Essays on Science and Society

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Promoting free flow of ideas and creating, preserving and disseminating knowledge constitute the central theme of the vision and mission of the University of Calcutta. To that end, I feel, the present volume entitled "Essays on Science and Society" will mark a significant contribution.

The volume incorporates a commendable wealth of knowledge in the form of valuable contributions made by eminent scholars. The Calcutta University Teachers' Association (CUTA) has done a laudable effort in organizing two thought-provoking Seminars entitled "State and Society in Contemporary India" and "Philosophy of Science and Literature" as parts of the Post-centenary Golden Jubilee Celebration of the University. The efforts made by Dr. Biplab Chakrabarti, General Secretary, CUTA and his team to organize these important events and to disseminate the knowledge gained in the form of a publication have earned deep appreciation from the entire University community.

I am happy to note that CUTA has, in this manner, gone much beyond the traditional role of an association and has integrated itself with the main line of activity of the University viz. contributing to the advancement of learning.

I sincerely hope that in the years to come CUTA will continue to hold aloft the flag of quest for new frontiers of knowledge by organizing seminars, scholarly lectures and similar activities.

I recommend the volume to the reader.

As a part of sesquicentennial celebration of the University, the Calcutta University Teachers' Association (CUTA) organised two seminars titled as "State and Society in Contemporary India" and "Philosophy of Science and Literature" held on 16.12.2006 and 24.03.2007 respectively.

As an academic exercise, the CUTA took this opportunity not only for holding the seminars but also to publish the proceedings and write up in different manners. In the CUTA Bulletins (December 2006 and March 2007) the proceedings of the Seminars have been published. In this volume an attempt has been made to compile the complete valuable writings of the author-contributors.

We always claim that an association like CUTA can not shrug off responsibilities in organizing academic seminars. It is not an organization which confines itself only with the financial and other demands of the teachers. CUTA feels the responsibility of bringing the experts of various fields under one umbrella by exchanging their views among themselves, so that the teachers of science and technology can interact with the teachers of social sciences, humanities and other branches of knowledge. The CUTA took the role of an active agent for bridging the gap between the two cultures.

The deliberations in the seminars have been compiled here in a volume in the name of "Essays on Science and Society". Different aspects of science—its philosophy, relation with other branches of knowledge, development and crises have been dealt with by the contributors in Section-I.

At the same time the aspects of society mentioning the situation relating to education, law, environment, history, politics and economics have been discussed by the contributors in Section-II.

It is hoped that this volume will be a valuable addition to interdisciplinary understanding of the academic community.

The Editorial Board sincerely acknowledges the active co-operation and advice of Professor Asis Kumar Banerjee, Vice-Chancellor, Professor Suranjan Das, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Academic Affairs), Professor Tapan Kumar Mukherjee, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (BA&F), Professor Samir Kumar Bandyopadhyay, Registrar, Professor Ramkrishna Chattopadhyay, Professor Bimal Kumar Mukhopadhyay, Dr. Saumendranath Bera and Sri Subir K. Sen for bringing out of this publication. It will be injustice if we do not mention the names of Sri Tridib Chatterjee, Smt. Pubalika Maitra and Sri Rahul Majumder who also took the pain of proof reading for this volume. We do acknowledge the sincere efforts of Sri Pradip Kumar Ghosh and his associates of the University Press for timely publication of this volume.