Page 17 - Dream 2047 October

REMEMBRANCE
Manish Mohan Gore
Dr Narender Kumar Sehgal –
publication of popular science books was started by Vigyan Prasar in 1994.
Vigyan Prasar has since published more than 300 excellent books in Hindi, English and other Indian languages. His objective was to publish in areas of science which the commercial publishers do not pay attention to.
In September 1990, science filmmaker Nandan Kudhyadi gave Dr Sehgal a 32-page manuscript which was an autobiography of Ruchi Ram Sahni, the father of India’s renowned palaeobotanist Birbal Sahni. Ruchi Ram Sahni was a professor of chemistry and science communicator in Punjab who used to demonstrate interesting experiments of chemistry. People used to watch these demonstrations with great interest and used to buy tickets for one or two ‘annas’ to see these interesting experiments. From all possible sources, Dr Sehgal gathered information about Ruchi Ram Sahni and published a book in English in 1994 on the life and contribution of this anonymous soldier of science communication. Later, its Hindi and Punjabi versions also were published. Dr Sehgal was also interested in exploring the history of popular science literature in various languages of India. Under his guidance, the historical document ‘Hundred years of popular science writing’ was published by Vigyan Prasar in Hindi, Bangla and Marathi.
‘Ready to Print Science Page’ was a unique initiative of Dr Sehgal. Under this project, interesting information of science was designed and sent to the leading newspapers and magazines of the country for publication directly.
Dr Sehgal regularly wrote editorial articles in the magazines NCSTC Commu- nications and Dream 2047, which were published in 2013 in the form of a book by Vigyan Prasar (Communicating Science: Questions and Issues of Concern). Realising the need for science clubs Dr Sehgal built a nationwide network which is still run by Vigyan Prasar, called ʻVIPNET’ (Vigyan Prasar Network of Science Clubs).
Dr Sehgal believed that connecting with common man is very important to achieve the objectives of science.
Shining star of
Dscience communication
r Narender Kumar his life in the service of the Sehgal, who laid country. He realised that the foundation of creating scientific awareness
science communication
in India, passed away on
7 September 2020. He
worked to connect the
ongoing science communication and popularisation efforts in the country into one formula and gave it a clear direction. Today the programmes of science communication, whether it is publication of popular science literature, VIPNET Clubs, Children's Science Congress, or astronomy awareness campaign, most of them were initiated by Dr Sehgal.
Some scientists like Prof. Yash Pal and Prof. Jayant Vishnu Narlikar contributed to scientific research as well as science popularisation. But Dr Sehgal was one scientist who, instead of going into scientific research, devoted his entire life to the development and promotion of science communication. After comp- leting his PhD in particle physics (1969) from the University of Wisconsin, Madison (USA), he returned to India and started writing science-related articles. For nearly three years (1978-1981), he was a visiting scientist at the Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad, but the passion for science popularisation brought him to NCSTC, DST. He took charge of the NCSTC Secretariat in 1982, and from here, his journey in leading science communication began.
The Architect of Science communication
Born on 7 November 1940 in Lahore (now in Pakistan), Sehgal was a promising student from the beginning. He engrossed himself in the study of sciences, completed his research work in about six years, abroad. He could pursue a bright career in the research or teaching science in India or abroad. But he returned to India and decided to dedicate
and spreading science and technology information among people is an important field. His dedication and
determination were extraordinary, so whatever he did in the field of science communication became an example and proved to be a milestone.
There was a printing press in his ancestral house; so from childhood, he was fond of newspapers and magazines. In 1972, at the age of 32, he started publishing a quarterly magazine called Scientific Opinion and continued its publication for 4 years. He was the publisher, printer, writer and distributor of this magazine. At the same time, he also contributed to the prestigious international weekly science journal Nature and remained associated with it for two years (1974-1976). After the National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC) was set up, he started much-needed initiatives and launched nationwide campaigns. Since science communication was an emerging field, it was essential to achieve important goals speedily. For this, he felt the need for autonomy at the institutional level and then he created an autonomous organisation, Vigyan Prasar, under DST. Later, he also set up the NCSTC-Network, which is a network of 50 government and non-governmental organisations.
Dr Sehgal knew that the objectives of science communication could not be achieved without involving people in it. He gave priority to the development of scientific awareness in children. For this, he embodied the concept of creating significant literature and published books like Sach to kuchh aur hai, Aakash Darshan ka Ananda, Dekha Parkha Sach, and Kyon aur Kaise from NCSTC. Later,
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