Science or Society? - The Social Function of Science Revisited

The “Project of Modernity” is often incorrectly identified with the capitalist industrialization process. Similarly, the identification of “modern” science with the growth of science within the philosophical framework of Cartesian reductionism (which anti- science critics hold as incontestable) is indeed an incorrect view. It is well known that science is not only a structure of knowledge, but also a conceptual mode of thinking that touches on the interrelated parts of our experience. Despite the enormous advances in knowledge within the Cartesian structure, its philosophical basis is the root of the frustration that J. D. Bernal had identified as early as 193

From the Phased Manufacturing Programme to Frugal Engineering: Some Initial Propositions

Although the structural reforms, initiated in 1991, did not lead to any appreciable increase in either the efficiency or the export orientation of Indian manufacturing firms, unexpectedly, there has been a visible improvement in manufacturing design capabilities in certain segments, for instance, in the motor vehicle sector. The paper suggests that the development of “frugal engineering”—an approach of “frugality” in resolving complex design problems—is a real advance. It suggests, further, that this approach developed from the experiences of the procedures laid down in the phased manufacturing programme of the 1950s, and first found expression in the successful forays into some specific export markets by Indian vehicle manufacturers in the late 1970s and 1980s. Although this design expertise cannot solve the problems of manufacturing efficiency, particularly across the wider industrial sphere, it indicates that Indian firms have the expertise to resolve problems related to the manufacturing sphere if strategic goals are appropriately set by managers

Political Economy of Secularism: Rediscovery of India

As it was in Europe, secularism in India is an intrinsic part of the process of the emergence of a modern identity of the people of a multi-language and multi-ethnic society, the necessity for which is being continuously generated by industrialisation and urbanisation.The emergence of this identity, however, has been hampered by the failure at the political level: the inability to evolve political units appropriate for the expression of regional aspirations, to entrench and extend the process of agrarian reforms, and to unify and modernise the systems of personal law, et

Technology and Dialectics

The industrial revolution was defined by the phenomenon of the application of systematically acquired knowledge (of thermodynamics) to the improvement of production methods(the steam engine). The implications of this lay, decisively, in opening the area of knowledge of production methods, in general, to human enquiry. This was given the (refurbished) name of technology, and accorded a central role in the dialectics of capitalism. Later, the 1931 Interntational Conference on the History of Science and Technology formulated key ideas in the dialectics of technology. This groundwork laid the basis for substantial advances in the history of technology in the subsequent years. However, inadequate theoretical elaboration of the institutional forms in which technological knowledge is commercialised has created the space for the growth of arcane theories of technology, which attribute to it a malignant agency. The emotive appeal of these theories is indicative of the reality: the results of the post-1945 scientific and technological revolution are expressed in forms structured by a transnational-dominated world economy

Jawaharlal Nehru and Science and Technology

Nehru was deeply identified in the public mind with science and technology. From the mid-seventies, however, there had been a strong current of disenchantment, as the chasm between those who benefited from Nehruvian developmental policies and those who bore its burden widened.Scientific temper was essential in the building of a secular society. Nehru’s scientific vision was realised in the institutions for scientific research and defence strategies that he was instrumental in setting up. However, many of Nehru’s statements were part of his personal vision that did not find representation in state policy. The Science Policy Resolution 1958 was drafted by Homi Bhabha. The Resolution contained the unusual formulation that the key to national prosperity, apart from the spirit of the people, lay in the modern age in technology, raw material and capital. The recognition of ‘the spirit of the people’ in the context of science and technology was what makes the resolution unusual. Of these other factors, the Resolution asserted that technology was the most important because it could cover up the deficits in the other two spheres.The application of science on a large scale was the dominant feature of the contemporary world. It was only through science that the idea of progress and of the welfare state could be realised. Despite this initial vision, the focus in later years shifted to an instrumentalist view of science in which the wealth of nature and human resources was to be exploited only for the growth of industry

Has the Bourgeoisie Truly Come of Age in India?

Flat-footed entry into globalisation and the terrible events in Gujarat have perhaps jolted the Indian bourgeoisie into a new phase in their quest for modernit

Nature of Small Enterprise Development: Political Aims and Socio-Economic Reality

The political aim of the Government of India's small industries policy-the creation of a class of small capitalist entrepreneurs-required two measures to ensure its fulfillment.Firstly, the demarcating line between small and big capital had to be defined in a way that was both administratively easy to handle and captured in an acceptable manner the essential difference between 'small' and 'large' across a wide range of industries.Secondly, ways had to be devised to ensure against the entry of ineligible persons or conglomerates to the special provisions of the development schemes. This paper assesses the success of the Government's efforts in these direction

Japanese Miracle: Review Article of Chalmers Johnson MITI and the Japanese Miracle: The Growth of Industrial Policy, 1925-75

Chalmers Johnson’s book argues that it was one aspect of the Japan-U S relationship, namely, the relatively cheap import of advanced technology, and the ability, largely of the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), to ensure the absorption of this technology, which transformed the Japanese industrial structure. The identification of strategic industrial sectors, and policies ensuring the growth of the internal market, helped the Japanese export strategy, and led to the Japanese "miracle". This industrial development strategy was pushed through at a heavy cost to the people of Japan, and also to medium and small enterprises. It was the big firms, evolved from the Zaibatsu conglomerates, which were the beneficiaries of Japanese industrialisation strategies, both before and after the war. The second feature of Japanese industrialisation strategy was the sustained realisation (and this realisation was politically sustainable) that it was the development of the internal market that was crucial to economic growt

Learning to Innovate vs. Learning to Manufacture: Towards an Alternative Technology Strategy

India's diversified and sophisticated manufacturing base contrasts strongly with the near complete absence of visible innovative capabilities. This article examines the Indian "National System of Innovation" in order to address the question of the evident distinction between the ability to make and the ability to make better.The article examines the historical record of industrialisation and innovation in India, and argues that the distinction between the knowledge of “how to make” (manufacture) and the knowledge of “how to make better” (innovation) was inadequately appreciated in development planning in the country

Small Enterprises and the Crisis in Indian Development

There was a socio-political as well as economic imperative for the conscious encouragement of small enterprises in India. The high degree of concentration of capital in the Indian economy at the time of Independence led to a serious situation as far as the stability of the existing social order was concerned. Added to this was a situation where the country had achieved independence under the pressure of a mass national movement. Although never seriously challenging the legitimacy of institutions of private property, this had generated and disseminated democratic ideas, viewing unfavourably the existence of extreme concentrations of income and wealth. The economic imperative facing the planners arose from the high degree of self-employment in the economy. According to the 1951 population census, over 58 per cent of the work force engaged in industry "neither employed any one nor did they work for anyone". If the mass of productive facilities already existing at the time of independence were to expand and grow, it was critical that the market for the goods which they produced should also grow. To generate a fast growing market for capital goods and intermediate goods, it was necessary for the planners to encourage a process of capital accumulation, leading to differentiation among the huge mass of self-employed persons. Thus, both the socio- political imperative of the development of a small industrial capitalist stratum, and the economic imperative of the encouragement of small industrial enterprises pointed to the need for a set of official policy measures and institutions which would aid these processes. What is of interest in the Indian case, however, is that these requirements were skilfully matched to the popular support for small industrialists and small enterprises which had been generated by democratic currents within the national movement in the pre-Independence period