{"id":224413,"date":"2023-01-31T20:37:01","date_gmt":"2023-01-31T15:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=224413"},"modified":"2023-02-20T14:52:03","modified_gmt":"2023-02-20T09:22:03","slug":"a-problem-of-science-at-the-padma-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/a-problem-of-science-at-the-padma-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"A problem of science at the Padma awards"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>– The post is based on the article \u201cA problem of science at the Padma awards\u201d <\/strong>published in The Hindu<\/strong> on 31st January 2023<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Syllabus: <\/strong>GS1- Indian culture<\/p>\n

Relevance<\/strong>– Awards and recognitions<\/p>\n

News<\/strong>– The article explains the issues raised by recent conferring of Padma awards under science and engineering category to plant breeders. It also tells about general perception oif science.<\/p>\n

What is the general perception of science?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Science is distinguished in practice by following the scientific method<\/strong> and the rituals of academic publishing<\/strong>. It is an activity that only a highly and specifically trained group of people is allowed to practise.<\/p>\n

Its findings are presumed to be implicitly superior<\/strong> to knowledge that isn\u2019t uncovered and organised by the same rules.<\/p>\n

Why the recent Padma awards to plant breeders under the category of science raises doubts?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Successful plant breeders defy the above-mentioned perceptions of science<\/strong>. So, perhaps they should be rewarded under a category called \u2018agriculture and seeds<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Cheruvayal K. Raman<\/strong> was awarded the Padma Shri<\/strong> for having conserved more than 50 rice varieties on a modest farm in Wayanad. He wasn\u2019t formally trained as a botanist or scientist<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

He has not published scientific papers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Over the years, agricultural scientists have understood the scientific basis<\/strong> of the work of those like Mr. Raman. However, such a basis alone doesn\u2019t make something science.<\/p>\n

Mr. Dudekula<\/strong> was also awarded with Padma Shri<\/strong> in the \u2018science and engineering\u2019 category<\/strong>. He has been credited with popularizing the dietary benefits of millets<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

But his prescriptions also include scientifically dubious elements<\/strong> such as homoeopathy; consuming millets to \u201cprevent\u201d or cure various cancers, diabetes; and avoiding the consumption of milk, eggs, and non-vegetarian food.<\/p>\n

Mr. Dudekula doesn\u2019t appear to have published any scientific paper<\/strong>s demonstrating the efficacy of these claims.<\/p>\n

What is the way forward?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

We shouldn\u2019t celebrate alternative systems<\/strong> that compromise trust in scientifically tested medicine in the midst of a pandemic and several epidemics.<\/p>\n

Increasing access to and consumption of millets<\/strong> could help India reduce its frightening prevalence of anemia. But, claims of therapeutic effects against cancer<\/strong> is a big leap and certainly requires scrutiny.<\/p>\n

Before conferring any Padma award in the \u2018science and engineering\u2019 category<\/strong>, the Indian government must ensure that a claim has been scientifically validated<\/strong>. It should encourage the systematic validation <\/strong>of all such claims before they are lauded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source– The post is based on the article \u201cA problem of science at the Padma awards\u201d published in The Hindu on 31st January 2023. Syllabus: GS1- Indian culture Relevance– Awards and recognitions News– The article explains the issues raised by recent conferring of Padma awards under science and engineering category to plant breeders. It also… Continue reading A problem of science at the Padma awards<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[263,10498],"class_list":["post-224413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-1","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":1700811597,"cached_date":1700993442},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224413\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}