He can be reached at :

Subbiah Arunachalam,
28 Luz Avenue,
Mylapore,
Chennai 600 004, India.
Fax: 91-44-2351319.

ComCom : Sir, after working as a devoted hardcore research scientist at CECRI, Karaikudi, you had migrated to science publication and later to science popularization. In fact this trend can be equated to "lab to land". We wish that you would elaborate on this migratory mechanism which will of course be an eye-opener to other practising scientists.

Prof. Arun : Let me begin with a disclaimer! I was not much of a scientist, let alone a hardcore researcher. True I started my career at CECRI trying to develop a cost-effective and efficient method of producing zari threads used in the famous silk saris of South India under the guidance of an unpretentious elderly man.

Within two years, I left for New Delhi to join the editorial team of the Publications & Information Directorate of CSIR, where I had the privilege of working with one of Indias outstanding technical editors, Mr A Krishnamurti. I realised then that writing and editing came to me naturally, but others had not seemed to notice it! While in Delhi, I shared an apartment with some very committed and competent individuals, each one of whom went on to make a mark in his chosen field. In their company, I imbibed a lot.

After four years at PID, I went to IISc, Bangalore, to pursue laboratory research. There was a sharp fall in my income and I started writing science stories for newspapers! It was then I met Prof. S Ramaseshan, who was quick to spot the extra-scientific talents in me, and he persuaded me to join the Indian Academy of Sciences in Bangalore and we worked together on many projects, which transformed the Academy. I played a key role in the founding of Pramana, the Academys physics journal, and in getting a large number of competent Indian scientists elected to the Fellowship of the Academy. At the Academy I was virtually a one-man army doing many things, quietly from the background of course, but enjoying every bit of it.

I was watching from close quarters scientists and science policy in the making. Mr Surendr Jha came to know about me and started asking me to write for Science Today. I took my time. My first piece on the status of science in India appeared in Science Today after I returned to New Delhi in 1975. That and two other articles, which appeared in quick succession, attracted much attention. Despite the tremendous differences in our lifestyles, Suren, a Bohemian, and I, an ascetic, became close friends. I was amazed at the deep commitment to science and science communication hidden behind his happy-go-lucky appearance. I decided to help him without expecting any returns. As it turned out, I was not cut out to make good at laboratory research.

My inclinations took me into information science and scientometrics. Even when I was a student at IISc I helped many students with their information needs and writing. Gene Garfield gave me a big break, when he took me on the editorial board of Current Contents in 1977. This was followed by invitations from half a dozen journals, including Journal of Information Science, Scientometrics and Current Science and invitations to speak at many international conferences in Europe and North America. I got more and more involved in looking at the scientific enterprise deeply and writing about it. Actually, I do not write often. Call me lazy! Indeed I am not excited about reporting late international developments as a second-hand narrator. That, I think, is the job of reporters and correspondents employed by news agencies and newspapers. I enjoy writing well-researched articles on the state of science and its various aspects such as information needs of Indian scientists and how they could be satisfied.

Also, I devote much time in helping others. For instance, I put in much effort to establish the Science Writers Association, and to organize two workshops for science writers, one of them with the help of the Indian Institute of Science at Bangalore. I went to England at my expense to persuade two of the most outstanding science communicators to come to India to run the workshops. I have also helped many young writers in the formative years of their careers and some of them do remember. Some may not, but that doesnt bother me a bit. After Suren left Science Today, I helped the new editor of the magazine get to know people who mattered in Delhi.

To be honest, I was not really a scientist in the true sense of the word. But my association with CECRI, IISc and the Indian Academy of Sciences and the professional contacts with countless number of authors, referees and conference participants helped me a great deal in my evolution as a science writer and critic.

ComCom: We would like to know more details of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation and your role in its activities. We also hear that the Foundation is trying to popularise Internet among the slum children and Pondicherry. Your answer will give us first hand version of the success story.

Prof. Arun : MSSRF is an organization founded by a visionary with his own money. It is committed to a mission of harnessing science and technology for environmentally sustainable and socially equitable development. MSSRF's research, training, communication, extension and networking programmes, in the fields of agriculture and rural development, seek to link ecological security to livelihood security in a mutually reinforcing manner. It is about ten years old and we have about 200 people on our staff.

