Society For Scientific Values

Annual General Body Meeting (AGM) Minutes

Year	S. No. of the AGM
2008	-
2007	15
2006	14
2005	13
2004	12
2003	11

Minutes of the 15th AGM of the Society for Scientific Values: TOP

Minutes of the 15 th Annual General Meeting of SSV held on Oct 24, 2007

The AGM was held at 4:30 pm on Oct 24, 2007 at Delhi University . The meeting was attended by the following members of the Society.

R.K. Kotnala, R.P. Tandon, U.C. Lavania, S.K. Sen, R. S. Kaushal, B. Buti, P.N. Srivastava, N. Raghuram, Indramani, B.B.G. Tilak, M.P. Srivastava, V.D. Vankar.

The minutes of the meeting are as follows :

The President presented the annual report of the Society. The report is attached.
As per the earlier decision of the EC, those members of EC who do not attend three consecutive meetings of the EC without taking a leave of absence may be replaced. Accordingly, the following members need to be replaced:

Dr Ashima Anand, Dr B B Sharma, Dr Prankishan, and Dr Swaranjit Singh.

The members were asked to nominate replacements. The following names were nominated and approved by the AGM:

Dr R Kotnala as Joint Secretary ; Dr Vasantha Muthuswamy, Dr Harikrishna and Dr J C Sharma as members of EC.

Also approved were Dr Santa Chawla and Dr S. Gupta as Associate Editor of News & Views and Prof S Sen and Dr Bikash Raymahashay as members of the Editorial Advisory Committee.

On behalf of SSV and on my behalf, I express our gratitude to the outgoing members for their service to the Society.
The AGM approved the institutional membership of Rajiv Gandhi Technical University , Bhopal . A one-time membership fee of Rs 10,000/- was approved. The University will be listed on our website, will be entitled to receive our News & Views, and will receive assistance in the process of sensitization of its faculty and students for ethical conduct of R&D activities.
The members discussed at length various ways of making the vision and mission of the Society more visible to the scientific community and public at large. Suggestions included more institutional seminars at different places in the country, popular articles in media and appropriate journals/ magazines, and media press conference. The EC will take appropriate steps in this direction.
The meeting ended with a vote of thanks to the Chair.

K L Chopra

President, SSV

Minutes of the 14th AGM of the Society for Scientific Values: TOP

The meeting was held on 11 May 2006 at NPL.

It was attended by 22 members:

Prof. K.L. Chopra,
Prof. P.N. Srivastava,
Dr. P.M. Bhargava,
Dr. N. Raghuram,
Dr. Indramani Mishra,
Dr. Bimla Buti,
Dr. B.B.G. Tilak,
Dr. P.S. Datta,
Dr. P.N. Tiwari,
Dr. R.K.Kotnala
Dr. Ashima Anand,
Dr. B.D. Malhotra,
Dr. K.Satyanarayana,
Dr.R.S. Kaushal,
Dr. N.D. Kaushika,
Dr. B..B. Sharma,
Dr. U.C. Lavania,
Dr. Ram Kishore,
Dr. Hari Kishan,
Dr. Kishan Lal,
Dr. A.V. Mohavir
Dr. R.K. Suri.

The following decisions were taken:

The report of the President on the activities during 2005-2006 has been approved.
The EC recommendation of shifting the Regd. office of SSV has been approved, as follows: "Due to some uncertainty , the present registered office of the Society may have to be changed. The AGM approved the change to any other convenient address as deemed fit by the EC. The Director , NPL may be requested by the President to permit the use of NPL address for the registered office of SSV."
The EC recommendation of opening regional chapters of SSV has been approved and the EC has been authorised to work out the necessary modalities.
The EC recommendation of replacing any EC member absent for three consecutive EC meetings (without information or sufficient reason) has been approved and the EC has been authorised to find suitable persons as replacements.
The support rendered by Dr. Vikram Kumar to host various EC meetings, seminars and the GBM in NPL, and the efforts of Dr. R.K. Kotnala in making the necessary arrangements for all the events held at NPL are gratefully acknowledged.

Sd/-

N. Raghuram

Secretary, SSV

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Minutes of the 13th AGM of the Society for Scientific Values: TOP

The meeting was held at 5:00 pm on April 29, 2005 at the NRL Auditorium , Pusa Campus.

