Just a few days before National Science Day (February 28) this year, an official press release of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) cryptically announced the death of Vigyan Prasar, an autonomous body under its purview. It did not offer any explanation for the decision to shut the agency, which is tasked with promoting scientific temper and enhancing public understanding of science through communication.
It has now emerged that the agency will cease to exist from July-end this year. Officials have tried to explain that the move was a part of an exercise initiated by the NITI Aayog to rationalise the functioning of autonomous societies functioning under various wings of the Union government.
The fact that Vigyan Prasar is not alone in this exercise is no consolation. The whole affair has been cloaked in secrecy, without public consultation at any level. Since it began as an exercise to target autonomous bodies, it implies that the government wants all its agencies to be centrally run, with no room for any functional, institutional, and intellectual autonomy.
