large teaching staff and a student population that
contributes little to the cost of the highest education received at
the university. This situation worsens with time as new
universities are created with little resource support.
But for high quality scientific research, high-level
financial support is essential. Thus, if the government considers
any raise in the level of financial support, the question will not be
raise by certain percentage of the present level of support, it
would be several times the present level if the work is meant to be
done properly. Understandably, the government is reluctant to do
it because the path to such a serious undertaking is not clear. So a
state of inertia prevails in fear of costly mistakes. Financial
support to selected disciplines and selected institutions would not
be an easy task either because the government does not have any
mechanism by which the selection could be done without creating
commotion.
A nation’s science ate technology planning has to consider
several aspects. Three are of particular importance. First, defining
the university’s role in S&T in very specific terms; second, clearly
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developing the strategy of S&T development, and third, linking
S&T with R&D in the context of private sector participation. These
issues are by themselves important individually, but in the
context of S&T these should be considered together and,
integrated into a complex where each would largely loose
individual identity but will be interdependent and feed one
another. The greater is the degree of interdependence, the greater
will the complex function efficiently and the faster will be wheel
of S&T turn along the critical path of productivity.
One possible approach to overcome this difficulty might
be to create a blend in which basic research would be linked with
technology development. That is, government funding for basic
research would be contingent upon the technology part being able
to draw private sector interest and R&D funding from the private
sector and external sources. The elements of such a scheme that
might produce fruits would be: research area to be highly
selective, scientific merit of the project critically determined, and a
mechanism of matching grant by the government to successful
projects that draw funding from other sources.
The problems of the university cannot be corrected as fast
as they were created. Government funding of research projects
based on a mechanism of matching grant in amounts several
times higher than what would be obtained from other sources
would automatically create a condition where grant applications
and the sponsoring institutions would face a selection pressure.
This pressure has to be matched by the scientific merit of the
project. The project would be subjected to incisive review by
internal and, if possible, external sources. As such research grants
would be mostly awarded to the universities, it should also be a
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condition that the project carries a high quality Ph.D. degree
component. Each Ph.D. student would receive a stipend
equivalent to the salary and benefits that an Assistant Professor
receives at entry. Also, it would be necessary to select scientists
with talent and scholarly aptitude. These two qualities must go
together, one without the other will not produce any good.
Individuals with these qualities are to be found out through
search, as it is done in universities abroad since people with
qualities people are rather unskilled in exhibiting themselves.
In general, tertiary education, university education in
particular, is a victim of catastrophic confusion due to lack of
defined path and realistic purpose. The institutions exist because
their existence is easier than demise. The issue of academic
standard in the university education has almost disappeared
under the thick smoke of politics in public universities, and profit
motives in private universities. The resulting ills that are
corroding the foundations of the universities are often discussed
freely with some sense of guilt but no serious desire for change. A
total of 23 public universities now exist of which 16 are said to be
actively operating with total number of students in excess of
100,000 and teachers totalling 5000, on a yearly operating budget
of about Tk 500 crores, an amount is just one-tenth of what we
earn by stitching garments.
The private universities offer a measure of competition to
the state universities in terms of politics-free environment, lack of
session jam, and generally qualified teachers recruited on part-
time employment mostly from public universities. But unlike the
state-run universities, which are fully subsidised by the
government, the private universities operate on a cost-recovery
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basis, and select for the relatively affluent section of the society.
Worries are aired about quality of education in many private
universities, but the drive to creating new private universities also
continues.
At present basic research in private universities cannot be
expected to any significant extent. But some private universities
may undertake technology-oriented programmes, and collaborate
with the state universities in joint Ph.D. work that would open
opportunities for some basic research under the umbrella of
technology-oriented programmes.
Slimming the campuses of the state-run universities is of
utmost importance now. Without this no recovery would be
possible. Reduction implies two things – first, cessation of increase
in enrolment, and then lowering enrolment in phases. These have
to be done by raising the eligibility for admission. University will
make the selection for entry only from the best 10 of the 100
‘eligible’ students. There is no justification for putting students
with 95% marks and those with 50% marks together in the same
basket and roll them together in the same admission test. Quality
university education would require 1% GDP to be spent to
university education in such a manner that the best 10% of our
young talents get the most benefit from this significant amount of
investment. This would raise standard of university education,
and at the same time, a pressure will be created to divert our
youths to technical education, a pressure that does not exist now
due to easy entry procedures in the public universities. Easy entry
into the public universities discourages creation of technical
institutions in the private sector. The fear of the private sector is
that after the universities have blotted up the top tiers of students
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through a relaxed system of admission, all that they can hope to
get for their institutions are the mediocre students. Restricting
university entry to only the outstanding students would channel
the next best tiers of students to technical education. This shift is
important, but as long as a populist tone prevails in university
enrolment this would be difficult to achieve.
