PM’S ADDRESS ON THE OCCASION OF THE
DIAMOND JUBILEE OF CSIR
The Prime Minister,
Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee has urged the Indian scientific community
to strengthen their focus on the needs of developing countries
while taking steps to position Indian R&D at par with the
best in the developed countries. Addressing the scientific community
after giving away the Technology Awards 2002 on the occasion of
Diamond Jubilee celebration of Council of Scientific and Industrial
Research (CSIR), the Prime Minister said, the developing countries
admire India’s self-reliant progress in science and technology
and know that Indian technology solutions are more appropriate
and cheaper for them.
The Prime Minister
further added that India has a large and diversified industrial
base. All its constituents whether in big, medium or small sectors
are facing the challenges of competition, local as well as global.
The fast-changing business environment is also throwing up new
opportunities for them both nationally and globally. They are
looking to our scientists and technologists for innovative and
cost effective solutions to the problems in energy saving, material
saving, constant quality enhancement, customer care and introduction
of new products and services on a regular basis.
The following is the text of the
Prime Minister’s address on the occasion :
"This is the third
time during this year that I am attending a CSIR function. Each
time I do so, I feel proud of being associated with CSIR as its
President. But on this occasion, my happiness is enhanced by the
fact that we have gathered here to celebrate the Council’s Diamond
Jubilee.
They say life begins
at sixty. For CSIR, it began six decades ago. It was a life of
much accomplishment and glory. Today, the Council embarks on a
new journey. And, I have no doubt that it will be a journey of
grander achievement and greater glory than before.
On an occasion like
this, it is natural for us to pay tributes to all those who built
and nurtured the Council over the decades. I recall the words
of Dr. Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar, your founder and one of the outstanding
personalities in Indian science.
"We can see
today the dim lights of a new dawn in the distant horizon of
India’s progress. These faint radiations are not the vanishing
streaks of our glorious past; rather, they are the sure signs
of a new birth full of promise and glory for the future. This
dawn represents the birth of the industrial movement in India".
The dim lights and
faint radiations that Dr. Bhatnagar saw way back in 1938 are no
more dim or faint. India has dazzled in many areas of development.
We are a self-confident and steadily progressing nation, with
a growing stature in the international arena.
A good part of India’s
global reputation is rooted in our strong scientific and industrial
base, which we have built with a firm commitment to self-reliance.
Successive governments since Independence have shown immense faith
in the power of science and technology to propel our national
development and strengthen our national security.
Proof of this lies
in the many fine R&D institutions we have created in agriculture,
industry, healthcare and, of course, defence. Another proud evidence
of this is the fact that CSIR is now the largest publicly funded
industrial R&D system in the world.
As you are well aware,
our Government has substantially stepped up support to the country’s
Science & Technology establishment in the past four and a
half years. I assure you that this support will continue.
In this context,
I applaud the birth of the "Institute of Genomics and Integrative
Biology" that Dr. Joshi alluded to. This shows CSIR’s response
to the emerging challenges and the opportunities that arise in
a science that unravels the alphabets of life and has written
the first draft of the human genome sequence.
Friends, occasions
like the Diamond Jubilee are a time both to look back and to look
forward – for both celebration and soul-searching. Your achievements
so far are no doubt impressive. I came to know about one of the
interesting achievements in the advertisement in today’s newspapers
– the Indelible Ink that every Indian voter proudly sports after
casting the ballot. This shows that CSIR has served the cause
of not only India’s development, but also of India’s democracy.
Congratulations!
I am sure that you
will not rest on your past laurels. Your past achievements encourage
you to do better in the future. They also invite you to review
what you have not been able to achieve and why. Needless to say,
you are best suited to do this self-evaluation and also to take
necessary corrective measures. Wherever the Government’s assistance
is needed for this purpose, it will certainly be forthcoming.
Any organization
is built on the strength of its leadership. During the 1998 Bhatnagar
Prize Ceremony, I had commended the role played by Dr. Mashelkar
in giving a new vision to CSIR. We felicitate him today for completing
25 years of distinguished service to CSIR. Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi,
as Vice-President of CSIR, has provided an excellent leadership
not only to CSIR, but to the entire scientific community. I congratulate
both of them heartily.
Distinguished scientists,
the mandate of CSIR requires you to pursue scientific research
and its industrial application in tandem. This is best achieved
through an active partnership between Indian science and Indian
industry. I am happy to see that, over the years, your partnership
with industry has both widened and deepened. Nevertheless, there
is an urgent need to further enlarge public-private partnership
in priority areas of research and development.
This is no doubt
because of the many unfulfilled tasks in our national development.
