Green Chemistry in India

Excerpt

For any science to flourish, we need heroes and superheroes, who are revered by society, whether it understands the phenomenon or not. Einstein’s enigma and legacy made physics a superior science over chemistry during early part of twentieth century. Einstein’s global recognition as a great man was only surpassed by Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian super-soul, who taught the world a few lessons on significance of non-violence (ahimsa) and insistence on truth (satyagraha). In today’s terror-struck world, we need superheroes, whether needed for saving science or society. Despite several Nobel prizes in Chemistry, not many common folks would be able to name equally famous chemists as they would name Einstein. Then dawned the pollution-related issues and chemistry got a severe jolt. Everything and anything was blamed on chemicals. Chemists were always considered as ‘dirty scientists’ or conjurers unlike the physicists who looked at the sky for their inspiration and mathematical abstractness. The word ‘chemical’ is still a taboo! Inventing new names can divert the attention but not the problem. Then arrived on the scene the ‘new saviour’: Green Chemistry. Can geo-politics rescue chemistry as a green science, acceptable and palatable to one and all and allow it to flourish. Somebody asked me a naïve question recently, why chemicals are used by terrorists for destruction and is it not dangerous to be in the ‘chemical’ profession, creating further divide between society and science? The Chemical Heritage Foundation has been doing a fantastic job in enlightening the general public and practitioners, but we need more efforts by all countries of the world. The chemical manufacture is being shifted to developing and semi-developed nations and thus such efforts are needed in countries like China, Brazil and India. Recently, the Indian Chemical Manufacturers Association changed its name to Indian Chemical Council to widen its scope of activities and delineate its linkage with society. …