Knowledge Society & Uncertain Futures

My name is Esha Shah. I am a Research Fellow with the Institute of Development Studies in the University of Sussex and I am also a member of the STEPS Centre – (Social, Technological and Environmental Pathways to Sustainability).

I take pleasure to extend a very warm welcome on the behalf of the entire Knowledge Society team which constitutes of STEPS Centre from the University of Sussex and also the Knowledge in Civil Society(KICS) and the University of Hyderabad. I want to take a few minutes to introduce our very distinguished speakers today for the public discussion on the “Uncertain Futures and Knowledge Society” and then Dr. D. Balasubramanian is going to chair the session. We have a line up of very distinguished speakers today this evening with us.

Dr.Balasubramanian is currently the Director-Research, L.V.Prasad Eye Institute in Hyderabad. He played a pioneering role in the Centre for Molecular Biology where he worked until 1998. Dr.Balasubramanian has also extensively worked on molecular and cellular approaches to understand and treat the disease of the eye. Apart from an illustrative scientific academic career he is well known in fact, for his work in the area of public understanding of science. He has extensively published in popular science newspaper columns, radio and television programmes he has also appeared in radio and television programmes. Dr.Balasubramanian was awarded Padmashree national honor by the President of India in 2002. I want to extend a very warm welcome to Dr.Balasubramanian and also thank him for taking up the very challenging task of chairing the public discussion.

The second speaker today evening is Prof. Brian Wynne who is a Professor of Science Studies and the Associate Director of the UK-SRC Centre for Economics and Social Aspects of Genomics at the Lancaster University in the UK. Prof. Brian Wynne thematically has worked on a wide range of issues from his early work on nuclear decisions in Britain to his recent, extensive work on GMOs, health risk assessment, synthetic biology and global bio-safety assessment. Brian Wynne is particularly known for his work on how policy processes engage with public attitude and public understanding of science. Recently Brian chaired an expert working group constituted by the European Union to look into the public disaffection of science in Europe and also on the issue of science and governance. The group brought out a highly influential report called Taking Knowledge Seriously. I also extend a warm welcome to Brian Wynne.

Our third speaker is Dr.Balaji Venkatraman who is currently the Head of Knowledge Management and Sharing (KMS) at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) Hyderabad. Dr.Balaji has extensively worked in the area of Development Research for the last two decades. In his current position Balaji is involved in a number of regional and inter-governmental projects exploring the nature of knowledge sharing processes which involves IT as the dominant exchange medium. His focus is on understanding the mitigating role of global and local knowledge in disaster creating events such as drought and desertification in west and central Africa and South Asia. I also want to extend a warm welcome to Dr.Balaji.

Our fourth speaker is Prof.Sheila Jasanoff. She is Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies at the John Kennedy School of Government Studies at the Harvard University. Previously she was Professor of Science Policy and Law at Cornell University and also a founding chair of Cornell’s Department of Science and Technology Studies. At Harvard she founded and she now directs the Kennedy School’s Program on Science, Technology and Society. Jasanoff’s extensive research work centres on the interactions of Law, Science and Politics in Democratic Societies. She is particularly concerned with the construction of public reason in various cultural contexts and with the role of science and technology in the global institutions. She has written more than 100 articles and book chapters on these topics and has authored and edited numerous books. The most recent of her books – “A Comparative Study of the Politics of Bio-technology in Britain, Germany and the United States” has received very rave reviews. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and also the recipient of the John Desmond Bernal Award of the Society for Social Studies of Science and also she has received the Distinguished Achievement Award of the Society for Risk Analysis. A warm welcome to Sheila Jasanoff also.

Our fifth speaker is Shiv Vishvanathan who is a Professor of Sociology of Science and Technology at the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology. Vishvanathan does not need introduction to this audience and rather any audience in India. He has been one of the most radical and political voices of our times not only on Science, Technology and Development but also on Globalization and Violence. Also, Vishvanathan has extensively voiced his concerns related to democratization of our society. Vishvanathan’s collection of essays called the "Carnival for Science" and his early work “From the Annals of the Laboratory State” in fact pioneered the science and technology studies in India. A warm welcome to Shiv Vishvanathan also.

Thank you very much. I would now like to request Dr.Balasubramanian to take over the task of chairing this public discussion.

Balasubramanian: We may also welcome Prof. G.Haragopal who is here from Hyderabad and Esha would you like to take the podium again?

Esha: My script was being obstructed and I profusely apologize to professor and also to everybody. I am really sorry. I kind of lost my count and that is my mistake. Well Prof.Haragopal does not need any introduction in Hyderabad. He was formally the Dean of Social Sciences, University of Hyderabad. He had taught subjects of Political Science, Public Policy and Administration and had a number of academic contributions in those areas as well as on social movements in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Besides being a prominent academic Prof.Haragopal has been in the forefront of public life in Andhra Pradesh not just through the close and passionate association with the social action process but also in the area of human rights movement. He has been associated with the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee for over 25 years. A rather more warm welcome, to Prof.Haragopal, Thank you.

Balasubramanian: May I, on behalf of the panel, welcome all of you and also invite you to participate once each one of the panelists has spoken for 10 minutes. Many of you would have read the write-up that was been given particularly in the post announcement and so on regarding what does the word “knowledge society” actually mean? Are there common points between European and Indian visions of a knowledge society? It is important because more and more we get to hear about the rising power of the BRIT countries – Brazil, Russia, India, certainly China and we keep hearing that India has entered the knowledge society community. This is going to be the knowledge decade, knowledge century, where India will rule high. So what are then the visions of the Indian and the European? Do they differ or do we have common points? Or is it going to be a vision of a borderless market emanating from countries like USA and China? Would there be conflicts? Would there be confluence? These are the few things that attract or engage our attention.



(Introductory note: In India, as in Europe, visions of a 'knowledge society' have pushed science, technology and innovation into ever more prominent
roles in shaping politics, democracy and public life. In dominant visions of a knowledge society, the acquisition of
knowledge and enhancement of innovation are not questioned. But.. ..What does 'knowledge society' mean?
Is it the society we are, or the society we ought to be? Are there common points between European and Indian visions
of a knowledge society? Can these form a basis for an alternative, more complex vision of the global future
than the vision of the borderless market emanating from USA and China? Or is the underlying picture one of greater conflict and uncertainty?
Despite their scope and ambition, visions of a 'knowledge society' are fluid, not set in stone. They play out in contrasting ways in different places. In fact, these uncertainties over the direction of change are more than mere expert debates over 'safety' or 'risk'.
They are as much ethical, cultural and political as they are technical, economic or scientific. Indeed, it is in shaping these alternative visions for change that 'knowledge' becomes truly political.)
The STEPS centre at the Institute of Development Studies, UK is organising a series of Knowledge Society Debates in India. This series of dialogues is being organised in Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore to debate what we mean by the 'knowledge society', and its implications.