(The Gist of PIB) Joint Science Communication Forum to promote common policy and best practices [JUNE-2020]

(The Gist of PIB) Joint Science Communication Forum to promote common policy and best practices

The Department of Science and Technology (DST) has constituted a joint Science Communication Forum to facilitate interaction and coordination amongst various public sector science communication institutions and agencies.

It is represented by senior officials from various central ministries and departments, including Agriculture, Health, Culture, Defense, Space, Atomic Energy, and Information and Broadcasting, in addition to Science and Technology.
The Forum would be served by a Secretariat at the National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC), Department of Science and Technology.
The Forum brings together science communication efforts spread across various institutions and can help adoption of a common policy and best practices at a wider scale, ultimately aiming towards a national science communication framework.
These organizations are contributing to science communication using various ways and means and reaching out to the masses. However, there seems to be ample scope for interaction and integration for evolving and adopting common policies and following best practices at a much wider scale.
Concerted and collective countrywide programmes are needed to be worked out and implemented jointly by integrating them, and eventually, a national science communication framework may emerge.
The public communication of science and technology and inculcation of scientific temper among masses necessitates interaction, cooperation, and coordination amongst various stakeholders for better planning, policy, and implementation of large-scale science communication programmes in the country.