SCIENCE COMMUNICATION AND ROLE OF SCIENTISTS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA IN THE LAST DECADE: A CRITICAL STUDY

Abstract: There is no denying the fact that, there is an increasing call for scientists and engineers to engage with the public more and more through mass media for sustainable development. The scenario of India is somehow different form the global scenario. Whether science journalism is one of the numerous casualties in the media meltdown in India is the most pertinent question of the last decade of 21st century. The overall goal of the study was to provide evidence for funding organisations, universities and other research institutions on which they can base a workable system to reward scientists for their efforts to engage with the public. The study involved a survey of research scientists in higher-education institutes and interviews with a cross section of respondents and other relevant parties and hence 83 scientific-research institutes had been chosen throughout India. This study also includes to find the active participation of the scientists through scientific articles, regular columns, post-editorials, letters to the editor etc and hence 8 major circulated newspapers from 8 metro cities were chosen. There is a great need of policy which enable a higher proportion of younger scientists to get involved in public engagement and the need to reward public engagement activity in the career progression of scientists.

Keywords: Mass media, Sustainable development, Science communication, Media meltdown, Post editorials.