Bharath, the land of eternal knowledge which churned out the secrets of material as well as metaphysical world, is becoming an important global player. The materialistic world around, weary of the ever increasing competition, is hopefully listening to her wisdom of Vedas and Upanishads. But can she rise to the occasion and lead the nation states to a sustainable world order? Does she have her inner strengths that gave birth to the Vedas and Upanishads still intact?

The womb that gave birth to Veda Vyasa, Adi Shankara, Varahamihira, Aryabhata, Shusrurha and Bhaskara had become sterile. After Sir C.V. Raman, we have none to be proud of among the golden array of Nobel Laureates.

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I see the future of Vijnana Bharati beautifully embedded in its name itself. The future of Vijnana Bharati is 'Bharatiya Vijnana' and we will try to bring it to the fore not only in the Indian context but also in the entire world context. Vijnana Bharati stands for the synthesis of science and spirituality for the service of humanity. We have three flagship programs, name Bharatiya Vijnana Sammelan, World Congress of Vedic Sciences and the World Ayurveda Congress, complemented by a spectrum of conferences, workshops and events covering research, education and extension.

Our publications, particularly the well received 'Science India' should reach out to more and more young minds who hold the key to India's future.

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In India, the world leader in annual milk production at 100 million tonnes, an estimated 75 million women are involved in growing or collecting the fodder and feed essential for the dairy animals to produce more milk. In contrast, hardly 1,00,000 dairy farmers are involved in producing nearly 70 million tonnes of milk in the US. This is a good illustration of what Mahatma Gandhi described as “production by masses”, in contrast to the “mass production” technologies of the West. There are two important implications. First, we must improve the productivity and profitability of mass production technologies through labour diversification and not displacement. Second, we must mainstream gender considerations in all areas of agricultural research, education and extension.

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I am a bit at a loss as to how I should constrain the scope of my remarks. You can say so much on science as also on education. Should one write on ‘science in education’ or ‘education in science’ or about science and education quite independently? Since the constraints have not been explicitly stated I will go by the antecedents of the people who have organized this affair. As I understand they seem to believe that education, including that in science and technology could be tremendously improved if the infrastructure for delivery could be more technological. Besides improving the pedagogy of transaction, information from the world would become accessible to our students and teachers. And then we will be on our way to becoming a world superpower. Let me try to lend some perspective. I hope this is not seen as too censorious in respect of our present enthusiasm about I.T.

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In science, impossible does not exist. Inventions and discoveries are the products of constant endeavour by creative minds, envisioning ever-new outcomes. With vivid imagination and consistent effort, the forces of the universe can be made to work for an inspired mind. How do we fire up the minds of India's youth who are the foundation for cutting edge research and usher in a renaissance in Indian science? We need a new generation of creative scientists. For that, we need an environment for research and challenging missions. Above all, academic institutions must have well-equipped laboratories and professors who have the proven capacity to attract youth to science. I have noticed that Indian universities lack a research culture. I believe where there is good research, good teaching is possible; where there is good teaching, good research emanates.

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The advancement of science and technology is surely one of the greatest organised creative activities of humankind today. The material world that we see around us, and the way society functions today are direct manifestations of these advances.
The origin of science lies in the evolution of the human brain, and the intrinsic sense of curiosity in human beings to explore, to know, and to understand nature and the world around. Historically, the origins of science go back to the beginning of civilised existence. From its earliest days, science has been embedded in society, there has been a continuous learning process in society as a whole, based on day to day experiences and this can become the body of the knowledge from which applications and understanding have grown.

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India is the world’s largest democracy with a population of about 1.045 billion and low per capita income. In recent years, it has witnessed an impressive growth rate in GDP. The development aspirations of its populace demand that this growth rate be sustained for a long enough time so as to enable them to have a decent quality of life. This requires matching growth in the availability of energy. Further, the development process is also driving, as expected, a shift in energy use from non-commercial energy sources to commercial sources, particularly electricity. This phenomenon is similar to what has been witnessed by the developed countries in the West. But the situation in India is more complex because of the high density of its population.

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From Vedic times, India advented and nurtured a unique ‘Gurukul’ system of learning. Literally, entering Gurukul meant becoming a devoted member of Guru’s family of learners. In the Indian tradition, the supreme Guru has been equated with God, being the creator, the sustainer and the ultimate liberator of the aspiring learner. The Gurukul system still exists in India in many traditional branches of learning such as music, performing arts, indigenous medicine and traditional arts and crafts. Slowly, the Gurukul system however gave way to class room based learning at all levels of learning from pre-school to higher education.

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