"Scientist " Backed Majoritarianism
"Scientist" Backed Majoritarianism
Two scientists have appealed to the government to stop funding research on indigenous breeds of cows and possible reasons for use of their products in medicine. The appeal floated by these scientists has been signed by another 110 scientists , engineers , and the like.
I believe this is Scientist Backed Majoritarianism which is neither in the interest of the society , nor the nation and nor the faculty of science itself.
I shall explain why in this article.
The opposition of these “ scientists” is based on following points.
1. The Call for Proposals is based on presumptions or conjectures.
2. Science cannot presume validity of beliefs. It has to work on basis of hypothesis.
3. There is lack of clarity as to what are the indigenous breeds of cows.
4. The proposals are based on presumption that Indian cows possess unique and special qualities.
5.It makes assumption that Indian cow based products would be effective in treating variety of diseases.
6.Spending money on such research starves other research of money.
7.The Government does not understand the priorities of Indian Science.
One important point to be noted is that both of these ‘ Scientists’ have qualifications in physics and have no exposure to Ancient Indian History, Medicine, Chemistry, Surgery , Sanskrit, Animal Husbandry, Ayurved, Agriculture , Yog , Health, Nutrition or allied disciplines. Nor do they claim it to be so.
Their opposition is merely “ This is wrong for abovementioned reasons.”
You can read the Call For Proposals here. https://dst.gov.in/call-for-proposals
Let us understand the issue in layman’s terms.
Scientific Research can be divided into three branches.
General Research or Pure Research
Applied Research or Specific Research
Commercial Research.
General Research or Pure Research : The general research starts with generalities, customs, intriguing experiences or observations which do not have ready explanation, something that sticks out as a sour thumb even an old wives tale is good enough reason to start. Here predominantly Dr. Kamlakant Shantaram Muley philosophy is at work.
Applied Research or Specific Research : This is concerned with direct problem solving in day to day life. E.g. Water pipes. They come in two varieties. Plastic and Metal. The metal ones are sturdy but get rusted easily and need more maintenance. The plastic ones are maintenance free, rust free but are prone to be destroyed by rodents. So what is the alternative ?
The alternative is composite pipe where a layer of metal is sandwiched between two plastic layers.
Commercial Research deals with making these composite pipes as cheap as possible and then create awareness in consumers about them to create demand and market these.
Typically a lot of money that is put in pure research is wasted. Therefore such research is taken up either by the Government departments or by Military establishment.
The worldwide research on longevity of human beings is an example of pure research. Some say it is genetics, some say it is food , some say it is living your passion, some say it is medicine , some say it is pollution free environment , some say it is stress free living. Well , the jury is out there and research is going on. Claims and counter claims are made , researched and rejected. Some of the claims may seem ludicrous at first sight but come out to be meaningful later on. The converse is also true. Many a claims which seem very commonsensical earlier , later on come out to be untrue.
E.g. Jeremy Morris , a London based doctor noticed that the drivers of London’s double decker buses had much higher proneness to heart attack than the conductors of the same buses. A ten year study on the bus conductors and drivers showed that even moderate exercise was enough to keep heart problem at bay. During the course of job, the conductors used to walk up and down the alleyways while the drivers remained stationary at the wheel. This being stationary over extended period was the killer. Not only did this study provide a different direction to health care, it also gave rise to variety of disciplines of exercise, aerobics for example.
Jeremy Morris did a pure research. His research findings were applied in health care , and were commercially exploited in aerobics.
I met Bharatacharya Suresh Shevade. He is fit and fighting at age 85, When I asked him the reason for his fitness he replied “ In the past 80 years , I have never let the rising Sun greet me in bed , nor have I let it see me sleeping during the day.” Every day he is up and about at 4 am. Something to be researched about,is it not ?
Over the past many decades, Indian research has been guided and hand held by Western ideals and pursuits. We have continuously researched along the beaten path. We have always followed the west like the lamb follows its mother. Indeed many companies had research set ups in India only to get tax benefits and would just copy or confirm what was being done at their headquarters. ( ISRO is a prominent exception )
Show me path breaking research in India on Meteorology, Metrology, Metallurgy, Archeology, astronomy , astrophysics, medicine or dentistry ? Why do I mention these specific areas ? It is because records say that Ancient India was leader in all of these disciplines. A finding that is not even contested !!!
Examples Galore
Metallurgy : The unrustable Ashoka Pillar.
Architecture : The centuries old Brihadeshwara temple in Tanjavur has barely 50 feet deep foundation.
Dentistry : At least 66 of the procedures that Sushrut has described over 2500 years ago , are being used in modern dentistry . These procedures were unknown to the west till 200 years ago. Read it here. https://archive.org/details/AncientDentistry/page/n1/mode/2up
Engineering : At Konark temple , the main deity was said to be floating in air based on some kind of intricate magnetism.
