Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2006 07:07:18 +0530 From: Subbiah Arunachalam

From The Indian Express, New Delhi.

[Prof. C N R Rao is the President of TWAS, a Fellow of the Royal society and a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. He is the Chairman of the Science Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India.] 'The best of us in government consider science as a budget item, possibly a non-productive expenditure' [Posted online: Thursday, July 20, 2006 at 0000 hrs] The past few months have seen science and technology, in various forms and at various levels, under threat from government action and policy. It prompted a letter from Prof CNR Rao, chairman of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, to Manmohan Singh expressing his concerns on the situation and suggestions for improvement. We publish extracts from the letter: For full story, visit http://www.indianexpress.com/story/8817.html