We are passing through difficult times in a world in
transition to globalisation. Many universities in the advanced
countries are also facing problems. In recent times, a definite shift
in the operational strategy of the university due largely to societal
changes can be seen. Today expressions such as ‘university in
business’ are not just passing phrases, but they do cast reflections
on realities all over the world. Many universities in the
industrialised countries today face severe fund constraints
because the government and the people see little value in
‘disinterested science’— the science for the sake of knowledge
with no relevance to practical needs. Since in most countries it is
the taxpayer who runs the university, they want some value for
their money in return. In order to raise funds many top
universities are seen to open up campuses in developing countries
that are in effect study centres. Many top universities worldwide
are having to reorient their programs towards applied research
with such force that has not been seen in the past. Admittedly, as
the issue is one of survival rather than choice, the journey is
bound to be painful. Very old centres of learning in the western
world have fallen victims of these shifting crosscurrents, and
despite debate on the imperatives of these changes, there is
general agreement that in the present circumstances, there is no
easy way out to circumvent the adverse effects of the painful
phase of academic-business transition.
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S&T FROM THE REVERSE
We have fallen into a web of confusion about scientific
research, S&T and R&D. If we appreciate that the goal of S&T is to
facilitate socio-economic development and the wealth building
process of the nation then we may ask the question, what is the
most important wealth-building tool available to us at this time?
The question has been addressed in different perspectives at
different times. At present, certain things ought to be clearly
understood by us. The days of agriculture, the generous gift of the
fertile delta, are perhaps gone because of highly unfavourable
man to land ratio. It is not difficult to see that the country will be
rapidly transformed into a manufacturing country, with industrial
units set up all over the country. The vibrant manufacturing
sector would obviously produce goods of modest value and our
people will be turned into low cost an industrial production force.
This scenario is real; other people would need our labour for the
things they need for their comfort. In this business, we have to
successfully compete with other countries.
This brings us to an important imperative. The fact that
technical skill creation at various levels in the value addition
ladder is essential is no more a question for debate, the question is
how fast we can do it, and in which way?
The idea of turning our people into a high output labour
force may not match with our mindset. But many countries have
benefited from this in various ways. The example of Japan is
illuminating. Analysts are of the opinion that after the World War
I, Japan had no other way but to learn the art of copying – that is,
to make things with small changes in the process technology and
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adding enhanced technical improvements. This Japan did with
superb skill, initially in industries such as chemicals and
electronics, and later in many other areas. Today Japan is a skilled
copy-making nation and provides a superb example of
transformation of skill to very high value. This is Japan’s wealth
today; this is likely to be the basis for wealth creation in many
other countries of the world where land and other resources are
limited. This is also the path where we do have an advantage and
where we might indeed excel.
Creation of technical skill should thus be the most
important thrust area in S&T planning. But it must not be just
skill creation with no defined purpose and divorced from the
global contexts. In the past, our S&T plans lacked this focus; it was
largely an exercise of lofty intentions and flambuoyant ideas.
But how should we approach the matter of skill creation?
This is a difficult issue because ideally it ought to involve
partitioning of nation’s resources to both basic research, and
applied research. Basic research is the progenitor of technology,
but our advantage in basic research is limited at this time. So we
might look at technology development from a different angle.
Instead of debating on the relative value of basic and applied
research we should instead concentrate our efforts to developing
technical skill in areas of our advantage rapidly. Time available to
us is short as the world is changing very fast so that what took a
decade to happen, now happens in months.
It would be illuminating to look into how the most
advanced country of the world, the USA, started its science and
technology development after they settled in the New World.
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History is quite clear on this matter. The Mayflower carried a
human cargo of the most enterprising type of people. These
people were the products of the conservative climate of Europe,
but in the New World they found the taste of new freedom, which
they blended with the vitality of the European Renaissance in
science. The early settlers found vast quantities of wealth in the
New World – land, forest, and minerals – and to these resources
they applied the scientific knowledge that they brought from
Europe. The blend was magical. It was possible due to one
critically important element in their work. They put all their
efforts to applied science, instead of basic research. They directly
went into developing technology and making inventions.
Historians believe there was perhaps expediency in this course of
action. It resulted in a spate of inventions of practical value. The
heyday of Yankee toolmakers produced automatic reapers,
railroads and telegraph. One could say that machines were almost
engraved into the American spirit. The American inventors
brought miracles in solving technical problems, in developing a
better electric bulb or a batter car engine. But in fundamental
research where one does not know what he is actually looking for
until he stumbles upon a problem, the American spirit was less
perceptible.
The great scientific revolutions in Europe spanning over
several centuries produced giants – Aristotle, Euclid, Galileo,
Newton, Darwin, Mendel, Faraday, Bohr, and Einstein. The early
settlers of the New World could not imagine to match with these
giants; they stand in silent admiration of the intellectual
supremacy of Europe in fundamental science but themselves
decided to apply the European science to bring the best that their
new wealth offered. For them thus the path was evidently simple.
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It was to ride on the shoulders of European giants in order to
make things of practical value.
