NEW DELHI: Scientific community and institutions in the country will soon have a social obligation to give back to society on the lines of Corporate Social Responsibility. This will even also play a role in their performance evaluation.
The draft Scientific Social Responsibility (SSR) policy by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) calls for an ethical obligation of “giving back” to less endowed stakeholders of science, technology and innovation as well as society at large.
According to DST, the need for SSR was felt as the impact of Science & Technology (S&T) on society is often difficult to quantify and the people’s representatives and the masses at large are uncertain about how the investments on S&T benefit society.
“SSR would inculcate moral responsibility among the scientific community which may trigger social entrepreneurship and start-ups impacting S&T ecosystem and society. This policy would strengthen the existing efforts of institutions in an organised and sustainable manner,” said the policy that has been put in public domain seeking suggestions.
The policy calls for giving necessary budgetary support to institutions for SSR. Individual SSR activities should be given due weightage in performance evaluation of the knowledge worker,” says the policy. Scientific communities would be liable for at least 10 person-days of SSR per year and can choose from a wide range of SSR activities pertaining to the transmission of scientific knowledge to society.