Thaindian News

Hyderabad, Oct 19 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday urged the developing world to make a renewed and determined effort to quicken the pace of developing scientific knowledge and application relevant to its needs.

Inaugurating 21st general meeting of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World, formerly known as Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) here, he advised developing countries to put science on a pedestal.

“We need to invest in science. We need to invest in scientific infrastructure - in our schools, in our laboratories. We need to promote an eco-system that rewards innovation, creativity and excellence,” he said.

Pointing out that the developing world was constrained by the lack of well-organised systems and critical mass of expertise in its scientific establishments, Manmohan Singh underlined the need for collaboration among scientific communities of the developing world.

“The problems we cannot solve individually, perhaps we can solve by working together and pool in our knowledge, wisdom and experience together,” he said

“The challenges developing countries face are similar, whether it is in combating tropical diseases, transforming traditional agriculture, or predicting and tackling natural disasters. These problems of under-development do not receive adequate attention in the advanced industrialized countries. Nor should we expect others to solve our problems for us,” he said.

Stating that the path of development followed by the industrialized countries has the potential to threaten human existence and way of life, Manmohan Singh said only science can provide alternative and more sustainable way of developing societies and economies without injuring and destroying the natural bounty of Mother Earth.

“If we can find such a path - that does not unduly constrain our ability to deal effectively and quickly with basic challenges of development, then we should follow it in our enlightened self-interest.”

Stating that the impact of climate change is most devastating in the developing world, he noted that many of the scientific processes in the area were dominated by scientists from the advanced countries.

He underlined the need for concerns of developing countries to be voiced more forcefully.

“As governments we are trying to create greater synergy and coherence in policies among developing countries, but these efforts must be backed by solid technical inputs.”

He felt the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World can play a very important role in providing space where scientific collaboration on critical areas such as climate change can be facilitated.