PM CALLS FOR ACTION
PLAN TO BOOST INDIAN SCIENCE
VAJPAYEE
SAYS S&T ALONE CAN LEAD TO SELF RELIANCE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
CSIR
AWARD FOR INNOVATION BY SCHOOL CHILDREN
‘Strengthen
the contribution of Indian science and technology in India’s self-reliant
march towards sustainable development’, this is the message the
Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee gave to CSIR and the
scientific community in general, while giving away the Shanti
Swarup Bhatnagar Awards 2001, at a function organised by the Council
of Scientific and Industrial Research, here today. The Minister
for Human Resource Development and Science and Technology Dr.
Murli Manohar Joshi presided. In all, 10 top scientists received
the awards, in various disciplines.
Urging
Dr. Joshi to soon devise an action plan to promote excellence
in Indian science, the Prime Minister wanted the heads of scientific
establishments like CSIR, ICAR, ICMR, DRDO, IISc, IITs, Universities
etc. to provide a stronger and more focussed leadership to this
effort. Shri Vajpayee also asked the CSIR to take up a study on
the impact of the work of Bhatnagar awardees on global science
and technology. He underscored the need for a productivity-led
growth strategy with greater inputs of science and technology
than before in every sphere of economic activity in the country
– both modern and traditional. Some of the areas identified by
the Prime Minister that urgently needs reliable S&T inputs
include, cost-effective conservation and recycling of water, dry-land
farming, more accurate weather prediction and enhancing energy
availability. These require necessary policy and administrative
initiatives by the Central and State governments, the PM said.
Congratulating
the awardees, Dr. Joshi said that the government would have a
serious look at the weaknesses in the educational system, especially
relating to basic science and research, in the light of our inability
to produce the requisite best, innovative and creative minds.
Despite several initiatives like attractive fellowships and remunerative
packages / awards, students taking up science as career has been
declining. What is causing concern is the unavailability of required
number of eligible students and researchers to win these awards
and fellowships.
Expressing
dissatisfaction particularly over the paucity of best brains for
the prestigious Swarna Jayanti and CSIR junior research fellowships,
Dr. Joshi said that about 30,000 students compete every year for
these 1000 and odd fellowships and most of these go abegging,
because the applicants fail to qualify the stringent evaluation
tests. Government, he said, will keep on taking initiatives to
reward and upgrade the system but definitely not at the cost of
quality at the highest level. Suggesting that a renewed spirit
of creativity must be infused in our children, the minister announced
the institution of a CSIR Diamond Jubilee Award for Innovation
by school children. This will be a national initiative, he said.
The recipients
of the Bhatnagar awards are Dr. Amitabha Chattopadhyay, Centre
for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad and Dr. Umesh Varshney,
Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, Indian Institute
of Science, Bangalore both in Biological Sciences; Dr.
T.K. Chandrashekar, Department of Chemistry, IIT Kanpur, and Dr.
Uday Maitra, Department of Organic Chemistry, Indian Institute
of Science, Bangalore, both Chemical Sciences; Dr. Prashant
Goswami, CSIR Centre for Mathematical Modelling and Computer Simulation,
Bangalore and Dr. Koluru Sree Krishna, National Institute of Oceanography,
Goa both in Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Sciences;
Dr. Gadadhar Misra, Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore and
Dr. T.N. Venkataramana, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research,
Mumbai in Mathematical Sciences; Dr. Birendra Nath Mallick,
School of Life Sciences, JNU, New Delhi Medical Sciences;
and Dr. Rahul Pandit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in
Physical Sciences. No one was found eligible for the prize
in Engineering Sciences.
