The Goal: This goal of this project is to bring information about science and technology within easy reach to youngsters of India. Of over nine hundred million people, over three hundred million fall in this category. 

Only forty eight percent of India's population is functionally literate and only two percent of the population know English. It is this two percent that run the country's administrative and technological infrastructure. Of this two percent, only a fraction is technologically literate. Many of the literacy movements in India are aimed at elevating the functional literacy rate. The goal of this project is to raise the science literacy rate by improving the awareness of science and technology and its impact on their lives. This awareness should be brought to people by using whatever media that serves the purpose. 

The Need: The proposed project is the result of a gradual evolution of an ongoing desire to popularize science in India by all means available. The time is ripe for a big push. 

The Concept: The Model Center is a logical concept; it can be realized in many physical implementation avatars. Conceptually, the proposed Model Center has many modules, each emphasizing a different way of looking at science or a different aspect of science or a different science discipline. This flexibility gives the freedom in developing several modalities of expression. The Model Center will be a repository of know-how which can be drawn upon freely - as a restaurateur would do from a parent franchising company - by any agency wishing to develop a local branch. 

The concept behind the Model Center is an amalgamation of San Francisco's "Exploratorium" (a hands-on participatory science museum), an aquarium, a small town library typically found in the United States, an Internet portal for Web surfing, a botanical garden, an arboretum, a nature preserve, and a children's playground. 

In a given physical location, only a subset of these components may get implemented - depending on a variety of factors including the availability of resources. It could be an elegant building with all the trapping sof a big-city museum or it could be a small botanical garden in the back yard of a village elementary school. It could be a "low-tech" like a fish pond or high-tech like a computer-assisted "virtual museum." Imagine children taking a "virtual boat ride" through a "virtual aquarium" created by Virtual Reality technology! Imagine further that ideas for these exhibits come out of our own schools and colleges in science competitions! 

Unlike some science museums, the Model Center is easily accessible and inviting to all cadres of people from all ranks of social strata. It is an water hole where people gather and quench their intellectual thirst. 

The "Exploratorium" part of the Model Center is to cultivate among children the habit of exploring new worlds through fun and play with opportunities for "hands-on" exposure to concepts. The library and Internet portals are for teaching youngsters how to exploit available information resources. The botanical gardens and nature preserves are to bring an awareness of the importance of preserving bio-diversity on this planet. The playground is to entice children to come-in at a young age to experience the wonderful world of science. 

The expectation is that every one who uses the Center becomes more conscious of the promises, potentials and pitfalls in the use and misuse of science. All the modern media, including print, audio, video and cyberspace are expected to play complementary roles in reaching the goal. 

Experience gained from the Model Center should serve as a springboard for other centers in other parts of India and elsewhere.

Status: This idea was presented to a number of citizen groups in India and the City of Visakhapatnam