Science and technology studies in India

Science and technology studies (STS) in India is a fast growing field of academic inquiry in India since the 1980s. STS has developed in the country from the science movements of the 1970s and 1980s as well as the scholarly criticism of science and technology policies of the Indian state. Now the field is established with at least five generations of scholars and several departments and institutes specialising in science, technology and innovation policy studies.

Origin and development

The field has a long history in India that goes back to the late 1970s, with the works of J.P.S. Uberoi,[1][2] Ashis Nandy,[3][4] Vandana Shiva,[5] Claude Alvares[6][7] and Shiv Visvanathan.[8][9] However, there is a first generation of scholars from the 1970s who looked at science and technology generally from a Marxist perspective (and not from the purview of post-Kuhnian STS) such as Dharampal,[10] Abdur Rahman,[11][12] and SN Sen.[13] Works of J.D. Bernal and Joseph Needham had a strong influence on the Indian STS in its formative years.[14]

The New Social Movements of the 1970s and 1980s in India contributed immensely to the emergence of the discipline, as these movements and activists groups influenced by Marxist, Gandhian and deep ecological perspectives could not avoid engaging with modern science and the modernization project in the post-colony. An important turning point was the creation of two institutions to study the social relations of science: the Center for Interaction of Science and Society, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi (estd. 1970), and the National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies (NISTADS), New Delhi (estd. 1980). However, the Center for Interaction of Science and Society was closed in the late 1970s by the state, finding it too critical of the nuclear energy/weaponry policies of the Indira Gandhi regime;[15] in 1996 it reopened as the Centre for Studies in Science Policy (CSSP)] at Jawaharlal Nehru University.[16]

In the 1990s, the field became vibrant with the intervention of a group of social historians of science inspired by postcolonial studies such as David Arnold, Robert S. Anderson, Deepak Kumar,[17] Dhruv Raina,[18] S. Irfan Habib,[19][20] Itty Abraham,[21] Gyan Prakash.[22] and Zaheer Baber.[23] Works of sociologists like Harish Naraindas,[24] VV Krishna,[25][26] V. Sujatha, E.Haribabu and Binaykumar Patnaik also are significant to the development of the field, along with the philosophical enquiries of Prajit K. Basu and Sunder Sarukkai.[27] Extensive research carried out by Rajeseswari S. Raina[28] on agricultural knowledge systems and developmental practices, Neelam Kumar's work on women and science and Pranav Desai's work on systems of innovations also must be noted.

S. Irfan Habib, Deepak Kumar, Dhruv Raina, and V.V. Krishna

In the wake of the 'Sokal Affair' in the western academia, a similar debate was triggered in India, mainly in the pages of Economic and Political Weekly, where Alan Sokal himself participated. This controversy is popularly known as the 'Indian science wars'.[29] The debate resumed in the wake of the publication of a renowned philosopher of science, Meera Nanda's books on the cultural relativist position on Postcolonial Studies of Science. Her defense of science and the Enlightenment values played a central role in sustaining the Indian Science War in the 2000s. Following the publication of her book, Prophets Facing Backward (2004),[30] the journal Social Epistemology published a special issue that discussed the responses of STS scholars like Sandra Harding to the arguments in Nanda's book and counter-rebuts from Nanda.[31]

Scholars such as Abha Sur,[32] Amit Prasad,[33] Banu Subramaniam, Esha Shah,[34] Gita Chadha, Indira Chowdhury[35] Jahnavi Phalkey,[36] Kaushik Sunder Rajan,[37] Kavitha Philip,[38] John Bosco Lourdusamy, Senthil Babu, Rohan D'Souza, Saradindu Bhaduri, Madhav Govind and Pratik Chakrabarti[39] represent the next generation of scholars in the field who became active in the 2000s.

There is also a new generation of scholars who are actively involved in developing the field in the second decade of the millennium, ensuring that Indian STS has a bright future ahead.[40]

Institutes and departments

Several departments of science policy studies were launched in the new millennium with a strong foundation in STS. The Centre for Interaction of Science and Society at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, which closed in the 1970s, reopened under a new name, Centre for Studies in Science Policy (CSSP), in 1996.[41] The Center for Knowledge Culture and Innovation Studies (CKCIS) at the University of Hyderabad opened in 2006, and the Centre for Studies in Science, Technology & Innovation Policy at the Central University of Gujarat opened in 2009.[42] The Humanities of Social Sciences departments of many of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) have several faculty members trained in the field, and offers courses in STS, and the number of scholars specializing on STS is steadily increasing in the country.

Academic programs
  • MPhil-PhD Programme in Science Policy Studies, Centre for Studies in Science Policy (CSSP), Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi[43]
  • MPhil-PhD Programme in Studies in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy, Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar[44]
  • PhD Programme in Science, Technology and Society Studies, Centre for Knowledge Culture and Innovation Studies, University of Hyderabad[45]
  • MPhil-PhD Programme in Education (History of science and technical education), Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi[46]
  • PhD programme in Policy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi[47]
  • PhD Programme, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IISER Bhopal

