Former Prime Minister of India - Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Inaugural address of Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the 8th General Conference of The Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS)

Following is the text of the inaugural address of the Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the 8th General Conference of The Third World Academy Of Sciences (TWAS), here today:

~I am pleased to be with you at this 8th General Conference of the Third World Academy of Sciences. We are delighted to host your conference in India. I must, however, confess that what has enhanced our joy is the fact that one of our country’s distinguished scientists, Prof. C.N.R. Rao, is currently the president of your prestigious organization.

For many years your Academy has symbolized the aspirations of the scientists of the Third World. It has provided an important forum for discussions on issues of science and technology, in the larger context of development, in the Third World. I learn that it has many ongoing activities related to exchange of knowledge and experience, capacity building, and South-South Cooperation.

I applaud these programmes and hope that the New Delhi conference will help you in broadening their scope and strengthening their impact in the years to come.

Friends, you will agree that the term ~Third World~ is being used less and less these days in political and economic debate. Not that it has lost all its relevance. No. But several factors have contributed to a significant change in the world scenario in the past decade or so.

For example, it is impossible to locate the so-called Second World on the world map anymore. Also, some countries that were earlier categorized as members of the Third World defy that description now. Several others are on a fast track of development.

On the other hand, in the absence of balanced development, some sections of the populations of the countries in the First World are slipping into relative poverty.

One thing, however, is beyond any doubt. Wherever countries have either shed their ~Third World~ tag, or are in the process of doing so, they have been greatly helped in this developmental journey by science and technology. Today many developing countries in Asia and elsewhere have earned worldwide reputation as being creators and exporters, and not mere importers, of new scientific discoveries and technological innovations.

There is yet another factor that has blurred the earlier sharp distinction between the First, Second and Third parts of the world. It is the integrative force of the information and communication revolution, a revolution to which India is a major contributor. This revolution, along with the other developments that I just mentioned, has also considerably expanded the scope of interaction and cooperation among scientists in today’s inter-dependent world.

This is a wholly welcome change, one that augurs well for the future of humanity.

At the same time, we cannot be blind to the reality that vast parts of the world, and large sections of the global population, continue to be deprived of even elementary fruits of development. Science and technology are yet to make an impact on the quality of life of hundreds of millions of people in developing and underdeveloped countries.

This developmental divide between and within nations is a matter of concern for all the right-thinking people in the world. How to reduce and ultimately remove this divide is one of the biggest and most pressing challenges of the 21st century.

The world needs bold and benign political and economic responses from developed countries to meet this challenge. And this is what India and other developing countries have been consistently advocating in the United Nations and from WTO and other multilateral forums.

Nevertheless, I am convinced that, in addition to political and economic initiatives, we need greater and appropriate inputs of science, technology and education to meet the challenge of bridging the developmental divide. The problems of poverty, ill-health and unemployment; lack of drinking water, sanitation and shelter; food and energy security; and environmental degradation in developing countries cannot, generally, be tackled by means employed in the developed world. These require low-cost solutions, with an optimal use of local natural, human and cultural resources.

Harnessing of the rich traditional knowledge of the communities has to be an important component of the strategy to mitigate these problems. In doing so, scientists will also find answers to some of the problems being faced by developed countries. For example, the holistic traditions of healthcare in India and other developing countries, and medicines produced from their rich bio-diversity, have evoked increasing interest all over the world.

Hence, the task before scientists and policy makers today continues to be what it was yesterday: namely, how to activate the right inputs of science and technology, both modern and traditional, to help solve the pressing problems of underdevelopment. It is obvious that success in this task calls for enhanced cooperation among scientists of the developing countries. This is especially so, since developed countries cannot be expected to pay a lot of attention to R&D to solve problems that are peculiar to us.

The Third World Academy of Sciences, therefore, is an important catalyst for such cooperation.

Distinguished scientists, promotion of science and technology has been a cornerstone of India’s strategy for all-round socio-economic development since our independence. We are proud of the vast S&T infrastructure that we have created over the past five decades. My Government is committed to further increasing its support to India’s talented community of scientists and technologists. We have always shared our expertise and experience with other developing countries in a spirit of solidarity. We shall continue to do so.

With these words, I send my best wishes for the success of your conference.

Thank you.~