New Delhi: The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) must help bring about synergy between science and society so as to bridge the urban-rural divide, eminent scientist M.S. Swaminathan said here on Wednesday.

Speaking at the 65th Foundation Day of CSIR, the greatest and largest science set-up in India, Swaminathan said: "It would be useful for CSIR to set up a joint scientific panel with the Indian Council of Social Sciences Research in order to bring about the desired synergy between science and society."

For achieving integrated expertise in technology development, the country needs a new breed of professionals committed to the "concern for man", the renowned scientist said.

"It would be useful if CSIR establishes a staff college where staff members ranging from young scientists to directors can get exposed to methods of combining science and technology with humanism and ethics.

"CSIR should help to bridge the technological, digital, gender and genetic divides which are now leading to the emergence of a shining urban India and a suffering rural India," he added.

To bridge the rural-urban divides in the application of science and technology in day-to-day life, the CSIR had initiated an integrated rural development project in the Karimnagar district of Andhra Pradesh in 1970s, he recalled.

However, it "did not yield the expected results since there was little synergy among agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries and industrial technologies".

"In contrast, the Chinese Academy of Sciences initiated over 25 years ago a SPARK programme in villages based on the principle, 'Innovation is the soul of a Nation'," he noted.

Swaminathan said the SPARK programme helped to shift over 100 million rural men and women from farm to non-farm employment within seven years, grew into what was subsequently coined as 'Township and Village Enterprises (TVEs)'.

"This was the beginning of the economic revolution in China."

"We are on the threshold of remarkable changes in science and technology. What is now important is to ensure that there is equality in access to the new marvels of science.

"This was the purpose for which CSIR was established. On this day, it would be useful to go back to the basics and rededicate ourselves to the cause of sustainable human security and happiness," Swaminathan said. IANS