Prime Minister calls upon scientists to help India to make a mark in global arena

Amalendu Upadhyaya
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Prime Minister calls upon scientists to help
India to make a mark in global arena

New Delhi/ Kolkata, November 5, 2019 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday
called upon the scientific community in the country to take up new challenges
that would not only help find solutions to various problems facing the common
man but also make a mark for India in the global arena.

India International Science Festival 2019

Inaugurating the fifth edition of the India International Science
Festival (IISF)  being held at Kolkata
via video conferencing from the capital, he said scientists could, for
instance, take up challenges such as development of scalable and cost-effective
replacements for plastic and  improvement
to the efficiency of power storage devices and solar cells.

Tracing the evolution of science and technology in the world, he noted
that while earlier necessity was said to be the mother of invention, it was no
more so. Inventions such as internet and artificial intelligence have opened up
a new range of applications in a wide range of fields from health care to
hospitality.

PM urged scientists to not look for quick
results.

“Science is not like making noodles in two minutes or pizza in 30
minutes. Science should be done for long term benefits and long term solutions.
Your work should be able to have its effect over centuries”.

Referring to the recent lunar expedition Chandrayaan 2 in which there
was a problem with soft landing, he said

“though the mission did not go as expected, it was still a success. It seems to have
created a new wave of interest for science among the youth”.

The Prime Minister
he assured that the government was constantly working to promote a strong
ecosystem for science and technology in the country and noted that scientific
temper had a special place in the country.

“Scientific temper
has been given the status of a fundamental duty in the Constitution of our
country. It is essential that we all promote it since it would help dispel
superstition, promote rational thinking and creativity”.

He recalled the contributions made by scientists from West Bengal to
global science and said it was heartening that the birth anniversary of Sir
C.V.Raman fell on November 7, while the conference is still on, and that of
Jagdish Chandra Bose at the end of the month.

The prime objective of India International
Science Festival

The
prime objective of the festival, from November 5 to 8, is to showcase India’s
contributions in the field of science and technology over the years and encourage
translation of its benefits to the common man, besides to promote scientific
temper among the people of the country. 
It aims to build a strategy for inclusive advancement of research and
development.

The
Festival is an annual event organised jointly by science and technology related
Ministries and Departments of the Government of India and Vijnana Bharati. It
is being held since 2015. The theme for this year’s festival is `RISEN India –
Research, Innovation, and Science Empowering the Nation”.

The
programme, among other things, features science film festival, science
literature festival, women scientists and 
entrepreneurs conclave, agricultural scientists’ meet, health research
conclave, industry-academia conclave, national science teachers’ congress, and
national start-up conclave. 

Vigyan
Prasar, an autonomous organisation of the Department of Science and Technology,
is the nodal agency to coordinate IISF 2019.

By Sunderarajan Padmanabhan

(India Science Wire)

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