Ancient Cities : At several places off the West Coast of India , full fledged undersea cities are discovered .
There are several such mysteries and histories in our backyard that the foreigners are dying to study. Should we not research on our own ?
But because we have not been giving free hand and aid to these areas of pure research we have not had any path breaking discoveries of note till date in either Applied Research or in Commercial Research. As Kabir puts it , Boya beej babool ka, aam kaha se khaye ? ( When you have planted babool seeds, how can you expect to get mangoes ?)
Just think about it. If you want to learn Chinese, the top universities are in China, if you want to learn Japanese the top Universities are in Japan, if you want to learn English the top Universities are in U. K. , Sanskrit is the only language where the top ten Universities to learn Sanskrit are out of India.
Why? Because we did not make sufficient funds available for study and nurturance of Sanskrit in India and always mocked it as a dead language.
Just to remark in passing. Lawyers and Judges the world over have to study Latin as many legal maxims come from there, but those who study Engineering, Medicine or Science or Literature need not study Sanskrit though most of the ancient literature in these disciplines is in Sanskrit.
This is all our doing. And this must be turned around at some stage.
See further examples
1. In the US the demand for A 2 milk is rising rapidly.
2.Brazil is creating milk revolution totally depending on Indian Cows. The Gir Variety in specific.
3.Hillary Clinton endorses the efficacy of alternative breathing. Something which we have been calling Pranayam. Several types of Pranayam exist.
See examples of research done in one area creating profits in another area.
1. Minoxidil was first introduced as an oral medication for the treatment of severe and recalcitrant hypertension in the 1970s , the side effect turned out to be boosting hair growth. Now Minoxidil is sold for boosting hair growth.
2. Viagra , researched for sexual utility, has many many non sexual uses.
3.Bowel Bacteria Direct Replacement Therapy is gaining ground for many illnesses of the large intestine.
4.Urokinase , a blood clot busting drug , was synthesized from human Urine.
All the above four are recognized worldwide. We have Indian alternatives which have neither been properly researched nor are recognized nor have been marketed. I will list those below.
1.Ashwagandha for hair growth
2.Shilajit for Vigra related effects.
3.The Castor oil cures described in Ancient books for all bowel related problems
4.Self Urine Therapy.
These are the Indian equivalents of the above four worldwide marketed and accepted products , and we are not the leaders in these products because we did not allocate any money nor did any path breaking research in these matters.
Do we want to keep falling back ?
The Myth of Null Hypothesis
The scientist have put forward the notion that a null hypothesis is a must to do proper research. This is scientific old wives tale. A null hypothesis is a hypothesis that says there is no statistical significance between the two variables in the hypothesis. For example a null hypothesis would be something like this: There is no statistically significant relationship between the type of milk one drinks and the nutritional value I get.
But it is not necessary to start with this. What about the cases where statistics cannot be applied ? There are several examples of excploratory research and qualitative research that are available where statistics could not be applied at initial stages. Dr.V. S. Ramchandran , an eminent Brain Surgeon, acclaimed author and eminent researcher has given many examples of exploratory and qualitative researches in his book. Phantoms in the Brain. In some cases even at later stage , statistical significance cannot be ascertained due to paucity of samples.
So the exploratory research as to what medicinal qualities does indigenous cow milk has is a perfectly valid topic for research.
Other examples of exploratory research and results are
1. What are the major muscles used in rowing ?
This was researched in depth in Germany. Germany has won 60 olympic gold medals , more than any other country in the world.
2. Is penhold grip better than shakehand grip in Table Tennis ?
This research was done when all the table tennis top slots were booked by the Chinese. It came out that the shake hand grip is more advantageous. Result, today the table tennis top levels are dominated by Europeans with shake hand grip.
3. Squatting toilet is physically much better for defecation than Western toilets. Now squatting toilets seats are popping up at many toilets in US and Europe as accessories.
Followers or leaders ?
Till now the our research has been only following the Western research. That way the West will always remain the provider and we would always be the consumers. The only way to become superpower is to be the providers ourselves. We have ample resources which our ancestors have left for us. The need is to understand , research and utilize those resources and solve those mysteries on our own and provide solutions to the world for the problems of the world.
For this purpose this kind of pure research is necessary. We need to put money into this research. As they say in advertising, Half the advertising expenditure is waste , we do not know which half. In the same way a lot of money will be wasted in this pursuit but we must be ready to do that if we want to see sterling success in field of research.
Worse come worse what will happen , a thousand old wives tales will be proven to be old wives tales , but if in the process we get that one odd old wives tale that has an iota of truth in it , it can make us trillions of dollars , billions of exports and millions of jobs.
Do not oppose for opposition’s sake and please be scientific while opposing.