KAPURTHALA — Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while inaugurating the 106th Indian Science Congress (ISC)-2019 at the Lovely Professional University in Punjab on Wednesday, stressed upon the need of research and innovation in the field of science and technology.
Modi remembered India’s former Prime ministers Lal Bahadur Shashtri and Atal Behari Vajpayee for their vision on research and development to promote science and technology in everyday life. He said that while science was universal, technology innovations should focus on the needs of local people.
“Our former Prime Minister Lal Bahudar Shastri, in his historic speech, gave us the slogan ‘jai jawan, jai kisan’. Our great Prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in his historic speech at Pokhran said, ‘jai jawan, jai kisan, jai vigyan’. Today, I have added ‘jai anusandhan’ to it,” said the Prime Minister.
While congratulating the Indian Science Congress Association for the theme of the event this year — ‘Future India: Science and Technology’, the prime minister said India’s true strength lay in connecting its science, technology and innovation with its people.
Recalling great Indian scientists like J.C. Bose and C.V. Raman for their services to the people, Modi underlined that through modern science, India was transforming its present and working continuously to secure its future.
“"Research for the sake of research does not help. We are building an ecosystem to commercialise innovations to benefit the farming community and common people."”
Talking about India’s achievements in space research, Modi said preparations were underway for sending three Indians into space through the Gaganyaan in 2022. He said that the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council will help formulate appropriate Science and Technology interventions, catalyze collaborations across stakeholder ministries and implement multi-stakeholder policy initiatives.
Modi said strong pathways to commercialisation were needed to leverage India’s research development achievements. He also called for research that could bring together different arts and humanities, social sciences, science and technology.
“Research for the sake of research does not help. We are building an ecosystem to commercialise innovations to benefit the farming community and common people. We have set up more incubation centres in the last four years than those set up in the last 40 years,” added Modi.
Modi said that the science fraternity needed to find ways of linking scientific advances to societal development, adding that more scientific work was needed in the areas of affordable healthcare, agricultural productivity, food processing and related fields.
Prime Minister Modi held a ‘Chai pe Charcha’ with three Nobel Laureates — Prof Thomas Sudoph, Prof Avram Hershko & Prof Duncan Haldane — who are attending the Science Congress.