As a culture of inventions developed, so did develop a
culture of trading with skills. This led to protecting inventions as
intellectual property. A patent law was passed in 1834 and a
remarkable lineage of inventors and practical scientists grew over
the years – Franklin Roosevelt, Joseph Henry, Nathaniel
Bowditch, Simon Newcomb, Benjamin Silliman, Asa Gray,
Willard Gibbs, Thomas Edison, and George Eastman. The list
grew with names like Millikan, Langmuir and Oppenheimer in
physics, Morgan and Muller in genetics, Hale, Boade, Hubble and
Shapley in astrophysics. Wealth grew in parallel. Henry Adams
who is noted for his Law of Acceleration commented about the
Americans of the future, the “child of incalculable coal power,
chemical power and radiating energy………a sort of God compared to
any former creature of nature”.
Inventions led to development of marketable products,
factories were readily made to produce them in bulk, and skilled
salespeople were handy to sell the products for profit. The
nation’s indigenous natural resources were sufficient to support
initial growth of trade and wealth, but soon trade spread its wings
outside, and a far robust wealth-building process began. America
was destined to be the master of magnifying wealth with technical
skill unmatched in human history.
At this point they turned to basic research. Part of the vast
wealth that inventions brought for the nation were then put to
disinterested use, such as pursuit curiosity-driven science as
opposed to production-oriented science, and thus began the era of
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basic research in America. Much of the idle wealth that the nation
had created over the decades went into establishment of private
universities and these became the centres of excellence in basic
research, and also the powerhouse of applied knowledge to cater
to the needs of markets of the world.
Early settlers saw the vast land as their best asset.
Creating institutions of higher education such as colleges and
universities did not receive serious attention until after the civil
war. Higher education in America during the early decades after
the American Revolution had its own aberrations. The Americans
created during this period hundreds of colleges in imitation of the
European traditions but without vision and purpose. These
institutions were created as a founding-mania, that is, creating the
institutions became an act for which no justification was asked. As
such they died as fast as they were born.
At this point of time a gentleman by the name Jonathan
Baldwin Turner came forward with a new vision and proposed
creation of colleges with focus on agriculture to prepare farmers
in their work. The colleges were conceived embodying the
aristocratic tone of Oxford and Cambridge. Later, the Morrill Act
signed in 1862 by President Abraham Lincoln provided land
grants to states for colleges. All western states used this incentive
to rapidly develop agricultural science and technology. The
preponderance of talented scientists in agricultural sciences in the
USA until the middle of the twentieth century owes much to this
Act. It was agricultural science that produced the brightest
scientists of the in America for the better part of the twentieth
century.
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Slowly, the next logical stage was set in motion.
Communities, religious denominations and private individuals
came forward with their wealth in founding institutions of higher
learning that included Vassar, Stanely, Carnegie, and Rockefeller.
They gave their fortunes for the colleges and universities of
America. The institutions that were founded at this time grew in a
different political climate. They valued the democratic traditions
of America, and developed on the belief that free competition is
the proper route to economic development. Many of these
institutions turned into excellent centres of learning creating both
basic knowledge and knowledge with potentials for application.
Today these events now show to the world the strength of
democracy and market competition even in sublime matters such
as intellectual pursuit. The share of famous prizes in science that
are now won in large numbers by the Americans is due to this
blend of basic science and its application. This perhaps is the
secret of American success today in science and technology.
Skill creation draws upon an important responsibility on
the part of the scientists. The scientist must choose a small number
of skills and push these through with sufficient force so that he
stays ahead of the skill, not fall back. Skill of value emerges fast,
and also disappears fast. If we take a long time to act on the skills
created, we would risk leaving the skills behind as irrelevant. The
world would not wait for us. Three technologies in recent years
have dramatically influenced human thinking – biotechnology,
information technology and lately, nanotechnology. Only a very
small number of developing countries have so far benefited from
these technologies, particularly from biotechnology and
information technology. For the vast majority of the developing
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countries of Asia, South America and Africa and even countries
with their economies in transition, these technologies have only
served as feel good factors. That is, these technologies were
accepted within the academia and the research institutions as
representing high profile intellectual activities. This obviously had
been done in the hope that some good might eventually be
brought to the society, but by and large these were seen more as
technology lustre than anything of practical value.
We did resort to this route as well, and like many other
developing countries we also have failed so far to reap any
significant benefits from biotechnology and information
technology. The failure in these sectors is not due to any lack of
talent, but for some very unfortunate circumstances of history that
lead to our weak background in the basic sciences. This
inadequacy would also influence our scores in the widely
discussed nanotechnology, a new emerging technology in which
machines operate at scales of a billionth of a meter, a nanometre.
The technology would use nanoparticles, nanotubes, etc. to make
machines that would use microscopic moving parts similar to
molecular motors or machines found inside the living cells.
Indeed, nanotechnology draws its moving force from the living
system, and the technology would primarily be used in the living
systems.
Today there is evidence that a ‘decoupling’ of energy and
progress is in the making. Progress is a complex phenomenon that
cannot be easily defined but most of us would like to think of it in
terms of economic progress. The Law of Acceleration, which may
be symbolised as a function of energy use, predicts that within the
next couple of decades progress would come to an end, when the
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line depicting progress would show a bizarre property – it would
rise independent of the time axis, perhaps suggesting the
decoupling.
