Dateline: British Council Auditorium
13 January 2009
Sheila Jasonoff:
Science and technology have acquired a significant position through which they can influence the governance issues. There is subtle difference between state and government.
Any imagination of science -technology indicators illuminates the friction between the democratic set up. The idea of globalisation decides our preferences. It is forcing the citizens to become consumenrs outside the rubrics of sovergian country.
These days the apparent significance of democracy is on descending phase and that of economics is on ascending phase. Therefore there is serious need to understand deeper institutional linkages of knowledge making leading towards knowledge society and knowledge economy.
Law has emerged as a form of play articulated in the form consensus language in democratic set up. It is kind if framework to interpreat the implications of technology. Therefore law has greater potential to understand the human rights violations. This is the reason which compells us to observe the interaction between various authorities or knowledge systems so as to say.
Law has to address the ecological ways of knowledge making.
Pushpa Bhargav:
The dream to make India a knowledge society is being debated these days. To protect the right of the citizen to discharge responsibilty can be strengthened by growing the prospects of citizens to have more and more information.
This can be rationalised in our understanding of hierarchy of data, information, knowledge and wisdom which are never similar. "Ignorance is like sand and knowledge is like rock. Information is like package while knowledge comes in bits.
There are no boundaries of knowledge making or creation. Compartmentalisation of the knowledge is human creation and not the gift of the nature.
There is growing influence of power on knowledge making and there are increasing evidences that relations in knowledge production units are influencing the power roles throughout the centuris.
Knowledge based society is easy to govern. But on the contrary there is no ideal society today in whole world which can give a model for all of us. It is more true that knowledge distribution is uneven. This unevenness provides largest base for exploitation.
Therefore, remember that knowledge remains stagnant and decays when it is kept hidden from the desiring and deserving masses. Knowledge grows when it flows and when it is distributed.
Upendra Bakshi:
By virtue of constitution everyone has equality of opportunity but if we look through prism of human rights very few have equality of justice.
Suman sahai:
Knowledge should not be monopolised by IPR regimes. Developing countries have large resources containing indegenous sources of knowledge. Majority of the pharma companies generate their significant amount of value addition in research out of indegenous knowledge resources which they fail to acknowledge.
Thus there has to wider critical examination of WTO, CBD and other IPR Laws.
The IPR regimes are not leading towards discollective possession of knowledge.
There has to be checks and balances on exploitation of origins of information and knowledge.
Upendra Bakshi:
The dignity of the natural resources must be preserved.
Shiva Viswanathan:
The indegenous and informal forms of knowledges have exceptional role in democracy.
They have deeper possibilities of innovation which are exemplified in CSIR set up and the capacity of common men and women working tirelessly in our country.
The value systems and framework of dialouge between science and democracy must change as we progress.
The irreplacable triangle of preeminent values is made up of "Liberty, Fraternity and Equality"
This has to be added with three virtues of "Sustainibility, Plurality and Citizenship"
Moderns of enlightenment are asking for multiple rationalities.
This dialouge must go beyond quest of participation towards quest of voice. to coexist all.
Let us understand ironies and limits of science. Let us create a sense by which we can laugh at ourselves to introspect in better way.
India is possibility of new world we are tring to discover in these time of crisis.
