Scientific culture must be created in this country, says Minister Amunugama
Sri Lanka has unfortunately not been able to develop a “critical mass” of scientific personnel and scientific attitudes that is necessary to take it forward in the modern world, according to Dr. Sarath Amunugama, Minister of Science, Technology, Research, Skills Development, & Vocational Training and Kandyan Heritage.
Speaking as Chief Guest at the National Science Foundation (NSF) Annual Awards Ceremony held at the BMICH last week, he observed that the country is in dire need of developing and establishing a scientific culture.
Awards were conferred under the categories, Research, Technology, Young Scientist and Supervision of Research Degrees.
While thanking NSF for the work it has been doing for the last 50 years, the Minister pointed out that the criterion by which one can judge whether a Third World country is going forwards or backwards is its attitude to science. He cited the examples of China and Singapore where scientists and professionals are at the helm of public affairs.
He also drew the attention of the scientists present to the need not only to advance the frontiers of scientific knowledge but also to endeavour to apply such knowledge to developing innovations for the solution of the country’s problems.
As an example he showed that sea water that has become a problem in coastal areas by making cultivable land saline could instead through desalination become a local solution to the scarcity of drinking and irrigation water, avoiding the need for taking water through pipelines across large distances.
He also cited the example of local or regional electrical grids obtaining in some countries, often fed by run of the river type of hydroelectric plants that avoid the huge expense of both the construction of dams and that of transmission through a national grid. Extracts from his speech were released to the media this week by his office.