Notes and Comments

Abstract

Universities and Applied Sciences.Though no one can deny the need for research in the fundamental and general problems of the sciences it must be accepted that the time has come for those responsible in carrying on scientific investigations such as Universities and Research Institutes to divert the lines of research as far as possible.from the time-honored beaten tracks of mere academic lines towards the utilitarian aspects of scientific research.So far most of the Universities.at any rate in India.ave been arranging their research courses in such sciences as Botany.Zoology ,Chemistry ,etc.more along the aspects of pure ssciience than along filds of the applied aspects of such sciences It is needless to add that these are times when the mere academic pursuit of any pure science will not be of any great help to the immediate needs of the country:workers in different branches put their hands together,co-operate,and make the very best use of their scientific knowledge towards the urgent needs and the calls of the country.Specialisation in different branches is certainly essential and commendable but as the writer in 'Nature'put it'Science is so specialise to-day that workers in any one branch of science are liable to have their attention so concentrated upon their own particular subjects that they see little of the field around them and are unconcentrated in its general activities or problems'.There must therefore be co-ordination in research and the latter should as far as possible be planned and carried out with the hope of getting some results which will prove of some matrial use to the country.It may not be possible to produce thee desired results in all such cases.but a great deal depends upon the Universities and Research Intitutes in the way they direct research in the various sciences.That the pure academic mentality of scientific workers has not as yet fully reformed may be seen from the attitude taken by the recent British Association meeting at York which in full session refused to adopt resolution brought forward by one of the sections to the efffect that"the Government invite the leading scientific institutions and societies to appoint in conference representatives to co-operate with them to formulate plans for dealing with the present problems facing the country'Though this is disappointing it is high time that the scientific worker realises that he has to shoulder some of the responsibilities of citizens to meet the needs of the country and help towards its material welfare:especially is this the case in India and scientific workers all over the country will to well to bear this in mind.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.29321/MAJ.10.002070

Pages

460 - 464

Creative Commons

Copyright

© The Author(s), 2026. Published by Madras Agricultural Students' Union in Madras Agricultural Journal (MAJ). This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited by the user.

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