See also

References
  1. Uberoi, J.P.S. (1978). Science and Culture. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
  2. Uberoi, J.P.S. (1984). The other mind of Europe : Goethe as a Scientist. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
  3. Nandy, Ashis (1980). Alternative Sciences: Creativity and Authenticity in Two Indian Scientists. New Delhi: Allied Publishers.
  4. Nandy, Ashis (1988). Science, Hegemony and Violence: A Requiem for Modernity. Tokyo: United Nations University.
  5. Shiva, Vandana (1988). Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Survival in India. New Delhi: Kali for Women.
  6. Alvares, Claude (1980). Homo faber : Technology and Culture in India, China and the West from 1500 to the Present Day. The Hague: Nijhoff.
  7. Alvares, Claude (1992). Science, Development and Violence: The Revolt against Modernity. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
  8. Visvanathan, Shiv (1985). Organizing for Science: The Making of an Industrial Research Laboratory. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
  9. Visvanathan, Shiv (1985). A Carnival for Science: Essays on Science, Technology and Development. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
  10. Dharampal (1971). Indian Science and Technology in the Eighteenth Century. Delhi: Impex India.
  11. Rahman, Abdur (1972). Trimurti: Science, Technology and Society: A Collection of Essays. Delhi: People's Publishing House.
  12. Chattopadhyay, Debiprasad (1982). History of Science in India, Vol. 1 & 2. New Delhi: Editorial Enterprises.
  13. Sen, S.N. (1966). "Changing Perspectives in the History of Sciences". Science and Culture. 31 (5): 214–219.
  14. Raina, Dhruv (2015). Needham's Indian Network: The Search for a Home for the History of Science in India (1950-1970). New Delhi: Yoda Press.
  15. Sharma, Dhirendra. "Confronting the nuclear power structure in India" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-04-17.
  16. Sen, Nirupa (25 June 2001). "News: Revival of the Centre for Studies in Science Policy at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi" (PDF). Current Science. 80 (12): 1479–1480. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  17. Kumar, Deepak (1995). Science and the Raj. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
  18. Raina, Dhruv (2003). Images and Contexts: The Historiography of Science and Modernity in India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
  19. Raina, Dhruv; Habib, S. Irfan (1999). Situating the History of Science: Dialogues with Joseph Needham. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
  20. Raina, Dhruv; Habib, S. Irfan (2004). Domesticating Modern Science: A Social History of Science and Culture in Colonial India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
  21. Abraham, Itty (1998). The Making of Indian Atomic Bomb: Science, Security and the Postcolonial State'. London: Zed Books.
  22. Prakash, Gyan (1999). Another Reason: Science and the Imagination of Modern India. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  23. Zaheer Baber 1996. The Science of Empire. State University of New York Press, New york.
  24. Naraindas, Harish (1996). "Poisons, putrescence and the weather: A genealogy of the advent of Tropical Medicine", in Contributions to Indian Sociology. New Delhi: Sage.
  25. Krishna, Venni Venkita (1994). S.S.Bhatnagar on Science, Technology and Development, 1938-54. New Delhi: Wiley Eastern Ltd.
  26. Krishna, Venni Venkita; Shinn, Terry; Spaapen, J. (1995). Science and Technology in a Developing World (Sociology of Sciences Year Book 1995). The Netherlands: Kluwer Publications.
  27. Sarukkai, Sunder (2002). Translating the World: Science and Language. Lanham: University Press of America.
  28. Rajeseswari S. Raina
  29. "The Science Wars in India". Dissent Magazine. Retrieved 2019-10-07.
  30. Nanda, Meera (2004). Prophets Facing Backward: Postmodern Critiques of Science and the Hindu Nationalism in India. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-81-7824-090-9.
  31. "Social Epistemology". Taylor & Francis. Vol. 19, no. 1. 2005. Retrieved 2019-10-07.
  32. Abha Sur. 2011. Dispersed Radiance: Caste, Gender, and Modern Science in India. Navayana, New Delhi
  33. Amit Prasad. 2014. Imperial Technoscience: Transnational Histories of MRI in the United States, Britain, and India. MIT Press.
  34. Esha Shah, 2017. Who is the Science Subject?: Affective History of the Gene. Routledge, New York.
  35. Indira Chowdhury 2015. Growing the Tree of Science: Homi Bhabha and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Oxford University press, New Delhi
  36. Jahnavi Phalkey 2013. Atomic State: Big Science in Twentieth Century India. Sonepat, Permamnet Black
  37. Kaushik Sunder Rajan. 2006. Biocapital: The Constitution of Post-Genomic Life. Duke University Press.
  38. Kavita Philip. 2003. Civilizing Natures: Race, Resources and Modernity in Colonial South India, Rutgers University Press; Orient Longman (Asia/UK edition) 2004
  39. Pratik Chakrabarti. 2004. Western Science in Modern India: Metropolitan Methods, Colonial Practices. Permanent Black, Sonepat.
  40. See for example, the works of Aparajit Ramnath, Aalok Khandekar, Biswanath Dash, Mathew John, Naveen K. Thayyil, Nupur Chowdhury, Pankaj Sekhsaria, Renny Thomas, Richa Kumar, Shiju Sam Varughese, Suvobrata Sarkar, Kunal Sinha, Parvathi K Iyer, and Hemant Kumar.
  41. Sen, Nirupa (25 June 2001). "News: Revival of the Centre for Studies in Science Policy at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi" (PDF). Current Science. 80 (12): 1479–1480. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  42. "Centre for Studies in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (CSSTIP)". Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  43. MPhil-PhD Programme in Science Policy Studies, Center for Studies in Science Policy, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
  44. MPhil-PhD Programme in Studies in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy, Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar
  45. University of Hyderabad
  46. MPhil-PhD Programme in Education (History of science and technical education), Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
  47. PhD programme in Policy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi

Further reading
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