 |
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.
The field has a long history in India that goes back to the late 1970s, with the works of Damodar Dharmananda Kosambi, Irfan Habib, 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 (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.
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]
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,[ citation needed ] 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.[ citation needed ]
 |
The history of science and technology (HST) is a field of history that examines the development of the understanding of the natural world (science) and humans' ability to manipulate it (technology) at different points in time. This academic discipline also examines the cultural, economic, and political context and impacts of scientific practices; it likewise may study the consequences of new technologies on existing scientific fields.
The University of Delhi, informally known as Delhi University, is a collegiate research central university located in Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and is recognised as an Institute of Eminence (IoE) by the University Grants Commission (UGC). The Vice President of India serves as the university chancellor. The university is ranked 6th by National Institutional Ranking Framework 2024.
The Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) is a multidisciplinary research institute located at Jakkur, Bangalore, India. JNCASR was established by the Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India as a centre for advanced scientific research in India, to mark the birth centenary of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of independent India. In 2019, JNCASR was ranked #7 among the world's top ten research institutes and universities by Nature journal in a normalised ranking of research institutes and universities with high quality output.
Sarvepalli Gopal was a well-known Indian historian. He was the son of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the first Vice-President and the second President of India. He was the author of the Radhakrishnan: A Biography and Jawaharlal Nehru: A Biography.
The Centre for Development Studies (CDS), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India is a premier Social Science research institute. It is also a higher education institution providing M.A. course in applied economics and PhD course in economics. The institute is internationally reputed for being a centre for advanced learning in economics. Its main objective is to promote research, teaching and training in disciplines relevant to development.
Sukhadeo Thorat an Indian economist, educationist, professor and writer. He is the former chairman of the University Grants Commission. He is professor emeritus in Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University. He is an expert on B. R. Ambedkar.
Deepak Nayyar is an Indian economist and academician. He is a professor of economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and Chairperson of the Board of Governors of Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) New Delhi. He has taught at the University of Oxford, the University of Sussex, the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C), and the New School for Social Research, New York City. He was Vice Chancellor of the University of Delhi from 2000 to 2005.
Yoginder K. Alagh was an Indian economist and Union Minister of Government of India. He was the Chairman of Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) from 2006 to 2012. He was the Chancellor of the Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar.
Shiv Visvanathan is an Indian academic best known for his contributions to developing the field of science and technology studies (STS), and for the concept of cognitive justice, a term he coined. He is currently Professor at O P Jindal Global University, Sonepat. He was Professor, Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology (DA-IICT), Gandhinagar, India and has held the position of Senior fellow Center for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) in Delhi He has also taught at the Delhi School of Economics. He has held visiting professorships at Smith College, Stanford, Goldsmiths, Arizona State University and Maastricht University, Harvard University & Oxford University. He is author of Organizing for Science, A Carnival for Science and has co-edited Foulplay: Chronicles of Corruption. He has been consultant to the National Council of Churches and Business India.
B. R. Deepak is an Indian sinologist. He is the first Indian to receive China's highest literary award.
Madhavan Kezhkepat Palat is an Indian historian, scholar of modern world, and political commentator. He is an expert on European and Russian history. In an academic career extending over nearly five decades, he has played a seminal role in promoting understanding of Russian history, culture, literature, and society in India.
Susan Visvanathan is an Indian sociologist, social anthropologist and a fiction writer. She is well known for her writings on religious dialogue and sociology of religion. Her first book Christians of Kerala: History, Belief and Ritual among the Yakoba is a pathbreaking work in the field of sociology of religion.
Mahendra P. Lama is an Indian professor and a development economist who was the pro-vice chancellor of IGNOU and the founding vice chancellor of Sikkim University in India. At the age of 45, he became the youngest vice chancellor of a National Central University in India. He is presently a senior Professor in the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; Chief Economic Adviser in the Government of Sikkim and Member of the Eminent Persons Group on Nepal-India Relations appointed by the Prime Ministers of India and Nepal.
Dipankar Gupta is an Indian sociologist and public intellectual. He was formerly Professor in the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. For a brief period from 1993 to 1994, he was also associated with the Delhi School of Economics as Professor in the Department of Sociology. His current research interests include rural-urban transformation, labour laws in the informal sector, modernity, ethnicity, caste and stratification. He is a regular columnist with The Times of India, The Hindu and occasionally in The Indian Express and Anandbazar Patrika in Bengali. He serves on the board of institutions like the Reserve Bank of India, the National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD) and Max India. He has a son and lives with his wife in New Delhi.
Susie Tharu is an Indian writer, publisher, professor, editor and women's activist. Throughout her career and the founding of several women's activist organizations, Tharu has helped to highlight those issues in India.
Dhruv Raina is a philosopher and historian of science from India. He is best known for his work on the domestication of science in colonial India, transnational intellectual networks of science and historiographies of science. He was Professor of History of Science Education at the Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies (ZHCES), Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi (2003-2023). Before joining JNU, he was a scientist at the National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies (NISTADS), New Delhi from 1991 to 2002. He was the first Heinrich Zimmer Chair for Indian Philosophy and Intellectual History, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Germany (2010–11). His basic training is in physics, and he completed his doctoral studies with Aant Elzinga in the philosophy of science from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden on the Jesuit enlightenment historiography of Indian astronomy and mathematics.
Valerian Rodrigues is an Indian political scientist. He is known for his influential work on Babasaheb Ambedkar, and for his formulations of themes in Modern Indian Political Thought. Rodrigues has made substantial contributions to the debate on the working of the Indian Parliament, constitutionalism in India, and agrarian politics in India. As a Professor at the Centre for Political Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, he was popular for his lectures on Indian Political Thought and Intellectual History, and critically reading the same through political concepts of modernity, secularism and nationalism. Before joining JNU, Rodrigues taught at the Department of Political Science at Mangalore University, Karnataka, India.
The Centre for Studies in Science Policy (CSSP) at Jawaharlal Nehru University is one of India's oldest and top ranked university affiliated think tanks focusing on science and technology studies in India. First established in 1972 as Center for Interaction of Science and Society (CISS), it was closed in the late 1970s by the state, finding it too critical of the nuclear energy/weaponry policies of the Indira Gandhi regime. In 1996 the centre was revived as the Centre for Studies in Science Policy. It has been regularly ranked 11th worldwide in the "Top Science and Technology Think Tanks" category of Global Think Tank Index Report.
Heeraman Tiwari is a Professor of Centre for Historical Studies, School of Social Sciences, at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and his core areas of study include Sanskrit Language, Literature, Intellectual History and Philosophy.
Dwaipayan Bhattacharyya is an Indian political scientist. He is a professor at Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.