Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, June 20: British High Commissioner, James Bevan today called on Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (MoS) in Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Science & Technology (Independent Charge), Earth Sciences (Independent Charge), Atomic Energy and Space at his North Block Office here and conveyed his Government’s best wishes on the taking over of new regime headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Dr. Jitendra Singh thanked the High Commissioner for his courtesy call and said that the new Government desires to work in close collaboration with all the nations of the world including United Kingdom in a spirit of mutual coexistence, collaboration and cooperation.
He referred to Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with UK on Civil Services Reforms and also disclosed that officers from India are sent to London School of Economics, King’s College, University of Manchester and other renowned institutions in UK on regular basis. The expenses of such training are met by the Government of India, he added. Soon, the Government of India will also be sending a task force to United Kingdom to discuss the new initiatives, he informed.
Dr. Jitendra Singh and the UK High Commissioner also shared details of a new joint programme called “Invest” aimed at addressing the unmet needs of the lower strata of society in relation to health, sanitation and other basic amenities.
Referring to the Ministry of Science and Technology under him, Dr. Jitendra Singh observed that the India-United Kingdom Science and Innovation Council (SIC) has played a vital role in stepping up our bilateral science and innovation (STI) collaboration from £2 million in 2008 to currently worth £150 million of co-funding from both sides.
He said, India and United Kingdom share a traditional and historic relationship in the areas of science and technology based on mutual trust, partnership reciprocity and parity which could cover a wide gamete of basic and applied research. He further informed that from the Indian side, various departments are already cooperating with United Kingdom Departments of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), British Council and Royal Society.
Dr. Jitendra Singh told the High Commissioner that major areas of cooperation that can be covered included “Next Generation Telecommunication”, “Solar Voltaic Material”, “Weather Science” and “Stem Cell”.
Referring to the earliest initiatives in the field of mathematics and health science by Asian Indian scholars, Dr. Jitendra Singh expressed satisfaction to note that new programmes in “Health” and “Energy” sectors has been jointly arranged by the two Governments and over 100 projects under UK-India Education Research Initiative (UKIERI) are in progress with successful implementation.
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