AbstractA rhetoric and hypocritical nature of official patronage to science and technology, common in developing countries, is illustrated through two abortive attempts at science planning in Sri Lanka. Such lessons have shown the fallacy of looking for official directives for science planning, and, rather than being passive onlookers, the need to initiate a persuasive dialogue with the planning hierarchy is stressed. The mechanism for such a dialogue is by intensive focusing of critical issues through appropriate management information tools. The current efforts in evolving such strategic tools for science management are discussed.