First of all, I would like to congratulate
the SNDT Women’s University for its glorious
journey of 100 years. SNDT Women’s
University was the first women’s University
in India. It was founded by the legendary
Bharat Ratna Maharshi Dhondo Keshav Karve,
who had recognised the key role of a woman
in the society as well as in nation building
and also the importance of enlightening and
empowering a woman. In fact he had made a
profound statement “Sanskrita Stree
Parashakti”, meaning that an enlightened
woman is a source of infinite strength.
But both enlightenment and empowerment
cannot be achieved without education. That
is where he had the visionary thought of
founding the SNDT Women’s University. Today,
all of us in India feel proud that SNDT
Women’s University stands tall as a world
class university. It is uniquely focused on
the development and application of
knowledge. It strives hard to create an
inclusive society. It protects dignity,
equality, social justice and human rights.
It is an exemplar in every sense..
I was the President of 86th Indian Science
Congress, which was held on 3rd January 2000
in Pune. Looking ahead at the millennium, I
had proposed ‘A New Panchasheel for the New
Millennium’ It was:
- Child centered education
- Woman centered family
- Human centered development
- Knowledge centered society
- Innovation centered India
And while talking about women, I had said:
“UN had adopted 1994 as the year of the
family with an emphasis that the family is
the smallest democracy at the heart of the
society. But on the other hand, Human
Development Report of 1993 had said ‘No
country treats its women as well as the
men’. Can the India of the next millennium
afford to stand on only one of its legs? A
woman has to be allowed the full expression
of her potential and she has to be empowered
to become a dynamic partner in the building
of the new India of our dreams’.
Incidentally, I was happy to note that this
Science Congress Presidential address of
mine has been included as a part of the
reference material in the B.Ed. course of
SNDT Women’s University.
Importance of an empowerment of a woman is
clear. Let us now talk about the importance
of education of a woman now.
Last year, I attended a discussion on what
is possibly the most powerful equation ever
developed by scientists. Someone said that
it was the equation describing Newton’s
second law, giving the relationship between
force (F), mass (m) and acceleration (a),
namely, F = ma. Someone else said that it is
Einstein’s equation linking Energy (E) to
mass (m) and the velocity of light (c),
namely, E = mc2. The others came out with
some other suggestions.
Then they asked me about what I thought. I
said none of the above. Not Newton. Not
Einstein. I said that the most powerful
equation is E = F. Here
E is Education and F
is Future! This means education is equal to
the future. This equation is universal and
eternal. If there is no education, there is
no future. No future for the individual, no
future for the nation.
Talking about women and education, I must
tell you that I am standing before you today
because of the fact that an uneducated woman
understand the meaning of the equation E=F,
education is future. That was my mother. Let
me tell you the story.
I was born in a very poor family in a
village called Mashel in Goa. My father died
when I was six years of age. I was the only
child of my mother. My mother came in search
of a job in Mumbai. We had very hard times.
Two meals a day was challenge. But my mother
made sure that I not only got educated but
highly educated. In fact there is an
interesting story about what triggered my
mother to urge me to seek higher education.
It is worth narrating.
During my childhood, my mother used to be
always in search of a job. Once she had gone
to Congress House near Prarthana Samaj in
Mumbai. She stood in the queue of women, who
were seeking jobs. When her turn came she
did not get that job because the minimum
educational qualification was third standard
pass. While returning, she said to herself
that I have been rejected today because I
did not have education. There is nothing I
can do about it now. But I will make sure
that my young son studies and gets the
highest degree that there would be. She did
not know what that degree would be.
It was a scholarship of sixty rupees per
month given by Sir Dorab Tata Trust for six
year that made my studies possible. When I
finished my B. Chem. Engg in University
Department of Chemical Technology, i.e. UDCT
(now Institute of Chemical Technology) in
Matunga in the year 1966, my mother had
already found out that there is still a
higher degree namely, Ph.D. She did not
allow me to take up a job (although our
financial condition was such that we needed
it badly!) and asked me to do a Ph.D. When I
finished the Ph.D. in 1969, again she had
found out that there was still some higher
education, namely post-doctoral research.
She insisted that I do post-doctoral
research. Shortly before she passed away in
November 1976, I had got my 25th Honorary
Doctorate. When I told her about this, she
said ‘I am now happy. Now I can go’. And
after 3-4 months, she left for her heavenly
abode.
The reason I mention all this is that in our
vast country, there are over 700 million
Indians, who are below the poverty line. If
each of the mother understood the
significance of the equation E=F, education
is future, like my mother had done, then
India will be a different country.
SNDT Women’s University has had a great
past, an exciting present, but I am sure it
will have a glorious future. What could we
do to build that glorious future? Let me set
a five point agenda for your consideration.
First, our University must raise the bar.
Our University is known both for its
education and research. We must now move on
to education, research and innovation.
Education disseminates knowledge. Research
creates new knowledge. Innovation converts
knowledge into wealth and social good. I was
particularly happy, therefore, to see the
emphasis on building incubation centres,
doing entrepreneurship development. This is
the right way to go.
Second, in terms of a balance, we must not
only build the ability of the students, but
also the attitude. A positive attitude,
where a student is always a part of a
solution, not a part of a problem. We must
not only crave for excellence but also for
relevance. We must build both our ambience
and our ambition. President Obama had said
that education and innovation are the
currencies of the 21st century. I would say
that education in innovation and innovation
in education are the currencies. We mut
build on both.
