21ST CENTURY IS THE CENTURY OF THE SCIENCE OF NATURE: PROF PB SHARMA

Now that we have seen how devastating the impact of the viruses like Corona can be and can well imagine the impact of their future derivatives, it is the right time to revive our interest in the  *Science of Life* with which the modern sciences began but lost their way to Science of Machines and Missiles in the 20th Century.

Science of Life is in fact the Science of Nature and thus requires integration of all sciences and a seamless connect between integral sciences and interdisciplinary engineering, says eminent Academician  Prof PB Sharma, Vice Chancellor Amity University Gurugram and Founder Vice Chancellor of  Delhi Technological University, DTU.

The Scientists so far have paid a much greater attention to the understanding of the physical sciences and only recently have begun to look deeper in biological sciences. We undoubtedly made great advances in S&T and put the  man on moon, allowed him to fly faster than sound and developed capabilities to commond great powers to control the physical world, and even challenged the Nature. But all this without the realisation that the *microbial kingdom* is far more stronger than the power of guns and missiles we developed so far.

Covid -19 lockdown with over 2.75 million infected cases around the world and  over 190000 deaths, and still continuing, have given us a wake up call to reboot our scientific quest and pay a much greater attention to the microbial sciences and turn towards Mother Nature for solutions of the problems of uneven economic growth and wider disparity and divide of humanity alongside with  enormous environmental pollution and exploitation of natural resouces that is ailing today our planet Mother Earth.

What we need to do is to turn towards Nature to understand that the Nature is a great giver and has enough for everyone's need but not for the lust and greed of the money and the power hungry.

As we begin to unlock the Covid lockdown in near future it would be important for us the people of this great republic India, the Bharat and our caring  government to redesign our developmental goals and strategies to acheive growth and development with cheers and smiles on the 1. 33 billion people that we have. This requires a thorough revisit of our polices, programs and actions and calls for radical departure in our approach to national development.

It may be appropriate to add that during the time now and the possible unlocking of Covid lockdown after May 3, a thorough cleaning of roads, surrounding areas , habitat and public buildings and public services including bus terminals, railway stations, Food and Vegetable Mandies and Malls and Cinema houses should be taken up on war footings to significantly upgrade the cleanliness and hygiene standards. At the same time public awareness about their social and professional responsibilities should be created by mounting TV and Social Media  Campaigns as these have been highly effective in keeping people of our country united and consciously aligned to National call to respect social distancing and isolation .

Initiatives like Odd Even vehicles on road with strict traffic discipline,  working from home for 30 to 50% workforce, 3 days a week for educational institutions and govt offices, greatly curtailed mobility by rail and air and implementing with full force the environmental protection measures would do a great good for everyone.

But there is no denying that we need to invest heavily on health care and Scientific Research on Microbial Kingdom as also on our time tested Ayurveda and Homeopathy Research to prepare us to face such challenges of Corona like viruses with greater success and determination in future, says Prof PB Sharma who is also the past President of Association of Indian Universities, AIU.

 Let the future of mankind be made much brighter with a greater and sustained focus on cultivation of Science of Nature and nurturing the *Spiritual Strength of Science* to make science more humane and a friend of Mother Nature, says Prof PB Sharma Vice Chancellor Amity University Gurugram who is also the past President of Association of Indian Universities, AIU.