Science, Technology & Arts - Covid 19

I am saved to explaining Covid - 19. All by this time know about the menace Covid 19 has created. The virus took humanity by storm. Disaster management failed. There is a law in force to check disaster, The Disaster Management Act, 2005 could not stop the virus from putting a stop to the acts and deeds of humanity. However, the world continued to go round the sun. WHO the guardian of human health of the world suggested lock down wherever the virus was detected. Humanity did not want to surrender before the invisible indomitable virus and worked from home. Whether it is Ottawa in Cananda or Jalpaiguri in India all were put under lockdown. During lockdown none is allowed to come of his home. All tried to reach home . While some found home others did not. Some were victims of accidents and failed to reach their homes. Like the mother tongue, the sweetness of home dangled before everyone's eyes. Man did not want to be cowed down by lock down. Work from home tried to solve the problem of lock down. This of course could not solve the problem for all do not have the facility to work from home. Problem of migrant workers surfaced. Having lost their jobs, without food, shelter in the heat they moved aimlessly sometimes to be beaten up by the police.

To-day we are all slaves of technology. Starting from machines at factories, computers in offices, vehicles on the road, trains on the tracks, steamers in the river, ships in the ocean and aeroplane in the sky are all technology driven. Technology is the skills, methods, and processes used to achieve goals. It is used to produce goods or services., carry out goals, such as scientific investigation or sending a spaceship to the moon. Solve problems, such as disease or famine. To-day if one wants to withdraw money form a bank he can do so with the help of an ATM which based on technology. Technology depends on Science for its development. We are familiar with Science as a subject which means the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment. So there cannot be any technology without science. It is the scientists who give birth to technology. Scientists invent things which are useful for mankind. With time technology comes to be used but the scientist who made the invention is forgotten. How many know the names of the scientists who invented television where most homes now have one. Philo Farnsworth, Chares Fracio Jenkins and John Logic invented television which connects man to the outside world. To-day one sitting in Kanyakumari can see hospitals of New York tackling Covid 19. During lock down employees worked from home. Employers kept in touch with the market and the employees. It is due to the internet that the stock market functioned even when units stopped operating. How a stock market can function in such a situation and have price movement is a mystry to me. Of course there were stocks for sale in the market. Accordingly purchases were made. These were monetary transactions which lacked the essence of the a market. Logic could be fish is sold in the market even though when there is no life in the fish.

Scientific inventions give way to technology. Patents and Utilities ( not registered in India) play a significant role. Once the products develop on the basis of scientific knowledge, all become dependent on the products. Technology took the world by storm. After vehicles, office work, money transfer, eating dinner came to be regulated by technology. Dinner is now available over phone. No cooking at home. The food ordered arrives at home just in time. Why food, the app developed to order for vegetables can have your choicest vegetables delivered at home. Entertainment also became a click away. Spelling of click came to be recognised as ` Klick'. All was going on well but the invasion of the virus corona punctured human life. Never did the present lot of people believe that they would have to remain locked down for such long period. Technology did not give things required during the lock down. The virus continued its menace. Even US President cannot believe that despite having all the best things in the world along with updated technology he has to see thousand of corona victims facing death. US has the highest number of deaths in the world.

Kedar asked Tapas the reason of such a long period of lock down. Prompt came the reply. He said that we have used and abused technologies which are a result of scientific inventions. Kedar asked why the word, abuse was being used. Tapas said that Julius Robert Oppenheimer of US is considered father of Atom Bomb. After successful test of the bomb, he said, `Now I become death, the destroyer of the worlds ' drawing reference from Gita, the Indian Epic. Finally, atom bomb was used to bomb Namgsakhi and Hiroshima by US. However, scientific inventions have led to the invention of mobiles considered useful by all.

Caught in the midst of COVID - 19 the lockdown is still in force in India. How long it would be required to be locked down is not known. Carona virus is very much active. Each day, both number of victims and deaths are on the rise. Medicine to thwart the dreaded virus has not been invented as yet. Scientists all over the world are not active. To-day the science of meeting threat of the virus is considered more significant as established technology is not able to make the virus inactive. It is taking a long time as research which of prime importance for human existence is not upto the desired level. Price has to be paid for this.

India is lacking in research even though C.V. Raman was awarded the nobel prize in Physics in 1930. He is said to have discovered the `Raman Effect'. Each year 28th February is celebrated as the National Science Day in India. The discovery of C.V.Raman needs to be hailed for he worked with minimal infrastructure which cannot be imagined in the present days.

India is third in terms of publishing science and engineering articles ( 1,35,788 ) in 2018 in the world after China and US, but research in science is not at the level of the two countries. Even after 70 years of independence the country is dependent on Western products for research. So much of scientific knowledge is not tapped. Science needs to be encourage. Research needs to be increased. For this more funds need to be allocated. Science and research activities need to be encouraged at all levels. Spending more on the development of science is the need of the hour. The corona crisis has made us realise that we did not give science the importance it requires. We were satisfied with the technology and became a slave of those that are in force and forgot science and scientists. There is a need to plough back more on scientific research. Had the world fostered science at the desired level by highlighting the inventors and inventions to encourage further inventions. Medicine for corona will take sometime till the tests are completed. That means we are not ready to forsee dangers and lack the will to explore checking such unforeseen attacks . Science needs to be fostered internationally to fight any eventuality. It is reminder that technology cannot keep everything in control. So many technologies have come and gone but science has continued to occupy its position. It is time to realise the situation and muster our minds to meet all challenges. Unless science is encouraged, `Make in India' programme cannot be successful.

In the absence of fostering science in the country, India will continue to follow the West. It must not be forgotten, `0' was invented by Aryabhatt. Indian medical science was advanced from time immemorial. People come to Kerala from all over the world for treatment in Aurvedic medicines and go back cured. Steps in the direction are be taken by the Government but it is the duty of the people to come forward for its support.

Yes, Science is important for without it we would not have been able to fly or connect through the internet. But it is important that we do not forget Arts field. Literature, art are important. The field of arts helps to find balance. Scientific inventions, technologies developed therefrom have eased things in the World. Several indices are published on the happenings all round the world. Presently, India is bent upon easing business in the country for there is the index, èase of doing business '. But some consider the happiness index above all indices. Even above the GDP of a country. A country placed among the top countries in the happiness index is considered a better country to live in than a country with higher GDP for it is proved that GDP rates are volatile and can change anytime but it takes time to change the happiness index unless there is an attack like the deadly corona virus. Sudden changes are balanced by the arts field and they need to be encouraged. Technologies have come and gone but the words of P.B.Shelly , `If Winter comes can Spring be far behind,' in his poem, `Ode to the West Wind', have not been lost. They come back giving hope for humanity.

Artists make us look at the world differently. They are preserved to bring joy in the mind of the people. Art is the game changer in life and needs to be supported. No economic crisis should be allowed to stop creation in the field of Art. Fostering the progress of science, arts field need to be supported. In the words of Kurt Vonnegut, `the arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. '