Third, learning, doing and being is the
essence of education. The ‘being’ part of it
is very essential. Creators and preservers
of a good society emerge, only when value
based education provides them the initial
grounding. SNDT Women’s University’s forte
is value based education. We must build on
this strongly.
Knowledge bereft of values can be dangerous.
Look at the way organized crime, financial
frauds and terrorist violence are being
perpetrated by some of the best minds
endowed with the best of educational and
technical attainments. Look at the way even
the members of the learned professions
indulge in scandalous unethical conduct to
make money in total disregard of their
professional obligations and social
responsibilities.
Tolerance as a value must be imbibed in the
personality of every individual whether he
or she belongs to a majority or minority
group. Fundamentalism is inimical to
scholarship and progress. Education must
enable individuals to be tolerant of
differences and lead people to renounce
violence and resolve disputes through
socially acceptable ways.
We must understand that Talent, Technology
and Trust is the tripod on which the
institutions, societies and nations will
build their competitive advantage.
Therefore, the fourth point is about
building talent. Our girls are superbly
talented. Our girls excel in exams.
Yesterday, the results of UPSC exams were
declared. I was delighted to read that 4 out
of the 5 toppers were girls! I have attended
more than hundred convocations so far. And I
find that the number of medals and prizes
won by the girl students far exceeds that of
the medals and prizes won by the male
students. More than a decade ago, I was the
Chancellor of Assam University in Silcher. I
remember there were 19 medals that were
given for outstanding performers in my first
year as a Chancellor. Can you believe it –
each one of these 19 medals was won by a
girl student! We must do everything possible
that this talent does not go waste and the
society and the nation benefits from it
fully.
The fifth and final point concerns
Technology. Rapid advances in technology are
changing both our life and work. Digital way
of life is here to stay. Digital learning is
not just catching up, it is romping. The old
style chalk and talk classrooms will become
extinct. The classrooms will have to be
reinvented to the changing times. It is the
innovative combination of digital and
physical learning that will create the
future winners.
Our University must quickly tune in to the
dramatic changes that are happening around
us due to advances in Information &
Communication Technology. Digitization,
virtualization, mobilization and
personalization are the four new megatrends.
All these will lead to game changing
cocreative, self-organizing,
self-correcting, borderless, globally
distributed, asynchronous, dynamic and open
systems. Data, voice and video will be
delivered with 3G and imminent arrival of 4G
in India. The processes of self-learning,
interactive learning and lifelong learning
will undergo a sea change with all these
paradigm shifts.
If we pursue this five point agenda, I am
sure we will create an exceptional 21st
Century SNDT Women’s University, that India
will be proud of.
Lastly, as a scientist, my Centennial
Foundation Lecture will not be complete, if
I do not speak about women in science. The
good news is that today 35.3% of the
university science students are women. But
the bad news is that a very meagre fraction
of them are able to pursue a career in
science. Their levels of recognition are
also very low.
S.S. Bhatnagar prizes are the most
prestigious prizes in Indian science today.
They are given to scientists below the age
of 45 years. I am told that over 500 S.S.
Bhatnagar Prizes have been given till today
– but there less than 20 Bhatnagar Awardees,
who are women scientists. I was the
President of Indian National Science Academy
(INSA). Election to the Fellowship of INSA
is one of the highest honors in science that
one can get. Less than 5% of the Fellows of
the INSA were women. But is India an
exception? No. The same is true of Royal
Society or U.S. National Academy of Science
– and all other prestigious academies. The
biases and the prejudices against women in
all the countries are well known. Can you
believe it that Madame Mary Curie, who
received two Nobel Prizes, was not admitted
to the French Science Academy?.
Being aware of this challenge about women in
science, Indian National Science Academy
created a working group to look at women in
science. I am proud to say that SNDT Women’s
University’s Research Centre for Women’s
Studies helped to put together a report
titled “Science Careers for Indian Women” in
the year 2004. Subsequently, Department of
Science & Technology launched special
programmes for women scientists, who could
continue their science career even after a
break. Very special fellowships were given
to such women scientists. And I am happy to
say that 15% of the women scientists, who
had held these fellowships, have got gainful
employment in education and research even
after a break. But my fundamental question
is, why should there be a break at all for
these women scientists? That is a deeper
question, and it craves for deep
introspection and radical social
transformation.
Talking about women and education, it is not
education alone that matters. We must give
women an opportunity to rise to their true
potential --- and even exceed it!. And I
believe, therefore, that our major aim has
to be to support the structure, both
societal and institutional, to help them
negotiate a family and career balance. As I
said, India has to walk on both of its legs
and, therefore, any possibility of
insufficient or inefficient participation by
women in nation building must be eliminated
through a collective and determined national
effort.
On this historic day, we begin this journey
of our great University’s centenary
celebration. Let us take inspiration from
our founder Bharat Ratna Maharshi Dhondo
Keshav Karve. His life and work is an
inspiration for us. What tribute can we pay
to him as we take these early steps of our
next century? Well, our President was giving
the convocation address in Pune on 26 June.
He said that in every convocation address,
he laments the fact that none of the Indian
Universities figures in the top 200 in the
world. So here is a way to pay him the
tribute. Let us put in all our might, all
our energies seizing a position for our
University in the top hundred in the world.
That is the only tribute that we can pay to
our legendary founder.
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