Dr. Pushpa Mitra Bhargava (1928-2017) who was a visionary, Scientist, writer, thinker, institution builder and a strong proponent of scientific temper, was actually a fearless torch bearer of rationalism and humanism. He was the founder director of Centre for Cellular Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad. Bhargava was born in Ajmer in 1928 and studied in Varanasi, Allahabad and Lucknow. Having got a PhD in Chemistry from Lucknow University, he worked at Central Laboratories for Scientific and Industrial Research in Hyderabad. In 1953, he went to USA and worked with Prof. Charles Heidelberger at the University of Wisconsin and had his contribution in the discovery of 5 his contribution in the discovery of 5 Fluorouracil, the well known anti-cancer drug. In 1958 he came back to India and joined in the Regional Research Laboratory, Hyderabad which is IICT (Indian Institute of Chemical Technology) now. Then he had a transition to biology and had his great contributions in reproductive biology, cancer biology and organization of cells in tissues. He received many natural and international awards including Padma Bhushan.
Pushpa M Bhargava is regarded as the architect of modern biology and biotechnology in Indian science. As he was a people's scientist and a crusader against rationality, he propagated scientific temper to fight obscurantism. In 'Angles, Devils and Science, a collection of articles on scientific temper he talks about 'secularism and scientific temper'. Bhargava says that India is the only country where commitment to scientific temper is enshrined in the constitution as a duty of its citizens. Then only socio economic, scientific and technological development can be attained. Secularism is considered as religious tolerance. But it is the conduct of human affairs based on naturalistic considerations uninvolved with religion. Oxford dictionary says that being secular means being "Sceptical of religious truth or opposed to religious education”. It involves as much denial as acceptance. Secularism does not argue against personal beliefs - as long as such beliefs are not institutionalized or imposed on anyone else or lead to a social conflict.
The spirit of inquiry and the acceptance of the right to question and be questioned are fundamental to scientific temper. Religion was always a hindrance to the progress of science. There were conflicts between Copernicus and Galileo on the one side and the Church on the other. Darwin and Huxley were laughed at by the Church for saying that man has evolved from 'lower' creatures. Religions have two aspects namely ethical aspects and dogmatic aspects. Thus all values have become eternal. But a value that is desirable today may not be desirable a hundred years from now, when life-styles change. Similarly, Science denies the existence of the supernatural and of miracles which are the very essence of religious dogma. Religions are based on revelation. Truth was revealed to Moses, Christ, Muhammad and Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. But, science has no place for revelation. to science Truth is to be discovered. Science allows testable predictions on the basis of close observation and collation of available information. Man's landing on Moon, Pauli's prediction of neutrino and the prediction of the existence of planets Neptune and Plato are some such predictions that became true. Science progresses by disproving. Two Nobel Prizes were awarded for discoveries that were proven to be incorrect.
Science is the right to question but religion demands an unquestioned acceptance. When science takes the unknown as a challenge, religion often leads to a fear of the unknown. Thus scientific temper leads to scepticism of all truth based on faith and thereby leading to a negation of religion that is implicit in the definition of secularism. As India is a secular state, the state in our country has no religion. Religions have no part in public affairs. Appointments to various positions are made on a secular basis. There is an increasing tolerance of inter religious marriages. But, secularism as practiced in India has been far from negation of religious dogma. Bhargava is of the opinion that the concept of reservations as practiced in the country is unscientific and non secular. Similarly if a religion is taught with its dogma, it is denial of science and of all other religions. Instead religion should be taught as a fact of history. Permitting religion based organizations and political parties, religious teaching in minority institutions, having religious holidays and having religious biased textbooks, encroachment of public land for shrines and religious practices are all doing damage to secularism. So, scientific temper based secularism is what is needed here.
As poverty and communal or religious identity go hand-in-hand throughout the world, an environment of scientific temper is the only solution. Only with the spirit of secularism, along with scientific temper we can have integrity and unity in our country.
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