It took the humankind much energy, and many years to
come to the present age of computers. Today, an entire library’s
content of printed materials can be stored in small computers. If
this is done and the library is kept in the Internet, there will be
huge savings on the quantity of paper and everything that goes
into the printing process including human energy. Work, defined
as displacement of a certain mass to a certain distance overcoming
a certain force of gravitation, requires a certain quantity of energy.
Movement of goods across the globe requires huge energy to
operate vehicles, move ships and fly planes. It follows that if the
need for physical movement were reduced, much energy would
be saved. Computer technology could reduce the necessity of
physical movement of matter to a great extent without hindering
progress, adding further to anticipated decoupling of energy and
progress. Nanotechnology would come to influence this energy-
work equation quite significantly, but in which way it is going to
do so and in which way it is going to affect us is not clear at this
time. Nanotechnology might bring remarkable changes for the
society – energy on one hand, and progress on the other, may be
less interdependent, producing a human society that is not easy to
imagine.
Much of the energy of our body is the result of efficient
molecular machines operating at nanometre scale within the cell.
The cells of an individual take the necessary ingredients for its
functioning from the environment, they grow and differentiate
and give the individual energy to do the work. How efficient is
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this matter-energy conversion process in the human body is not
easy to determine, but in our large human population we do have
an advantage in it at this time. The human brain needs relatively
little energy for its own operation, but the brain causes huge
amounts of work that the body carries out in the lifetime, a porter
does more work than, for instance, a Victorian aristocrat in their
respective life spans. But to keep the body in the manner it is over
a time span of say 70 years the amount of total matter-energy
expenditure may be similar for both.
So we have to rapidly acquire skills in fingertip
technologies such as computer technology, information
technology, and nanotechnology. Development of these skills
should be the thrust of the nation’s S&T program for the
foreseeable future. This should be carried out through targeted
funding and strong political will. This would be a difficult
undertaking, as it would require austerity in basic research. This
targeted funding of science in specific areas would have to be
achieved at the expense of the alternative route to scientific
education favoured by some, and driven by the notion that to get
the best results from science for society, it is essential that
scientific thinking is cultivated among all citizens.
The issue before us is how to do the targeted S&T
development and how much the government should involve itself
in the matter and how much of it should be left to the private
sector. The issue is difficult, and it should be carefully studied –
the sectors of skill development should be identified, and our
capacity determined taking into consideration the very important
question of time factor. The rapidity with which we develop the
skill must match with the market dynamics. Would the
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government be in a position to better assess the matter than the
people who are in actual work in the sector – that is, the private
sector? Given the manifold problems in governance at the
backdrop of high-level social entropy, which is gaining in strength
day by day, it is perhaps worthwhile to leave it to the private
sector and allow its development in successive steps of increased
sophistication of skill and increased value additions in the
quickest possible time.
PRIVATE SECTOR S&T
Separation of science from technology is considered by
many to be an effective way to targeted thrust creation. We speak
about thrust sectors, but have not yet considered this issue
seriously. This separation if prudently introduced would create
conditions for dedicated private sector to participate in the
technology sector. In many countries of the world this route has
been pursued with good results. Thus, the question deserves
renewed consideration by us for participation of the private sector
in technology development. This is not to be achieved through
undue negligence to basic scientific research, which would under
a different purview and would work better at this time in blend
with technology as mentioned.
We do not have any experience of technology
development exercise outside the state run institutions. The
working relationship between institutions of basic research such
as the universities, and the industry, is still incipient. It is perhaps
unrealistic to think that under the prevailing circumstances – that
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is, a highly over-burdened government structure with too many
people to do too little available work, scarcity of resources, lack of
any social security net, low motivation, and high level of
corruption – it would be possible to develop that aspect fast. It
would certainly be developed in due course, but for the present
we cannot neglect the time factor.
If we agree that technical skill creation in areas of our
relative advantage is the proper route to wealth creation for us at
the present time, then we should give topmost priority to this in
our agenda for action. We should immediately look for ways with
courage and conviction about how to do it? Is it worthwhile to
make investments in improving the existing R&D institutions for
the intended technology leap? Perhaps not, as in the past such
efforts had been made but with little success. This is due to
incoherence in scientific perceptions on the part of the research
institutions, needs of the R&D institutions, and courage of the
entrepreneurs. There is no easy way to remove this imbalance
quickly, but for speed of action is critical as the present becomes
past today much faster than it happened at any other time in
human history. This contingency is overwhelmingly real, and it is
of utmost importance for us to take due note of it.
While we look into our future, we ought to also focus on
our strength. Our strength lies in labour, in skills of increasing
value continually replenished by ingenuity of science and
technology. This reality must not be lost from our vision. Land-
based biologicals production such as crop, livestock, fisheries,
cannot be sustained and thus cannot create the necessary wealth
for us. In all of our agricultural biotechnology efforts we ought to
take serious note of this contingency. The prospects are very real
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that all innovative agricultural products might be available form
external markets at a price considerably less than our production
cost. Agricultural activities, however, are to be maintained at a
certain level over the foreseeable future but that in very different
contexts such as alleviation of grinding poverty. Our efforts
towards self-sufficiency in food for the projected 300 million
people have to be directed with vigour as long as the capacity of
the land supports the activity.
