Constructing ‘Responsive’ Publics: The Politics of Public Engagement under India’s ‘Decade of Innovation’ Framework

Abstract

ABSTRACT Starting from the global innovation turn in science policies, especially discourses on Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) through democratic involvement of the public in the scientific enterprise, this article studies science policies in India and their enactment through public engagement with innovation at non-formal sites of learning. Using a single case study research design focusing on the Birla Industrial and Technological Museum, Kolkata, as well as the policy documents and science policy context within which this single case is situated, the article unpacks the underlying values, assumptions, and power dynamics that constitute the science–society relationship associated with the innovation turn. The study shows that the processes of public engagement at the Innovation Hub are actively constituting a distinct category of publics, whom we call ‘responsive’ publics. Contrary to the literature in science policies on responsiveness and rather than having a capacity to critically engage with social, ethical, and legal aspects of science and technology-led innovations, the ‘responsive’ publics in our case are primarily characterised by an institutional conditioning to react positively and uncritically to the agenda of S&T-led economic development.