India’s Scientific Social Responsibility Policy

The Government of India, through the Department of Science and Technology (DST)1, has released a draft of the new Scientific Social Responsibility (SSR) Policy on 9 September 2019 for public comments. The Policy is intended to promote social responsibility in the scientific establishments on the lines of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). It encourages S&T institutions and individual scientists to discharge their social responsibility through proactive engagement with society, and through sharing of knowledge and resources for bridging the gap between science and society. If enacted, India would be possibly the first country in the world to implement a national policy on scientific social responsibility.