Many factors including problems of governance would
favour S&T development to be encouraged in the private sector.
The private sector participation in the S&T may also include the
tertiary education institutions such as the universities. Many
people would think, not without justification, that the government
has become far too large to effectively manage itself under the
many challenging constraints. Nature limits size of things before
the size turns disastrous, and this includes size of both individual
organisms and social organisations. The government is an
organism; its size would attain a limit before working efficiency
would be optimised. Inefficiency is the progenitor of corruption,
and corruption assumes its worst face when the inefficiency
blends with the constraints of resource scarcity, and the biological
contingency of population density. Private sector option in
technology would thus be a worthwhile experiment for us to
undertake as most other avenues have failed to give us good
results. But for this a sound policy frame would be critical.
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Sixteen
Concluding Words
Humankind appears to be in a crisis, an emerging crisis of
intellectualism. Vast amounts of human energy are now
channelled to establish participation of the human population in a
‘singular global production process’ called globalisation. As a
people, we have to understand where our place is in this complex
process. Science and technology in Bangladesh does not rest on
firm grounds at this time. We have to rise and reckon the
changing world in correct perspectives, and make the necessary
adjustments in our thoughts and deeds. For a long time, we have
viewed our science and technology with a degree of superfluity
and complacence. This actually belies our strength. Cocksure
certainties based on faulty notions and extraneous ideas have led
us over the years almost to the brink of chaos. The harm done is
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great, but it will be fatal if we now fail to appreciate the emerging
realities, realities that we have unduly ignored in the past. This
realisation is far more important for us now than it was ever
before, and the time in our hand is short.
We have talents – scientists, theorists, visionaries,
pragmatists, philosophers, and activists – to whom important
matter cannot remain in oblivion for long. Humankind must have
hope in the future. This hope must be held high despite many
odds that confront us today, the facts that fundamental
discoveries in science are no more forthcoming, and that human
progress is possibly coming to an end. Human knowledge has
many limitations; it cannot provide any solution to the deeper
questions of human existence, and neither to the simpler
questions of survival in a tolerable state. A tone of sadness and
regret for all the human failings, a subdued rebellion, and indeed
an implicit call for celebrations of the fragmented human self, are
now important themes in modern philosophical discourses. These
are in effect efforts to counter the confusions.
Our cultural heritage should offer us a shield to survive
through this turbulent time. This heritage is based on facts of
history. We possess a culture of asking questions, a culture of
assigning value to freedom, and a culture of courting sacrifice for
superior attainments. The culture of working without questioning
may be productive, but cannot be intellectually stimulating. In
Japan1, China and many developing countries of Asia, asking
questions is regarded as an aberrant behaviour. In the continent of
Africa, many countries are just emerging from the shield of
protracted isolation. Productive human interactions in Latin
America have been impeded by the vastness of the country and
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small population. Our history bears superior antecedents
reflecting the virtues of faith and courage, which we should
nourish with pride. In the chaos of a lawless society where
unfortunately we live today, the path for the scientist would be
tortuous, and remedies difficult.
1. Yamada, H. 1990. Breaking the Mould. In: The Discipline of Curiosity. Eds J.
Groen, E. Smit and J. Eijsvoogel. Elsevier Science Publishers, Amsterdam.
PROTOTYPE S&T
The talented people of the nation – scientists, planners
and visionaries – have to rise to a solemn call, a call for analysis of
our issues in our way and with our wisdom, dispassionately and
pragmatically, with courage and dedication. The call should not
be one of flambuoyant ideas or high-tone ideals, but one that
should address simple questions analysed in correct contexts
using the best tools available, and as incisively as possible.
It is important that we address long-term issues as
seriously as we address short-term planning. These need not
militate against one another. The two processes are different in
character, the latter requiring more analytical inputs for its
development. It is the responsibility of the intellectual class to
bring into focus the special attributes of the long-term issues in
the planning process.
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Long-term exercises are not trivial as some might like to
think. In fact these often determine the effectiveness of short-term
work. As such these must not be neglected on the passing premise
that since long-term issues are inherently unpredictable, they
deserve little merit for serious attention. Such an attitude is
detrimental and must be effectively countered. In this matter, the
scientists have an important role to play. That role is one of
creating awareness about the realities in which we might have to
live fifty or a hundred years from now, and for that what should
be the course of our action. Perhaps, short-term planners believe
that the course would be self-driven, drawing on the leads
obtained from the short-term exercises, but this is a mistake.
Apathy to long-term planning is perhaps an endemic ailment
widely prevalent in many sections of the society in many
developing countries of the world. The scientists ought to rise and
address the issue from balanced perspectives.
