Will you PLEASE finish that small amount of food on your plate ?

Just some days ago, I was in a library of some institution. It was a Saturday; not many people were around. I was reading some interesting books and was enjoying. But at around one in the afternoon, I started to feel very hungry, as I do everyday. But today atleast, I said, I must go without food. I thought that because it was a Saturday, the canteen would be closed. I was wondering whether I should walk the 2 km to the nearest eatery. But as I went outside, to my surprise, the canteen WAS open !

I went inside, had the good, subsidized food, and then went to drink water. There I saw a labourer, who must be working in the institute's gardens. He was only drinking water, no food. He had no money to buy himself even a subsidised meal, which would have cost around Rs. 8. A few of his coworkers might be lucky enough, even to be able to bring home made food in a dabba.

I had the luxury, yes, luxury to just walk some distance and buy food, in case the canteen was closed, but he did not have it.

I felt sorry for him. What can I do for him?

I don't know what I could have done at that moment.

But I think we all can together do something for them.

All people who, by God's grace, are able to eat adequately, can atleast ensure that they do not waste even a single morsel of the food they eat. It is not tough, just take an amount that you are sure to be able to comfortably eat. Better to take small servings each time and to take more if needed.

This small step from our side will benefit those unfortunate ones greatly. The cumulated amount of saved food will be available for their use.

Let us take the case of Bhaarat. Here, 27% of the total population of around

114 crores (!) is currently below the poverty line. This, while the poverty line stands at Rs. 10 per day per person!! That is , around 31 crore people are surely having a very tough time in making both ends meet.

I am not sure that those who are above this line (of supposed poverty) are far off.

So we see, that out of a 100 given people, 27 will not be able to fill their stomach, leave alone good quality food. In these circumstances, it is highly desired that all those who are well settled should look after the needs of our other citizens. We have a lot to do when in a country of starving millions, grain is rotted away in godowns but we CAN begin by not wasting food from our side atleast.

Why are we behind in Basic science research & technology

There was a time when doing sciences was an 'in' thing. It was just after India won her independence. There was a great enthusiasm and endeavour in the youth for building the nation. And, there were some very inspiring personalities too, like Homi J. Bhabha, Vikram Sarabhai, CV Raman , who were great scientists as well. New institutes were being set up like TIFR, DRDO, DAE, IISc etc and people had got very interesting things to do.
The people who were inspired in this generation continued good work till the 70s. But the next generation had some other opinions.

They looked forward to America and Britain for their education as well as careers, due to the deteriorating economic and social condition of India. They did good work, but it was THERE, not here. They remained in contact but did not settle in India. Even the government did not do anything significant for the devp. of sciences. Thus, the institutes suffered from both, lack of talent & resources.
There are many people who belong to this generation. Take S. Chandrashekhar, Vinod Khosla, CKN Patel, Amar Bose.
Some might argue that most of these people were in technology, not in basic sciences. But each one did fundamental research for his field, and only then could it be converted to technology.

Due to these issues, science education suffered a major setback. But the major blow came from the IITs, which the government was rigorously promoting (successfully). By the mid 1990s most people knew it that India has not many competitive facilities for basic research and the way ahead is technology education.

Subsequently, the no. of talented people in basic sciences plummeted to very low levels. Even today when I tell people that I am doing basic sciences, they express shock :
"Didn't you get admn. somewhere else ? Everyone gets into some engg coll or the other, then what happened to you ?"

The people in till 70s had done a good job, what with the development of the nuclear science, missile systems, computers, physics, and some biology too. But in the 80s, the research scene in India lost all its steam and continued to fall till about 2005, when suddenly and for good, the government woke up.

It decided to set up 5 IISERs (Indian Instutes of Science Education and Research), an NISER (National Institue of Science Education and Research), and CBS (Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences) to promote science education. Also, scholarships were announced for each of these institutes' student, to attract them.

But more has to be done. People are still not aware of the plethora of job opportunities for science students and the much improved prospects. They have to popularise these institutes. Because the public is not taking enough interest. For of the 400 seats in IISERs, only 300 people have appljed (out of the eligible 9000). And same is the story of CBS, where 26 applied for the 14 seats of the physics stream, out of a total 200 students who qualified.

Serious steps have to be taken so that the present generation gets full benefit of the upcoming fields and comes at par with the developed countries.