Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today visited the Imperial College London in the United Kingdom and interacted with the Indian students of the college.

The Minister told the students that in the wake of a series of youth-centric policies initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this was possibly one of the best times happening for the youth and the students in India.

On the occasion of the visit of Dr Jitendra Singh to Imperial College London, the College Management announced scholarships of £ 400,000 for the Indian students studying in the college out of which 50% of the scholarship would be given to the female students from India.

While addressing the gathering, Dr Jitendra Singh said that he is glad to be in one of the most innovative universities in Europe which has given the world, among other things, penicillin, holography, and fibre optics.

Imperial College London is a public research university in London, England. Imperial ranks first in the UK for research outputs, first in the UK for research environment, and first for research impact among Russell Group universities. It is also home to the MS and Parkinson’s Tissue Bank, a collection of ‘central nervous system tissue samples donated by individuals with multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and related conditions’. It’s part of a collection making up the UK’s largest brain bank — around 1,650 specimens are stored at -80ºC, with samples from the organs being used in research projects at more than 100 different institutions around the world.

In the last five years Imperial academics co-authored just over 1,200 research publications with partners at more than 300 Indian institutions. Research partners include the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Christian Medical College, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. There are currently 700 Indian students at the College, and in India there is a community of more than 3,000 alumni.

Dr Jitendra Singh had a lively interaction with the Indian students lasting for about an hour and said that this is one of the best times for the youth in India particularly because Prime Minister Narendra Modi has in the last 9 years done away with many bottlenecks and removed several deterrent rules and created an enabling milieu where youth can realise their aspirations.

The Minister cited the example of the space sector having being opened up for private participants. Now there are hundreds of StartUps even in the space sector. The StartUp movement has been given a personal boost by Prime Minister Modi as a result of which the figure has gone up from 350 to more than 90,000 with more than 100 unicorns, he said.

The Minister said that the Biotech sector which was earlier ignored has also been attended by the present Government and students are showing increasing interest in it particularly after the vaccine success story. As a result from 50 StartUps in 2014, now we have nearly 6000 Bio StartUps.

As promising young students from India, Imperial College London is going to be your Alma mater for the rest of your life, but at the same time you should go back home and dedicate all your knowledge and learning gathered from here, the Minister said.

The Minister highlighted that India has emerged as the third-largest global start-up ecosystem, growing at an annual rate of 12-15%. There are lots of opportunities to expand India-Imperial connect through various programmes to create global impact.

Dr Jitendra Singh mentioned that Prime Minister Modi repeatedly called upon the Indian students to prepare for the next 25 years as independent India is turning 100.

The Minister concluded by saying that for the students interested in going back and pursuing further research careers in Science & Technology and other areas, several new openings have been created in the country.

Dr Jitendra Singh is leading a high-level official Indian delegation of the Ministry of Science & Technology on a 6-day visit to the United Kingdom.

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