An important exercise that we might consider to
undertake would be to obtain as accurately as possible values for
the most critical parameters pertaining to development. For
instance, search for possible scenarios in various socio-economic
sectors fifty years from now, when the population would stabilise
at twice its present level, at over a quarter of a billion individuals.
With this population-doubling in view, we could develop models
adjusting the variables, to create possible scenarios that could be
helpful in appropriate course of action. If we can do it well it
would produce a computer game approach that all could play
some for fun, some to learn. This sort of approach would help us
to know ourselves better, and might eventually become a good
operating system for us in all matters of interest. In a globalised
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world not knowing others might be hazardous, not knowing self
would be catastrophic.
The critical support that this approach would require is a
strong science and technology policy. The present policy has to be
re-written to remove the many of the inadequacies it contains and
to infuse a more pragmatic tone into it. Above all, law must back
the policy; the policy must have the Parliamentary mandate. It
must not be just one of over a dozen national policies that have
been written for various sectors with much zeal, but little vision,
and have been given the seal of approval by the cabinet. Such
policies do not indicate serious business, as the issues cannot be
put to legal test as to compliance because these are not enacted by
the Parliament.
The challenge of accurate calculation in a long-term
perspective has to be admitted by all. Could we project, for
instance, what will be the density, type and distribution of
industrial units in the country fifty years from now? How much
agricultural land would we loose to industrialisation, and at what
rate? After the population stabilises at 300 million, how much
land will be land will be available for tillage after maximal
reclamation of marginal lands? How best we can raise the vertical
productivity of the land? This issue has now three dimensions –
yield, per unit time, per unit land area? What should be our best
route to land saving for its maximal utilisation in economic
activity, from pollution and non-economic activities? Can we
grow the required quantity of cereals to feed 300 million people
the maximal levels of management inputs on the available land?
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Many of these questions can be precisely answered. If we
have the accurate answers to these questions, our development
strategy would be one; if not, it would be lead us in wrong
directions. Our strategy should be based on things that we can do
with some effort, and we should be able to see clearly what we
cannot do even with maximal effort. That is, biological realism
pertaining to pressure of a huge population on small a landmass
ought to be critically evaluated. We cannot stop loss of land to
human settlement, we can only try to minimise it. We cannot force
trees to grow under the shade of other trees, we can only grow
plants in a planned manner to maximise growth of all plants and
not raise a population of sick trees in huge numbers. We cannot,
for instance, stop the natural process of filling of the haors by
humus build-up resulting from high-level organic matter
accumulation from surrounding areas of high-level human
population activities, we should only realistically plan for the best
use of the raised wetland, and not expend resources to keep them
as wet as some of us may wish. That is common-sense biology!
In the wide panorama of the nation’s socio economic
activities, the S&T sector is really quite small. Indeed most people
outside the scientific community are quite indifferent about S&T.
Economic indicators such as rise in GDP, decline in infant
mortality, falling birth rate, poverty reduction etc., would
increasingly show better performance even in an atmosphere of
relative stagnancy in S&T activities. We may not resist rock
culture, we may not stop cultural reforms along the lines of the
West, but these will not destroy our language and our culture.
Culture is heavy and needs strong force to dislodge.
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Many would look at S&T efforts with a dull eye as they
see little hope to benefit from this in the near future. But this is
completely wrong. This perception of S&T is potentially very
damaging for the nation, and it is where the scientists must come
forward with a means to link S&T with the crosscurrents of the
market. It is not a passing issue, the scientists must produce
gadgets of comfort for the common people, and at the same time
pursue pure knowledge, as without this a sustained level of
comfort would be difficult to ensure. That S&T has so far given
little to the people is not the fault of S&T, the fault was with our
method of pursuing S&T.
In an open world, there will be progress in some mode
and manner in all countries of the world. With a pragmatic S&T
workplan in the process, the progress will be of tone, without it
would be of quite a different tone. Our S&T vision must resonate
with global socio-economic panorama. Our focus must be sharp.
Today many of us, scientists included, talk about Bangladesh
turning into a manufacturing country, but do we clearly
understand what exactly this transformation entails?
Manufacturing in a setting of no raw material would be a labour-
intensive affair where S&T ought to answer to some key questions
clearly so as to maximise the value of labour through input of S&T
skills.
SEPARATE SCIENCE POLICY
Here we have to address the important issue separating
science from technology. Should we have a policy adorned with
the sublime view of science, or we should formally separate
science from technology? The separation of basic science and
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applied science need not be based on any intrinsic distinctiveness
of the two, but as an operational convenience. Should we consider
two science policies, one for basic science and one for applied
science?
Our experience from the past suggests that blending of
science with technology, or of basic science with applied science
has added to confusion at the cost of focus. We do hear now a
days some scientists talking about focus, but with little
appreciation of the underlying basis. Applied science must have
three elements – target, time, and trade-value of the product – the
triple T recipe. The target of the work should be precisely
defined, it should be reached in the shortest possible time, and the
effort ought to result in a tradable product. Most of the research
laboratories in the country should orient their work along these
lines, and these elements must be meticulously enforced. This is
the place where the private sector may be expected to find the
promise they want. Basic research institutions, in contrast, would
be few and these should be fully supported by the government.
