I have been advocating citizen science on the background that fraudulent and oedematous science publishing is filling up academia and in many fields better science can be done outside academia. Now I am taking a new step.
I recently had to struggle with policy and realized that policy makers also have equally failed in certain fields. I am not trained in fields such as economics, politics, law, policy or governance but I have strong common sense, some first hand understanding of reality and of human behaviour. Therefore I need to do my job. So I have written a draft policy in two fields where the existing policy has evidently failed. I have tried to do a thorough and thoughtful job from my end, but I may have failed to see some aspects. I am inviting interested citizens to contribute, by carefully reading my drafts and showing your willingness to contribute to further development. I am also specifically inviting well known experts from various field to contribute if they are open minded enough. For other interested readers, indicate in which specific issues you would like to contribute and I will contact you at the right stage. Write only your name, contact, experience, background (you need not have formal qualification in that subject) and the area where you would like to contribute. Write in the comments section or write email to vidnyanak@gmail.com. Avoid writing at length right away, that would make my job messy. It’s better I will contact you one by one and interact at length.
The two areas are
- Human wildlife conflict management:
HWC is getting rapidly worse in India. Wildlife researchers have completely failed in even perceiving the reality, forget about suggesting realistic solutions. Farmers are suffering huge losses. Only recently one report of the impact of wildlife on agricultural economics in Maharashtra was published by the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE) that is available at https://farmerandwildlife.com/ . This also has provision for comments. Alternatively access it on my link and write back on the email given above. The study estimates the net agricultural loss to Maharashtra State to be between ten thousand to forty thousand crore per year. Not stagnant at this figure but increasing every year. This is orders of magnitude greater than what wild-lifers have been imagining. For entire India it could be several lakhs of crore every year. That is the true cost of wildlife conservation with the existing policy. It’s ok if the society has to bear a cost for conserving important species, but the question is who pays the cost? It is mostly the farmers whose voices are never heard. Long term conservation is just not possible this way. So something must be done. The GIPE documents stops here where the other one begins.
The other part of this study is to suggest a comprehensive policy for conflict management, which in fact becomes a new policy for conservation itself. The draft policy that I wrote is available for study and Read it here .
This is likely to be a very controversial and sensitive issue and therefore I own the responsibility myself. It clearly advocates fundamental changes to wildlife protection laws in India. It boldly projects the reality that human-wildlife coexistence is just not possible with a complete band on hunting. The institutions and NGOs I talked to were reluctant to publish frank, bold and realistic statements because of the fear of getting into controversy. Privately majority of individuals, including many wildlife researchers and forest officials agree with me. I don’t mind being the villain in the eyes of some sectors, if need be. So read carefully and contribute if you can. Also feel free to criticize me, but not based on sentiments; based on data, study, analysis, considerations in ecology, economics, law, governance and so on.
(2) Overall farmer policy for India:
This is another sensitive issue and my views are fundamentally different that what is being talked about so far. My vision of the policy is based on the upcoming concept of behaviour optimized policy. In this concept everyone is assumed to be inherently selfish and the policy and implementation system needs to be designed in such a way that when everyone behaves with maximum selfishness the system works smoothly and achieves the intended purpose. If you assume the stake holders or regulators to be honest, the system is bound to fail. If there can be corruption, there will be corruption. Policing and punishment just doesn’t make anyone honest and prevent corruption. Instead selfishness should lead to honesty in the new concept since the system itself gives maximum returns to honesty and hard work.
Can we build a corruption free system without relying on policing and punishment? My answer is yes, and that’s what the new concept of behaviour optimized policy aims at. But agriculture is a vast field and no one can be expert in everything about it. I am confident about the foundational principles. Built on this foundation other things need to detailed out. I appeal individuals with interest, experience and expertise (optional) to contribute in the specific issues they have studied or thought of.
This is a novel attempt by itself. Developing a policy by citizens’ inputs is unprecedented in my knowledge. If there any example, I will be happy to study that and learn from it too. But let’s make a beginning. Reading this will be your beginning in the collective venture. It’s a long read, but no hurry. Take your time.
In either of the fields, I do not assume that the government will listen to us. We are not the policy makers, I know. But this situation is not different from any other field in science. Today in academia nobody reads papers. Papers are published only to add to the CV, get PhDs, jobs, promotions and positions. Since I am not in academia, I work and write only because I am interested. That applies to my policy writing as well. If I receive a positive response from people, I hope one day the policy makers will also be positive about it.
Hoping to get as much response as I can read. Feel free to use local language, use translators and post the original as well as translated versions. I understand English, Hindi, Urdu and Marathi. Responses in these languages need not be translated. Feel free to share on whichever platform you feel, I am not interested in credit, but any comments, criticism, feedback or potential contribution needs to flow back.
My science, My way 