The following members of the Society were present :

Dr. P.S Datta
Dr. B. Buti
Dr. Ashima Anand
Dr. Bansi Dhar Malhotra
Dr. K. Satyanarayana
Dr. N. D. Kanishka
Dr. P. N. Tiwari
Dr. S. K. Sharma
Dr. B.B. Sharma
Dr. Indra Mani Mishra
Dr. K. L. Chopra
Dr. R.S. Kaushal
Dr. R. G. Sharma
Dr. R. K. Kotnala
Dr. B.B.G. Tilak
Dr. N. Raghuram
Dr. S.P. Singh
Dr. B. Singh
Dr. Vikram Kumar
Dr. T.N. Chaudhary
Dr. Rajesh Kochhar

The AGM paid homage to the late Dr. AS Paintal, the founder President of SSV.

Reports were presented by the Treasurer and the President. Briefly, our present SSV membership stands at 200. Rs. 7802/- were collected from new members during 2004. The Rs 1 Lakh grant by DST was fully utilized. The Society has a bank balance of Rs 1,17,241, primarily from the membership fees and the DST grant of Rs 1 Lakh for the FY 2004-2005. The grant was received in April 2005, but we understand from the DST that we will be allowed to spend the grant during 2005.

The President reported on the various awareness /sensitisation Seminars given by him at IIT, Delhi, DCE, GGS Indraprastha University and NPL. At the invitation of the Chairman, Science Advisory Committee to the Cabinet (SAC-C), the President made a presentation to SAC-C,
making a case for institutional (Local) S&T Ethics Committees, and an autonomous National S&T Ethics Committee, acting as Watchdog-cum-Think Tank for the country. What the government will do is not clear at present.

The President mentioned that a number of cases of unethical practices have been reported to SSV. Some of these have been examined in detail. The decision regarding which of these cases will be put up on the SSV website will be taken by the EC. The next Newsletter (in process) will carry more information on the subject.

The AGM approved the following :

Due to some uncertainty , the present registered office of the Society may have to be changed. The AGM approved the change to any other convenient address as deemed fit by the EC. The Director , NPL may be requested by the President to permit the use of NPL address for the registered office of SSV.
Any two officers of EC, namely President , Vice President, Secretary , or Treasurer be authorized for operating accounts of the SSV.
Research students and young researchers may be nominated and elected by the usual procedure for Associate Membership of SSV for a period of three years and on payment of membership fee of Rs 300.
Institutional ( academic and R&D ) membership of SSV through the regular procedure of election of a member at a life-time fee of Rs 5000 be accepted.
Donations and sponsorship by corporates be accepted.
Keeping in mind that the society has no office and very limited funds , a paperless and electronic office is the only way to serve the membership. As one of its consequences, the procedure for election of the new EC stands simplified and amended as follows :
"The EC will prepare a list of nominees for the new Executive Council and send the ballot paper slate to the SSV members by E-mail / post for approval or otherwise of each nominee. The ballot will have blank spaces for any other nomination to be suggested by the member".

The meeting ended with a vote of thanks to the Chair.

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Minutes of the 12th AGM of the Society for Scientific Values: TOP

12th Annual General Body Meeting of the SSV held on 8^th March, 2004 at INSA, New Delhi

The following were present:

Dr. K.L. Chopra
Dr. A.S. Paintal
Dr.(Mrs.) Indira Nath
Dr. P.N. Tiwari
Dr. Krishan Lal
Dr.(Mrs.) Ashima Anand
Dr. A.C. Jain
Dr. Pran Krishan
Dr. R.C. Kaushal
Dr. Inder Mani Mishra
Dr. Sanjay K. Sharma
Dr. B.B. Sharma
Dr. P.S. Datta

Dr. P.N. Srivastava, Dr. Narendra Nath, Dr. P.N. Bhargava, Dr. Lalji Singh, Dr. S.R. Valluri, Dr. H.D. Kumar, Dr. V.P. Dimri, Dr.(Mrs.) Vasantha Muthuswamy, Dr. A.V. Moharir, Dr. Radesh Suri conveyed their inability to attend the meeting due to prior commitments.

The President SSV welcomed all the members present. The Agenda items were discussed and the following decisions were taken:

The minutes of the 11^th AGB meeting of the SSV were confirmed.
The President, SSV gave an overview of the various activities of the SSV in the recent past and present, briefed the members on the actions taken on the earlier decisions of the SSV and the proposed future activities of the SSV. He emphasized on increasing the number of members and participation of more and younger persons to enhance the awareness on the ethical and moral issues and norms in pursuit of science.
The Secretary, SSV presented an overview of the SSV activities and mentioned that despite limited infrastructure and facilities available with the SSV Secretariat, during the last one year, 5 Executive Council meetings and 2 AGB meetings have been organized. All the minutes of the various meetings were prepared and distributed to different members all over the country and abroad. A seminar on "Ethics in Science" was organized in INSA. The first issue of the SSV bulletin was brought out and the draft for the second bulletin is ready to be given to printer. Plans have been made to organize a panel discussion/seminar to be held at IIT, Delhi on 7^th of April, 2004. 15 new life members were elected. Relevant correspondences were made with DST for release of DST fund and succeeded in getting the funds released by the end of the year 2003. Materials were provided for web site and web site was updated.
The Treasurer presented the expenditure statement and informed that the balance amount from the DST fund during this financial year will be utilised.
The letter of Dr. S.R. Valluri regarding code of conduct was distributed to all the members present. A draft document on the code of conduct prepared by Dr. P.N. Tiwari was also distributed to all the members. The members felt that both these documents have several points which are very important and many of the points are of common nature. Mention was also made of the following code of conduct documents: Max Planck Society, Germany document, adopted by the CSIR; Alliance of European Academies and Universities Document; US Office of Research Integrity. The President suggested that it will be worthwhile to integrate these documents along with the suggestions made in several other available many other similar documents. Dr. P.N. Tiwari, Dr.(Mrs.) Indira Nath and Dr. B.B. Sharma were requested to integrate such available documents and prepare a draft document for wide circulation to the members, academic institutions and the concerned GOI departments.
The members urged that the Minister of Science & Technology be again requested for continuing the grant by the DST and the possibility of having a permanent Office of Research Integrity in the Prime Minister’s Secretariat or at any other appropriate place be explored.

The meeting ended with vote of thanks to the Chair.

President, SSV Secretary, SSV

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Minutes of the 11th AGM of the Society for Scientific Values: TOP

Minutes of the Annual General Body meeting of the SSV held on 28th April, 2003 at INSA premises.

The following were present:

Dr. K.L. Chopra
Dr. A.S. Paintal
Prof. A.R. Verma
Dr. P.N. Srivastava
Prof. N. Nath
Dr. P.N. Tiwari
Dr. Kishan Lal
Dr.(Mrs.) Ashima Anand
Dr. H.K. Prasad
Dr. I.M. Mishra
Dr. P.S. Datta

Dr. P.N. Bhargava, Dr. G. Govil, Dr. Lalji Singh, Dr. V.P. Dimri, Dr. Rajiv Raman, Dr. R.V. Rastogi, Dr. K.L. Pathak, Dr. Prem Narain and Dr. Indira Nath conveyed their inability to attend the meeting due to prior commitments.

A condolence was expressed for Prof. J.N. Kapur by observing two minutes silence. Prof. J.N. Kapur contributed significantly in different activities of the SSV.

The President, SSV gave an overall view of the various activities of the SSV in the past and present, briefed the members on the actions taken on the earlier decisions of the SSV, the proposed future activities of the SSV, and a brief description of the talks delivered by different speakers in the seminar on Ethics in Science. He suggested that participation of more and younger persons is required to enhance the awareness on the ethical and moral issues and norms in pursuing science. This requires increasing membership of active scientists as well as non-scientists committed to the objectives of the SSV. Finally, Dr Chopra mentioned that DST is considering our request sympathetically for providing some financial support to run the routine activities of the SSV. The agenda was discussed and following decisions were taken.

As recommended by SSV-EC, it was agreed that life membership fee be increased to Rs.500/- without admission fee and that for the NRIs be fixed at $100.
SSV should make an effort to interact with and involve all scientific Societies with similar objectives on discussing ethical issues in the pursuit of science and technology. In this connection the President, SSV will also write a letter to Mrs. Shashi Mishra, Additional Secretary, ICAR who has shown keen interest on ethical issues in pursuing agricultural science through establishment of a National Academy in ICAR complex.
It was resolved that the President, SSV will write to the UGC, AICTE, ICMR, ICAR etc. that SSV recommends strongly that, as a measure of ethical concern, all approved Ph.D. thesis should list the names of the thesis examiners.
Funds permitting, SSV will make an effort to organize an International Conference on Ethics in Science at the end of next year at INSA premises.
Minor constitutional amendments (attached) in the SSV constitution recommended by the EC were discussed and approved for placing before the members for approval as per rules.

The meeting ended with vote of thanks to the Chair.

( K.L. CHOPRA ) ( P.S. DATTA )
President, SSV Secretary, SSV

Minor amendments suggested in the SSV constitution

Membership of active non-scientists committed to the aims and objectives of the SSV.
Life membership fee be increased to Rs.500/- without admission fee and that for the NRIs be fixed at $100.
In the entire Rules & regulations, wherever 'he' occurs, it should be deemed to include 'she", and similarly for him, his, etc., the proper cognates deemed to have been included. It needs to be put at the top of all the Rules.

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