The major purpose of these institutions would be to carry out
fundamental research in areas where our scientists would make
their presence felt by the giants working in the field. This would
thus help maintain an intellectual linkage with the world.
Applied research scientists are not scientists with any
lesser intellectual ability. There is plenty of scope for highly
innovative work in applied science requiring high order talent.
Scientists at the basic research institutes, so called centres of
excellence, ought to be different largely in vision and aptitude.
Their distinctiveness would only lie in the work they prefer to do,
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and the manner they want it to be done, not in any intrinsic
difference in the work itself.
Two separate policies, one for science and one for
technology, would enable us to understand in more clear terms
the scientific agenda of the nation, and allow us to develop a
clearer road map for its implementation. Writing a science and
technology policy is difficult, writing two separate policies would
perhaps be more difficult as here one has to be more precise in
determining priorities and paths. The potential benefits of this
separation would be considerable for a time, as this separation
would not be permanent. At some point of time, these two would
merge in order to be productive. The applied science policy
would address much of what the market wants and would help to
create wealth for the nation, and basic science policy would help
scientific lustre of the nation through generation of basic
knowledge, a bit of which may in the course of time roll into the
domain of application. This has traditionally been the trail
between basic research and applied research, but for us it is
particularly important that we clearly understand the basis and
the contexts for a formal separation for a time, so that major errors
are avoided.
Eventually, the formal separation of science and
technology would become less relevant as it is the case with the
developed countries of the world where these are already
operationally separated by the market without the regulatory
intervention of the government. In institutions of applied science,
a scientist is never barred from doing basic research. On the
contrary they are encouraged to do so, but without compromising
with the mandatory triple T recipe. If a scientist develops a novel
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substance simultaneously with developing a better blend of drug
or better bitumen for our roads, the scientist would deserve
laurels.
Politicians keep up the independence of nation by
motivating its people to stay together. Manufacturing builds
wealth of the nation using people’s productive capacity. Business
determines the velocity of money. In this relatively simple
operation, distortions might occur when the politicians fail to
keep people together, industry turns into a labour-contracting
instrument, and business creates social stratification. In this
triangle, one can imagine an extra element. This is raising the
value of labour, which must be a continual process, and that can
only be done through science. A science and technology policy
specifically dedicated to applied research would make this easier
to happen.
Human knowledge continually adds value to matter that makes
up the planet. This is how the wealth of the planet is increases. In
this effort, human folly creates something undesirable, that is,
inequality. The ultimate value of wealth lies in sharing the wealth
in a reasonable manner within the humankind. Although a
reasonable expectation, it is perhaps still a distant mirage for
humankind. However, we must hope that it is not beyond human
reach. An enlightened person owning huge wealth would at times
in his life feel the pinch of inequality in society, a moral rebellion.
We must hope that someday that enlightenment might come to
humans. There are species on this planet with traits more humble
than ours. Historically the culture of science has been one of
sharing but today science is not an innocent bystander in social
the inequality. Scientists ‘who are thinly disguised businessmen’1
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are not imagined entities, but are important in the wealth-
building process of a nation. In S&T thus the market factor cannot
be ignored by S&T in the modern world.
Facts of biology are not difficult to understand, as there is
not much counting needed, no equations to be balanced, and no
abstract doctrines to be deciphered. It is important for us that we
understand biological realism in the context of our country. At
this time and under the current global order, our advantage lies in
producing goods, most of it sitting where we are as technology
would make it possible. Our survival in a reasonable state would
depend on how best we use this advantage, that is, how fast we
1. Sen, Amartya. 2002. The science of give and take. New Scientist, April 27, pp 51- 52.
raise the value of our labour. We cannot create land, but we can
lift the labour of our hands to great heights. This is the reality, not
imagination, which we should read correctly in order to avoid
costly mistakes.
We are poised for rapidly turning into a manufacturing
country, and we should maximise our competitive edge in the
global market? We should also remember two other factors that
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are closely connected to the density factor I have mentioned.
These are the ‘time’ factor, and the ‘number’ factor. We should not
discover the right kind of agricultural biotechnology only after the
agricultural land has been lost, and when we compare ourselves
with other countries of the world we should not forget our
number factor. Our immediate path of action is relatively
independent of the doldrums of international politics, and there is
no harm in maximising our advantages to the highest levels. The
less are the mistakes we make here, the better it would be for our
future. Our advantage of large number is not likely to disappear
soon. Although the progress of humankind measured in terms of
energy use might be directed towards living the best with the
least amount of work done, it is unlikely that this would be
attained easily.
Private sector S&T is an important issue to consider. Free
market is a reality to be reckoned. It will evolve, but it may not be
free from the supposed evils of socialism. Socialism is widely
condemned as a killer of creativity that starves the system of
knowledge and brings ruin from within, a limitation from which
the free market may not be completely immune.
