Science In India

This book provides an in-depth ethnographic study of science and religion in the context of South Asia, giving voice to Indian scientists and shedding valuable light on their engagement with religion. Drawing on biographical, autobiographical, historical, and ethnographic material, the volume focuses on scientists’ religious life and practices, and the variety of ways in which they express them. Renny Thomas challenges the idea that science and religion in India are naturally connected and argues that the discussion has to go beyond binary models of ‘conflict’ and ‘complementarity’. By complicating the understanding of science and religion in India, the book engages with new ways of looking at these categories.

In a world buzzing with artificial intelligence, gene therapy, 3-D printing, and brain implants, where does India stand? India is not yet a front-runner in creating new knowledge and world-changing inventions. India does not even feature among the top 10 countries in scientific research. In this book, Varun argues that India would risk its economic progress, technology industry, and social development if it does not lead in research and innovation. He deliberates on how we can make India a leader in science and technology and uses a data-based approach to highlight the various limitations of India's research ecosystem. He demystifies how discoveries and inventions happen through stories and personal experiences. The book provides concrete, well-reasoned steps to build a "Scientific India." This is essential for India's success and for serving the cause of human progress.

Investigates the complex social processes involved in the introduction and institutionalization of Western science in colonial India.

This Book Is The First Comprehensive, Authoritative And Highly Readable Account Of Science And Technology In Independent India.

Interest in the science, technology and medicine of India under British rule has grown in recent years and has played an ever-increasing part in the reinterpretation of modern South Asian history. Spanning the period from the establishment of East India Company rule through to Independence, David Arnold's wide-ranging and analytical survey demonstrates the importance of examining the role of science, technology and medicine in conjunction with the development of the British engagement in India and in the formation of Indian responses to western intervention. One of the first works to analyse the colonial era as a whole from the perspective of science, the book investigates the relationship between Indian and western science, the nature of science, technology and medicine under the Company, the creation of state-scientific services, 'imperial science' and the rise of an Indian scientific community, the impact of scientific and medical research and the dilemmas of nationalist science.

Spirituality played a key role in the construction of Indian modernity. While science has certainly been an agent of modernization in India and other non-Western countries, what makes Indian modernity somewhat special is that spiritual leaders have also been instrumental in the process. Moreover, leading Indian scientists and spiritualists have recognized the immense potential for dialogue between the two disciplines. Post-colonial India, with its ready access to a holistic spirituality and significant achievements in science and technology, is a fertile site for such a dialogue. Each of the book’s four sections addresses specific themes: (1) The tension not just between science and spirituality, but also between the East and West; (2) how some key figures in India became carriers of modern consciousness, and explored the relationship between science and spirituality in the very process of trying to reform their society; (3) significant areas of research in which science and spirituality are both deeply implicated; and (4) the relationship of both scientific and spiritual practice with gender and social justice.

The Book Is About Western Science In A Olonial World. It Asks: How Do We Understand The Transfer And Absorption Of Scientific Knowledge Across Diverse Cultures, From One Society To Another? This Monograph Will Interest Scientists, Historians And Sociologists, As Well As Students Of Imperialism And The History Of Ideas.