On Wednesday, around 500 researchers and teachers of premier higher educational institutions organised a march in central Kolkata, demanding robust funding for education and scientific research and formulation of policies from the Centre for evidence-based science.
The 'India March for Science was organised by the scientific community in protest against alleged attempts to inculcate belief-based and myth-based thinking in the modern-day curriculum. The plea was to stop spreading unscientific beliefs and they also urged the government to formulate policies based on evidence-based science only, a senior scientist and spokesperson of Breakthrough Society, Asish Samanta has said.
Researchers from Jadavpur University, Presidency University, and Calcutta University were among the marchers who demanded that people cultivate a scientific mindset and cease disseminating false notions.
According to Dr Subhraprakash Kajoli, chair of the ‘India March for Science’ Kolkata organising committee, they asked governments to develop policies based on evidence-based science and sought substantial investment for scientific research and education.
Samanta said, since 2017, the scientific community of India has been organising a “March for Science”.
"Funding for education remains below three per cent of the GDP and that for scientific research remains below 0.8 per cent of the GDP... Unscientific ideas are now being introduced into the educational curricula in the name of 'Indian Knowledge Systems', an important component of the New Education Policy 2020," he said.