Mr. Vice Chairman, Sir, the utmost dramatic event of the last year and perhaps the most significant in the history of free India was the underground nuclear explosion. The President's Address has taken due note of this event and the President has rightly congratulated our nuclear scientists and engineers on omission in the President's Address is that he made no mention of the hundreds of other scientists who are working in equally important fields such as agriculture and fisheries. Particularly this year, when agriculture has become the whole pivot of our national progress, I would have liked the President to have made at least a mention of those dedicated scientists and technologists who have been doing brilliant work for the development of our countryside. Whenever one visits an agricultural research institute in any part of the country, one is impressed by the dedication and energy of our young scientists engaged in doing the most advanced research in agriculture, dairy, fisheries, soil research, reclamation of desert areas, forestry, all of which are crucial to our development. At the same time, one gathers the impression that there is a great deal of frustration in our scientists today on account of lack of encouragement and the poor conditions in which they often have to work. Atomic scientists are perhaps somewhat better looked after than the other scientists. But, on the whole, we cannot say that we have treated our scientists very well. Even today, after all the advance we have made in science, I feel that our scientists have not received the appreciation that they deserve. The majority of them are still treated just like functionaries in a government department. Poor salary, Indiscriminate transfers, promotion of people merely according to seniority and not on the basis of merit or special experience these are the complaints that I have heard from scientists whenever I visited any of our leading scientific Institutions. I suggest, Sir, that the time has come when we should not only raise the prestige of our scientists community but also substantially improve their material rewards and conditions of work. When I say material rewards, I do not mean just salary. More important is the kind of working and living conditions we provide for the scientists how far we can reduce their domestic worries so that they can concentrate on their work. It should not be beyond the means of our Government to provide our scientists cheap housing, special educational facilities for their children, concessional travel facilities and so on. Sir, in almost every socialist country, particularly in the Soviet Union, scientists are treated as the cream of the society. In India, if we look around, who are the elite of our society? Contractors, exporters, advertising executives and film stars. When you think that, after all, what our exporters and businessmen sell are largely the products of our brilliant researchers, it seems great injustice that those who sell the products should get most of the benefit and very little goes to those who have developed the products. Therefore, Sir, it all comes down to the question of the kind of values which we have to set in our society. Unless we make a radical change in our system of values and priorities, our progress will continue to be lopsided and haphazard, as it has been in recent years. It has become more evident now than ever that only through advanced science and technology we can improve the conditions of the vast masses of our people who live in the rural areas. While I do not deny that traditional occupations and cottage industries should continue to be an integral part of our rural life, we can at the same time transform the economy of our rural areas by bringing modern science into these regions. Rural electrification, medical care, schools, modern methods of agriculture, cheap housing, dairies and fisheries all these things can be brought to the rural areas if we make the best use of our scientists and if we organise our efforts in such a way as to spread scientific knowledge to the rural population and also provide them facilities to use this knowledge. Sir, much of the work of our agricultural scientists has not so far spread to the villages. Sir, it is disappointing to see that the President's speech is set in a conventional mould. Many of the new ideas that have been discussed in the last year have failed to get a mention. While the importance of fertilisers, power, steel, coal and oil is, mentioned, I do not see any reference to the use of solar energy, wind power or gobar gas. I do not think, Sir, the dignity of the Presidential Address would have been in any way impaired by the mention of gobar or the conversion of sewage into useful manure. These, I submit, are the new tools by which we can raise the standard of life of our people living in our villages. Submit