National Institute of Science Communication

and Information Resources, CSIR, India

25 years of Science
Communication In India
Lessons
From Kumbh Mela Studies

Gauhar Raza & Surjit Singh

 the beginnings…

In India the first efforts to communicate

modern scientific ideas originating in the
west were made during the latter half of
the nineteenth century. A number of
science books were translated from
English into Indian languages
 the pioneers …
• Small groups in the form of ‘science societies’
mushroomed in various parts of the country
• Such groups held regular discussions on
mathematics and science subjects but their
sphere of activities was confined to the upper
‘class’ and ‘caste’ intellectuals
• they did not make any serious efforts to
transform themselves into a large scale
‘science movement’
 mass movements…
• Organised freedom movement, in India
started taking shape in the last decade of 19th
century
• The freedom movement was the most potent
source and the carrier of modern ideas.
• The phrase ‘scientific temper’ was coined by a
politician. It was Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru, the
first Prime Minister of India
 the realm of ideas…

Freedom movement while constructing Indian identity

popularized a few specific notions. Most of these ideas
did not originate in Indian culture

– World peace and nonviolence

– Equality of human beings
– Gender equality
– Freedom of speech
– Education for all
– Jobs for all
– Science and technology for nation building
 pioneer scientists..
• JC Bose, CV Raman, SN Bose, SS Bhatnagar, H
Bhabha, Birbal Sahani----- argued that when
we get independence we will require large
scientific and technical manpower and
infrastructure
 shaping of modern India ….
• Their personal close relations with political
leadership helped the cause of science and
science popularization
• After India achieved independence the ruling
classes of the emerging capitalist society were
convinced that a wider acceptance of modern
scientific ideas is necessary for building an
industrialized country
 discourses on S&T …..
• Phrases such as ‘scientific temper’ ‘broad
scientific outlook’, ‘scientific belief system’ and
‘scientific method’ echoed repeatedly in
various forums of debate including political
speeches
 institution building…
• Education, agriculture extension centres and
health system expanded
• CSIR, IARI, DRDO, Atomic Energy Commission
were built
• Popular Science Books, Text books, journals
(specialised as well as popular), print and
electronic media was geared up to propagate
science. Many Museums and Planetariums
were built
 science communication ...
• But India is a large country with complex
problems. It is a multicultural, multi-lingual
society and is a stratified nation. The ruling
classes did not have any reason to educate
every citizen
• Official and private media catered to both the
emerging scientific consciousness and the
existing reactionary retrograde thought
structures
 science communication ...

• It is in this context that a few members of the

Communist Party of India and some social
reformers who were ‘left of the centre’
realised the importance of communicating
science to the people in their own mother
tongue
 communicating for class
consciousness...
• They recognised that communicating
science to the masses could serve two
important objectives. One that, it could
enhance the class consciousness of the
people and two that it would help the
'left', to reach newer sections of society,
specially the younger generations
 cultural modes for communication...

• Through experience the leadership of the

movement had understood that some
scientific ideas propagate faster through the
cultural medium
• Therefore Street plays and songs became an
integral part of Peoples’ Science Movement
 deconstructing PSM ...
• By 1983 some among the leadership of PSM
started asking simple questions

– What science should be communicated and why?

– Why some of the scientific ideas propagate faster than
others?
– Why some of the ideas can be communicated easily
through songs, drama and films?
– Is people’s structure of thinking a clean slate on which
any thing can be written by scientists or
communicators of science?
 question of progress..

• These questions were not articulated as

clearly as I have put them in the previous
slide, but these issues did bother us in some
form or the other
 the ‘deficit model’....
• The second half of the 1980s was the period
when Jon Miller and many other colleagues were
trying to probe the level of scientific literacy, in
the western countries
• By mid 1990s Miller et al. developed categories of
Scientific Literacy (civic, cultural, etc.)
• This lead to categorisation of citizens in
Scientifically literate and Scientifically illiterate
• And finally the trajectory crystallised into what is
known as ‘Deficit Model’
 development of indigenous models...
• In India, I was asking a different set of questions.
• In order to measure PAUS, can we use the same
questionnaire that have been developed in the west?
• Who should we focus on, those who give scientifically
correct answers or those who give wrong answers?
• Instead of categorising respondents can we develop
categories of responses?
• Given the same demographic parameters of
respondents why do some questions elicit higher
percentages of correct response while others don’t.
What are the causes of percentage variation across
various questions?
 Can we use the same questionnaire?

• Answer to the first question was No

• Indicators developed in one cultural setting
may not be of use in other socio-cultural
milieu
 Who should we focus on?
• The second question also led to a clear
answer: surely, one can probe why certain
sections of society achieve a higher level of
absorption of scientific ideas but one must
deeply investigate those who have not given
correct answers
• This would help us to devise strategies to
communicate science to those section who
have given scientifically wrong answers
 Can we develop categories of
responses?
• The third question led to four categories of
responses
• Scientifically Correct
• Scientific but Incorrect
• Extra Scientific
• Don’t Know
 Why certain questions elicit larger
percentage of correct answers?

