Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Nov 2 : Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh today called upon scientific organisations and research institutions across the country to chalk out a roadmap for initiating a nationwide public outreach campaign to create awareness in science, technology, innovation related enabling provisions introduced by the Modi Government for StartUps and potential entrepreneurs.
The Union Minister said, after the Chandrayaan-3 landing on the Moon, Dr Jitendra Singh said, there is a massive public interest generated in India’s Space exploration projects and the momentum needs to be sustained.
“This campaign will not only raise public awareness about our pioneering achievements by DST, CSIR, DBT, ISRO, DRDO & other scientific Departments during the more than nine years of the Government led by PM Modi, but also inspire and motivate the youth to contribute and be a part of this exciting journey,” he said.
The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, was chairing a meeting of all Science Secretaries in New Delhi.
The meeting was attended by Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India, Professor Ajay Kumar Sood; Secretary, DST, Prof. Abhay Karandikar; Secretary, CSIR, Dr N. Kalaiselvi; Secretary, DBT, Dr Rajesh S. Gokhale; Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman, ISRO, S. Somanath; Director, BARC, took over the charge of Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, and Secretary Department of Atomic Energy, Dr. Ajit Kumar Mohanty, besides senior officers.
Lauding the ‘One Week One Lab’ student connect programme of CSIR-NIScPR conducted between Jan.1, 2023- Sep 24, 2023 by 37 CSIR Laboratories/ Institutions during which their doors were thrown open to the students and public, Dr. Jitendra Singh called for grooming innovation aptitude in school children.
“Innovative learning will contribute to make India a $5 trillion economy goal and fulfil the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat,” he said.
The S&T Minister said the INSPIRE scheme is helping create a scientific temper as every year there is an increasing number of aspiring students competing for the awards. The first-ever Mentorship Programme for Young Innovators was launched in November 2021 to mark the 75th Year of India’s Independence, he said.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that the DST supports a variety of infrastructure related schemes like FIST, PURSE, SAIF, etc. towards augmenting/ facilitating the R&D equipment for research activities at various Universities/ Institutes and other Academic organizations as well as promote industry-academia linkages.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that PM Modi’s vision is to step up the efforts in various fields to make the country ‘the most advanced laboratory for modern science’ in the ‘Amrit Kaal’-the next 25 years leading to a Viksit Bharat.
Working towards this vision, the Government has committed to invest heavily on building research infrastructure in the country. Under FIST Program, DST has supported 3,074 Departments and PG Colleges at a total budget of about Rs. 3130.82 crores for Scientific Infrastructure Building in various STEM Departments in Universities and academic institutions.
Dr. Singh pointed out that flexible infrastructure grants are being provided to universities nationwide to keep up the vigour of conducting highly challenging R&D activities with an investment of Rs 950 crores till date.
Sharing some of the key achievements of India in S & T like India’s massive jump in its ranking of Global Innovation Index (GII) from 81st in the year 2015 to 40th in 2022 among 132 economies of the world, 3rd rank in terms of number of StartUps, Unicorns, scientific publications and PhDs awarded, the Minister said that India has in recent years made some unprecedented progress in S & T areas.
“During the Covid pandemic, India not only saved its own population but also helped the world by providing vaccines and we also delivered the world’s first DNA vaccine,” he said.
Referring to 9 years of Modi rule, Dr Jitendra Singh pointed out that apart from formal jobs, lakhs of opportunities and avenues were created outside the government sector for the youth of the country, be it Start-ups, Mudra Scheme, PM SVANidhi.
During the meeting, the Union Minister reviewed preparations for the 9th India International Science Festival (IISF) – 2024 to be held at the NCR Biotech Science Cluster, Faridabad from January 17-20, 2024.
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