But it is also necessitated by the several new challenges that
liberalisation and globalisation are continually throwing up before
Indian industry.
We have a large and
diversified industrial base. All its constituents – whether they
are in big, medium or small sectors – are facing the challenges
of competition, local as well as global. The fast-changing business
environment is also throwing up new opportunities for them, both
nationally and globally.
Our industry and
services have by now realised one thing. And that is: to survive
and to win in this Battle of Competition, they have to use Knowledge
– figuratively speaking -- both as a Shield and a Sword.
They are looking
to our scientists and technologists for innovative and cost-effective
solutions to the problems in energy saving, material saving, constant
quality enhancement, customer care, and introduction of new products
and services on a regular basis.
They also need practical
solutions to the problems in environmental protection, which we
in India have not paid sufficient attention to. And we are paying
a huge price for this neglect.
I have just returned
from a visit to Maldives. I was struck by the meticulous care
with which they have preserved their extremely fragile environment
– and yet succeeded in promoting a vibrant tourism industry. No
doubt, they are assisted in this by technologies that help in
water desalination, waste disposal and transport management.
I am giving this
example just to illustrate that it is indeed possible to balance
development and environmental protection. The problems in India
are, no doubt, more complex and varied. But we can tackle
them -- indeed, we have to tackle them -- with scientific
and technological knowledge, gained through focused R&D.
There is another
challenge before India’s S&T establishment. I have spoken
about it before, but it is necessary to restate it on today’s
occasion. It is the challenge of transforming our large S&T
base into a dynamic force capable of occupying leadership positions
in global R&D.
In this context,
I commend the ‘New Millennium Indian Technology Leadership
Initiative’ launched by CSIR two years ago, aimed at capturing
global leadership in certain select technologies. I am told that
CSIR has catalyzed 14 large networked projects involving as many
as 110 R&D academic institutions and 45 industry partners.
I congratulate industries
in our private sector for participating enthusiastically in this
largest Indian knowledge network. The projects, I understand,
are truly path breaking and set new technology directions.
Even as this initiative
seeks to position Indian R&D on a par with the best in developed
countries, I also urge you to simultaneously strengthen your focus
on the needs of developing countries. These countries admire our
self-reliant progress in science and technology. They also know
that India has the potential to provide more appropriate technology
solutions to the problems of the developing world – solutions
that are often vastly cheaper than those offered by others.
When we see the problems
of the poor in India and in other developing countries -- whether
it is drugs to control diseases of the poor such as Malaria, or
nutrition for the poor, or providing gainful employment for the
poor in their local habitats – it is clear that no research will
be done in the western world to tackle these problems. CSIR and
institutions such as ICAR, ICMR and others have done a lot to
fill this gap. They can do a lot more.
I am reminded here
of what the leader of an important African country told me earlier
this month, when I was in New York for the United Nations General
Assembly session. He said how much Africa admired India’s successes
in agriculture, which have helped us not only in achieving food
security for our large population but also in becoming an exporter
of foodgrains. He then sought greater cooperation with India in
improving his country’s agriculture sector.
While in Maldives,
we offered them cooperation in hydrography, digital mapping, telemedicine
and IT connectivity to improve postal services in their far-flung
islands. I am giving these examples just to illustrate the range
of S&T solutions that India can offer to all our friends in
the developing world both in traditional and modern areas.
Finally, let me reiterate
one more challenge before our S&T establishment. It is the
challenge of bridging the awareness gap between the people and
your establishment. Take the case of CSIR itself. It has contributed
a lot to the nation building process and, specifically, to improving
the life of the common man. But are these contributions sufficiently
known to our people? I don’t think so.
Today, when a farmer
uses a Sonalika tractor; or when two lakh women take Saheli as
a once-in-a-week non-steroidal family planning pill; or when a
doctor prescribes E-Mal for a patient suffering from cerebral
malaria; or when a villager uses a Mark-II hand pump, how many
of them know that these are all CSIR products?
I would like CSIR
and all other S&T institutions to reach out to the common
man and tell them how we in India are progressing with our own
efforts, while cooperating with the rest of the world. They should
also be assisted to develop their own rich traditional knowledge
base to meet their needs as far as possible. Of course, this is
a task in which you have to work closely with the media and the
media will have to work close with you.
Before I conclude,
my kudos to all the scientists, technical staff and employees
of CSIR once again. You have proved that yours is a dynamic and
living organization, one which continuously responds to change,
one which in recent years has taken a quantum jump in ambition.
What CSIR should now do is to transform its ambition into achievement
during its journey from Diamond Jubilee to Platinum Jubilee.
Thank you".