About three years ago, the Foundation was chosen for the Blue Planet Award, the first Asian institution to have won this award. You can learn about our work, accomplishments and our philosophy by visiting our website and reading the keynote address delivered by Prof. M S Swaminathan at the World Conference on Science, held at Budapest a few weeks ago. Our work involves laboratory research (in areas such as plant molecular biology, microbiology and tissue culture), field research in Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa (coastal systems research, biodiversity, ecotechnology and sustainable agriculture) and policy research.

We have a modern informatics centre and use geographic information systems (GIS) extensively. We hold several symposia and consultations every year on issues of great immediate relevance and these meetings attract some of the worlds leading experts and thinkers. Among those who have attended such meetings in recent times are Prof. Bruce Alberts, President of the US National Academy of Sciences, Dr Ismail Serageldin, Senior Vice President of the World Bank, Dr Jacques Diouf, Director General of FAO, and Dr Norman Myers, the eminent writer.

We are not teaching Internet to slum children. What the Foundation has been doing in the past two years is to use information to empower people in a cluster of villages near Pondicherry. The idea is simple and elegant like all great ideas. If people can obtain information that they badly need and can use immediately, then such information can make a difference in their lives. So an MSSRF team, led by a dynamic young man called V Balaji, surveyed the villages to list the different kinds of information needed by the local people and their access to information and information technology.

The team designed a hybrid wired and wireless system that can be used to transmit both voice and data. They engaged volunteers to collect information ranging from meteorological to commodity prices and government schemes. They trained the local people to operate personal computers, key in data in Tamil, use telephones and wireless systems and to send and receive email and fax messages. Through a participatory approach, they convinced the villagers to provide a common room in each village in someones house, in a temple, or in a public building to maintain the computers and the communication equipment, and pay for the volunteers.

The MSSRF experts provided training to the village volunteers and help in the maintenance of the equipment. Each centre has solar energy backup so even when the power fails they can remain connected. What is most striking about the whole project is the prime place given to people and the information they need; technology is only secondary, as it should be. And many of the people involved in the project are just ordinary in terms of training and educational background, but extraordinary in terms of the social transformation they are bringing about. That is one aspect of Swaminathans way of doing things: giving opportunities to ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results.

As it would be impossible for us in India to provide telephones and computers to individual homes, the only way we could take advantage of the awesome power of information and communication technologies is to adopt the community access model. Now these community information centres have become very popular. Not only are the farmers getting the market price of their produce, but also they were able to know the school finals examination results of their wards within minutes of announcement in far off Chennai.

My own role at the Foundation is limited. I continue to do my scientometric analysis of science in India, although that is not a key area of interest of the Foundation. I assist the Informatics group and others whenever called upon to do so. Occasionally, I write about the Foundation and its work for the media. Recently, I spoke about the Information Village project at a debate organised by the Volkswagen Foundation in Hanover and at the University of Brighton. I also spoke about it in an interview by the Overseas Service of the BBC (Radio).

ComCom: We also would like to know something about the present NISCOM's problems since we know that you had a stint in the erstwhile PID. How to revive the institute? Please tell if it is not embarrassing to you. We are interested in only in its revival plans and suggestions.

Prof. Arun : I know that NISCOM has been going through an unhappy phase. I had seen the best of times. When I joined PID, the seniormost editor was holding the rank of Scientist C. None of them who followed him that includes me and the late Mr P S Shankar were of the same class. But the organization expanded, salary and status of the staff improved, and yet there was rising discontent, especially in the past ten years or so. Coming to the present, I dont see any administrative problem. CSIR should appoint a competent director and let him/her handle the affairs of the institute according to the statutes. A revival plan may include refresher courses for the editorial staff not only in writing and editing skills but also in new technologies. The world over, journals are going electronic. To be able to produce electronic journals, NISCOM staff should be competent in JAVA, HTML, XML, etc. Right now, many editors cannot even be reached easily by email.

Incidentally, electronic versions of two life science journals of NISCOM are already being brought out by an agency in the UK. CSIR may examine the Indian Academys journal publishing model and adapt practices that can improve NISCOMs performance and bring down the overall costs. I see considerable improvement in recent years in the editorial and production qualities of Indian magazines. I see no reason why technical journals and other publications of CSIR should not improve. Another suggestion I would make is to bring in a creativity consultant to raise motivation levels of the staff and make them work as a team.