Many R&D institutions are now seen to be eager to
participate in advanced degree- awarding undertakings under
affiliation form sate-run universities. If this eagerness means
efforts to secure opportunity for serious scientific work, it would
certainly be of merit, and ways should then be considered which
would exploit this in a productive manner. Degree awarding
interest perhaps is sign of frustration resulting from lack of
challenge for the active minds in their work and career. In this
purely academic matter these institutions have, however, a
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disadvantage. They cannot, however, provide the teaching
climate of a campus. But they can participate in research, perhaps
in a better manner than the universities at this time because they
are free from the political doldrums that the state universities
cannot escape now.
Some of these R&D institutions are quite well equipped in
terms of scientific instruments, library and Internet facilities, and
generally have a strong scientific workforce. These are the
material assets that could be put to good use in S&T activities
through a redrawn operating strategy. That strategy could involve
the private universities in focused S&T activities. The private
university would support S&T projects of their preference, pay an
overhead to the sponsoring institution, and work out a plan that
would motivate participants in the research project.
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In the USA, basic scientific research has been largely the
contribution of immigrant scientists who came to this land of
opportunity from all over the world. This flow would be curtailed
for a variety of reasons. The Nobel glory now frequently goes not
to discoveries in basic science, but to application oriented
knowledge that increases material comfort and augments the
market. This curtails creativity, and the creativity curtailment
element now highlighted in socialism may also invade with a time
lag – it comes early in socialism, a little delayed in capitalism.
Thus, while most of our scientific efforts should be
directed to wealth creation activities through value addition to
skills, a part of the effort must also be given to science that would
cause empowerment. To achieve even a tiny fraction of that
empowerment would not be trivial for us. Science is never a
perfectly practised art anywhere in the world; it is neither possible
nor perhaps necessary to do so. To the ordinary people, much of
what goes under the seal of science carries little meaning in
practical terms. What they would like to see is the substance of the
science. This substance must have one critical ingredient – it must
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empower the nation to successfully compete in the Darwinian
struggle. Only a fraction of the huge effort that a nation expends
for science finally gives that power. That must be identified. That
is, of course, knowledge. This is the ultimate source of power that
can only be gained through the work of the most able few whose
nurturing in a meaningful manner is a formidable challenge today
for all countries of the world, rich and poor alike. For us it is not
an easy task to develop a strategy for nurturing the gifted few,
perhaps it is even difficult to identify those properly. Their
number would be small, and they ought to be provided with the
very best that the nation can afford. A general science policy, that
is, one policy putting S&T and basic science in one basket, may
not make this task easy. But if this task is considered to be of any
merit at this time, this must be done; if it is little relevance now we
ought to wait for the right time to come.
Forecasting gloom is not an end; it is a means to
appreciate the end better. The destiny of a biological species is not
destruction of the species, but rather it is evolution of the species
in directions that biology would determine. A species, for instance
we the Homo sapiens, is the product of a process, which by its very
nature bestows an advantage of number to the species. Species
arise due to a superior survival advantage, and hence is the
associated advantage of high number. Smaller populations within
a species, such as the population of a country, also benefits from
the numerical advantage. Sudden extinction of a species is a rare
phenomenon; it happened in the history of the planet only a few
times. We as a people are not destined to perish. We would
flourish and our large number and high density might facilitate
this process. The advantage of number would fail us. It is here
that we place our hope; it is from here that we move towards the
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needed transformations, and despite many doomsday scenarios
that we see today, we shall rise up – how soon and in what
architecture are matters that belong to the future.
** In this honest zeal to excel, we often hear about centres for
excellence for the talents to tread freely in their world of
freethinking. No doubt centres for excellence are desirable but the
difficult issue is how to attain the expected state of excellence? In
the past, centres were created some of which are described as
centres for excellence, but none could attain the expected lustre.
One possible answer for this failure could perhaps be looked for
at the backdrop of the generally poor level of scientific activity in
the country, which created a situation in which these centres did
not face enough challenge from within to attain a high level of
scientific stature.
Lack of challenge is a good recipe for decay, which unfortunately
might have happened in all of our scientific institutions. But the
question is, how to infuse the needed challenge?
Internationalisation of institution through some mechanism may
be one possible route but this must be properly done, not in the
manner by which we have created the country’s first and lone
international research centre mandated by the Parliament in the
biomedical field—the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease
Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B). The ICDDR,B was perhaps too
hastily created where Bangladesh government retained little
financial control over the operation of the centre. This created
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many operational problems later. Many who had been associated
with this organisation, Bangladeshi scientists in particular, believe
that a centre for excellence created by the government should also
be adequately and effectively funded by the government and its
operation entrusted with an international body as to its scientific
programme and administrative management. If we are unable to
do this at this time and in this manner in order to infuse the
necessary challenge within it, we ought to pause for a while and
find out first the mechanism of how to operate it before we
commit our energy and resources to the task. A centre for
excellence ought to be one for excellence of knowledge, not of
ordinary skills; one of superior talents, not of populist tone as we
see the case with our centres of higher learning today!
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