Development of Science & Technology

We have had a national science policy since 1986. And it must be said to the credit of all the governments since then that the policy has survived the political changes. However, given the inexorable link between science and technology and national development it is sad to see nearly a quarter of a century pass before the planners were able to update the policy and formulate an action plan to operationalise it. Nevertheless, we are glad that at last the science policy has been updated in 2011, and an appropriate National Science & Technology Action Plan has been approved by the government last month.
Admittedly, the action plan is an extremely well formulated and comprehensive document which might appear to some as being too ambitious and difficult to implement. And that was what the point of discussion was at a roundtable on, "Implementability of the National Science& Technology Action Plan" organised by The Daily Star on Saturday.
Like most of our policies and plans, which are examples of extremely thorough deliberations, there is every possibility that the action plan may flounder if the objectives are not reduced to achievable range keeping in mind the long, medium and short term timeframes as stipulated in the plan.
We must certainly aim high, but given that there are 11 strategic areas identified in the action plan, all worth addressing, and 246 actions all of which should be completed for the sake of the country's development, it will be a folly not to determine the priority areas in order to meet the constraints of both resources and manpower. Otherwise, in order to achive so many things we will end up achieving very little, if at all.
We would like to flag only one point here which is, the government must make science study and the pursuit of scientific research more lucrative in order to attract merit in this field.