• The fourth question led us to an

understanding that there are a few
parameters, besides demographic factors
(such as age, gender, education, exposure to
media, etc), which determine the intensity of
propagation of scientific ideas
 parametrics of cultural distance...
• Intrinsic factors

– Complexity: involved in explaining a phenomenon

– Control : Collective or individual
– Intensity :of intervention in quotidian life of a
citizens
– Lifecycle: of a phenomenon
 Cultural Model of Analysis…

Demographic
determinants
People’s
Scientific Cultural distance Cultural
Knowledge cognitive
System Structure
Intrinsic
factors
 relative cultural distance model..

• The next natural question was: Can we

determine this cultural distance empirically
• In response to this question a method to
measure ‘Relative Cultural Distance’ was
developed
 relative cultural distance model..

The ‘Relative Cultural Distance’ can be defined

as the distance travelled by a scientific idea,
information or law on time scale to become an
integral part of worldview of a common citizen
 In 1989 we the research team
goes to Kumbh Mela, held at
Allahabad, to administer a
survey and collects data for the
first time
Idi= index of democratisation of an idea
Xi= cultural distance of a phenomena from quotidian life of people
Average Cultural Distance has
reduced over the years…
Table 2: Statistical properties and cultural distance
Estimate Years
2001 (CG1) 2007(CG2) 2013 (CG3)
Χc1 shape -1.0 -2.0 -1.4
Χc2 rotation 8.5 7.1 5.8
Χc3 revolution 9.1 9.1 9.7
Χc4 galaxy 12.0 11.5 10.2
Χc5 evolution 18.8 18.0 19.0
Χc mean 9.48 8.74 8.66

Cronbach’s alpha 0.721 0.749 0.788

Standard deviation 5.47 5.15 5.30
Skewness -1.094 0.755 0.603
Kurtosis 2.188 2.10 2.178
Standard error (Mean) 0.094 0.084 0.142
Standard error (Skewness) 0.042 0.040 0.035
Standard error (Kurtosis) 0.084 0.080 0.071
Cultural distance of Rotation Revolution
various Scientific of earth of earth
concepts from
province of Kerala 3.0
6.2 Formation
of galaxy
-0.5
Shape Province 6.6
of Evolution
1
earth of
Kerala
7.4 mankind

Fourth Quadrant First Quadrant

Cultural distance Cultural distance
 Cultural distance of various
Rajasthan provinces from Rotundity of
Earth
Uttar Pradesh Bihar
0.0
-0.9 Haryana 2.4
Andhra Pradesh 0.5
-0.5 Maharashtra
2.8
Kerala -0.5
Shape of
earth 1.8
-2.0 Assam

Delhi 1.2
West Bengal

Fourth Quadrant First Quadrant

Cultural distance Cultural distance
 Comparative Shift in Cultural Distance

ΔΧci = ∑Χcit2 ─ ∑Χcit1

Where,
• ΔΧci: denotes the shift in cultural distance
• t2: is the latest point of observation on
time scale
• t1: is the earliest point of observation on
time scale
Table 3: Magnitude and polarity of shift in cultural distance
Concepts Shift Shift Shift
(2001-07) (2007-13) (2001-13)
ΔΧc mean 0.74 0.08 0.82
ΔΧc1 shape of the earth -1.0 +0.6 -0.4

ΔΧc2 rotation of earth -1.4 -1.3 -2.7

ΔΧc3 revolution of earth 0.0 +0.6 -0.6

ΔΧc4 concept of galaxy -0.5 -1.3 -1.8

ΔΧc5 theory of evolution -0.8 +1.0 -0.2
 Efficacy of Channels of Information Vrs Cultural Distance
50

Efficacy (Δ = access to channels - no access) 40

30
High Efficacy
Low
20 Efficacy
Window of
10
opportunity

0
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8

Cultural Distance of Natural Phenomena

Newspaper

Television

Radio
 The Most Important
Lesson
From Kumbh Mela Studies
 To Create
A
National Centre
Which will conduct research
on all aspects
of
Scientific temper and
Public Understanding of Science
 National Council For Science
Technology Communication, DST,
And
National Institute of Science
Communication and Information
Resources,
have taken a decision to launch this
centre
 Objectives

 Carry out surveys, create and maintain data bases

 Carry out international, national and regional comparative
studies

 Define and monitor scientific temper / rationality in

everyday life
 Construct of indicators of ‘scientific culture’
 Structure of the Centre

Electronic media Interpersonal media/ Print media Science Education

Monitoring Cell NGOs Monitoring Cell Monitoring Cell Monitoring Cell

National media Macro level

Developed Central Audio
monitoring and Studies
countries Video Facilities
intervention laboratory

Cross Country NCST National PAUS

PAUS research In-charge Research

Regional and
Studies on Values,
Micro Studies
Developing Indicators, statistical Norms and Attitudes
countries and database
laboratory

Indicators Monitoring Statistical Tools Database Services Cell PUS information

Cell Development Cell Dissemination Cell
Thanks