ComCom:Can you recollect your one good field experience, which reflects the success or other wise of scientific awareness?

Prof. Arun : In the Information Village experiment of MSSRF, most volunteers are women and I am amazed at the speed with which they have learnt to operate sophisticated high-tech equipment and their self-confidence. I am attaching a scanned image of a picture.

A few years ago, NCSTC asked me to go to Shillong to conduct a five-day workshop on science communication to the youth of the Northeastern states. When the workshop began, hardly anyone was willing to speak. But by day two, I couldnt go to bed before it was well past midnight some of the participants would come to the guesthouse for discussion!

ComCom:Sir, What is your comment on the status of science communication in INDIA?

Prof. Arun : Science communication is reaching by and large only the already reached. There are science columns in The Hindu, The New Indian Express, The Telegraph, Pioneer, etc. No doubt that each column talks about something new and probably something useful. But are we reaching new audience is the question. Then there are children's science magazines such as Tulir in Tamil. These are the ones to be encouraged.

Indeed, we should persuade philanthropic foundations to support free distribution of such magazines to all the schools in the country. I have also seen at book fairs and at exhibitions at Science Congress venues popular science books of the University Press (many of the titles by Dr G Venkataraman) and NISCOM selling well among students going to certain kinds of schools and their parents. TV channels such as Discovery and National Geographic are making some useful contribution. Voluntary organizations such as KSSP and Ekalavya and government agencies such as NCSTC are making an honest effort to reach the people. But the country is vast and the population very large. We need to do very much more.

ComCom:Why science related magazines do not become popular among young children and students in India?

Prof. Arun : There are two reasons. Many of these are produced so badly and one is not sure about the accuracy. Secondly, these have to compete with other interests for students pocket money other magazines, films, eating out, entertaining friends and so on. Even so, if the students and their parents feel that these magazines satisfy a genuine need then they will not hesitate to subscribe to them.

ComCom: What really can be done by Indian media, visual as well as print media, to achieve desired level of science communication?

Prof. Arun : The answer is simple. Like the don in Mario Puzos novel Godfather said, they should offer something the readers and viewers cannot refuse! I am sorry for those who cannot read Tamil; there is a writer called Sujatha Rangarajan who can make anything interesting. He would relate the concept he is trying to explain to common experiences of his readers. And he does it in style. Most so-called science writers write so poorly that students would find their textbooks far more interesting.

My friend Gene Garfield is another good role model for science journalists who want to write well-researched articles. All his essays hundreds of them are now available on the Web. Recently, two television production companies in the UK called me repeatedly to plan shooting in India. They were planning to shoot films on subjects ranging from future farming to extremes of climate and were looking for the right people to be interviewed and the right locations and suitable time of the year. They dont mind spending a lot of money and more importantly do a lot of homework to establish the right contacts. No wonder they are able to sell their productions to Discovery or National Geographic. There must be this desire to excel at all costs and keenness to achieve the highest professional standards.

ComCom: In your opinion can INTERNET online magazines have a role to play in science communication in India?

Prof. Arun : Yes. At the moment its reach may be poor, as there are not many people in India having access to Internet. But Internet access is expanding as well as becoming more affordable. There are many science news sites such as Eurekalert, Gene, and ScienceNow, which are popular. Apart from running its own science news Webzine, NCSTC may persuade other Indian outfits such as Rediff on the Net, Indialine and Khoj to pay greater attention to reporting science and technology.

ComCom:What can be done by NGOs and connected GOs to improve the status?

Prof. Arun : NGOs at least some of them are doing well in taking science to the people. Tulir is run by an NGO based at Chennai. KSSP in Kerala goes beyond publishing. Many NGOs take active part in the annual Science Jatha supported by NCSTC. In Karnataka, the Vigyan Parishad is known for its commitment. The Assam Science Society has some committed and knowledgeable individuals.

ComCom:Your advice to young science writers of India...

Prof. Arun : Nothing comes easily. Prepare yourself. Read widely, not only good science writing but also about the art of writing. Meet working scientists and talk to them about their work and their specialties. Watch good science programmes on the TV and listen to quality programmes such as those produced by Martin Redfern of BBC. Do some research before you start writing go to a good library, use the Internet, meet experts, ... the possibilities are endless!

ComCom : Thank you very much Professor.