Eminent astrophysicist Jayant Narlikar has bemoaned the poor state of pure sciences in the country and blamed the Indian education system for its wrong approach towards science.
"They ask you to chant in a certain way. If you miss one word, you are told that you are wrong," Narlikar said, while speaking on 'Role of science fiction in science popularization' at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) on Wednesday. His talk was a part of a five-day regional workshop on science broadcasting jointly conducted by FTII and Vigyan Prasar.
He emphasised that there is no space for creativity and innovation in the field of science. Hence, it is no surprise that there is a drop in the number of good science students in the country.
He pointed out that science in its bare form may frighten the reader, but if it is sugar-coated with a story, the information is easily accepted by the reader. He regretted that "a lot of science fiction that we read today is bad".
Quoting serials and books such as 'A for Andromeda' produced by BBC and 'Around the World in Eighty Days' by Jules Verne, he stated that a good science fiction novel or serial is one which is eventually found to be a reality.
Speaking about his experiences, he recollected his close association with English novelist EM Forster during his Cambridge days. Despite having no background in science, Forster took Narlikar's help to understand various concepts.
He finally put those learnings into 'The Machine Stops' which speaks about an underground civilization controlled by machines. The machines stop working, putting the civilization into utter chaos.
Around 50 years later, various states experienced a black out in the US throwing the country into chaos similar to Forster's imagination.
Narlikar appealed to everyone present at the venue to use their various professions (scientist, film-makers) to simplify science for one and all.
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