By Matters India Reporter
Patna: A seminar on science in Patna has stressed the need for ethical guidelines to use technology for human development.
More than 200 college students and their teachers attended the one-day seminar at Arcade Business College (ABC), Danapur-Khagaul Road in the capital city of Bihar, eastern India.
The seminar on the theme, “Science, Technology and Human Development: Issues and Opportunities” was organized by Xavier Institute of Social Research (XISR) in collaboration with ABC and Indian Institute of Science and Religion (IISR), Delhi.
Chef guest Prabhat Kumar noted that recent development of science, computer and media technology have affected the youth most. “The youth of today are passionately attached to the Internet which has both positive and negative effects,” said Kumar, who heads the department of Computer Science and Engineering of the National Institute of Technology, Patna. While internet is a useful tool of communication, it has been used to harm society and even frighten society. So there is great need to be vigilant when we use this modern gadget, he added.
In his keynote address, IISR director Jesuit Father Job Kozhamthadam highlighted the relation between business and technology. Technology developed in the island of Miletus in Greece in the 6th century BCE, because of the encouragement and sponsorship of the business class. They were practical-minded and open to new ideas, willing to try out new methods, daring to experiment and take risks, he said. Today also the same is true – daring entrepreneurs and business corporations support scientific research and technological breakthroughs, he added.
Speaking on the power of the digital revolution, Shaileh Srivastava, head, Digital Government Research Centre, Patna, said that modern youth are connected to the whole world through social media. But unethical practices in the cyber world have helped increase cybercrimes, he said.
Speaking on medical technology, Harihar Dikshit, head of the Department of Pharmacology, Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Science, Patna, said medicines cure many diseases previously untreatable, prevent many diseases and eradicate many diseases. Every medicine has got adverse effects, either dose related or patient related, he said.
Indiscriminate and irrational use of antimicrobials, steroids and pain killers by society is on the increase leading to adverse effects. Hence medicine is a double-edged sword, he added. The Pharmaco vigilance Programme of India, in line with WHO, has been initiated by Government of India, to monitor and watch the Adverse Drug Reaction due to drugs, he enlightened the participants.