SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS TO THE RESCUE OF VILLAGE INDUSTRIES
A number of scientific
institutions are to help the Khadi & Village Industries Commission
(KVIC) in rural industrialisation as well as value addition to
its products. The KVIC signed MoUs with several IITs, NITs, IISC,
IGNOU and some other research institutions, for this in the presence
of the Minister for Human Resource Development and Science &
Technology Dr Murli Manohar Joshi here yesterday (last night).
Later addressing
a national convention on "Rural industrialisation through S&T
intervention", organised by the KVIC, Dr. Joshi underscored the
need to upgrade our technologies based on traditional knowledge
to suit specific requirements, be they regional or local. He said
the Department of Science & Technology is already on the job
of commercialisation of various rural technologies in a cost-effective
manner.
Committing his Department’s
full support in the KVIC’s initiative, the Minister called for
scaling down our dependence on technology borrowed from abroad.
He said India has innumerable technologies in various fields passed
down from generation to generation and they only need to be made
local or regional specific with value addition. What we need,
is a change of mindset and a new strategy to mould our own technologies
to suit our needs and requirements.
Underscoring the
essentiality of low-capital, low-cost and low-energy technologies,
he said, western technologies basically high-cost and high-energy
consuming, are not of much use to us barring a few. He also called
for the removal of rural-urban technology divide and said that
technology must be for national good. He also laid emphasis on
keeping science and technology away from the dominance of market
forces, specifically warning the KVIC, lest it might succumb to
big industries.
The Secretary Department
of Science & Technology Prof. V S Ramamurthy extending full
support to the KVIC endeavour said, the DST already has a 20-year
old focussed programme on science and society and would have KVIC
under its fold. The DG, CSIR Dr. R A Mashelkar also extended support
of research labs in improving the quality and production of the
khadi and village industries.
The Chairman, KVIC
Dr. Mahesh Sharma said the khadi and village industries need R&D
support and S&T intervention for their revival. Without this,
he said there is a threat of the khadi and village industries
succumbing to market forces.
