New Delhi:

Union minister Harsh Vardhan on Friday said that the Scientific Social Responsibility policy is proposed to be put before the Cabinet very soon.

The proposed policy aimed to fix Scientific Social Responsibility on scientists in India will make it mandatory for scientists to popularise science among school and college students.

Speaking during the Question Hour, Mr Vardhan said, “The policy is about Scientific Social Responsibility for scientists…a policy which is proposed to be put before the Cabinet very soon.”

This particular policy, the Science and Technology minister said, follows a suggestion or an appeal made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to scientists of the country at the Indian Science Congress in 2017.

The prime minister had in fact made a general appeal that scientists should always be working for the welfare of the people at the grassroots level. They should help students do something over and above what they are doing within their laboratories and institutions, he said.

“So taking a clue from the great suggestion that he had given and the motivating speech he had given we have tried to institutionalize this concept in the form of the Scientific Social Responsibility policy in which we are providing provisions and suggestions for everyone,” the minister explained.

“It is purely a voluntary thing…. and there are various levels of suggestions that are being given for various levels of people within the institutions,” he said.

The minister also said that the budget allocation for research in this country has improved. From the sixth position, we have come down to the third position in terms of our patents and scientific publications, among others.