National
Technology Day celebrations were held at an impressive function in Vigyan
Bhavan, in New Delhi today. The Union Minister for Science & Technology
and Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan while complimenting Indian Scientists for
doing a good job had urged them to connect themselves to the lives of the people
through their work. He recalled how the former Prime Minister, Shri Atal
Bihari Vajpayee had given us the National Technology Day on this day on 11th
May in 1998, when the country achieved a major technology break through by
successfully carrying out nuclear tests at Pokhran. On the same day India
performed successful test firing of the Trishul Missile and had test flown the
first indigenous aircraft – ‘Hansa – 3’. He called upon all scientists in
various institutes to come togateher to do brainstorming for finding solutions
in the coming days in the context of ‘Make in India’ programme.
Dr. Harsh
Vardhan said that after Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee we are now having another
Prime Minister who wants to put science to use for achieving extraordinary
things and restore glory to India.
Earlier the
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi had given a message greeting the people on
the occasion of the National Technology Day- http://www.pib.gov.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=121530.
To mark the
occasion Dr. Harsh Vardhan had felicitated Dr. Satyajit Mayor, Director
National Centre for Biological Sciences, Professor Manindra Agarwal, Department
of Computer Science and Engineering & Dean, Faculty Affairs, IIT-Kanpur and
Prof. Ajay Sood, Professor, Department of Physics, IISC, Bengaluru for their
contributions to science and for being elected to international International
science bodies. The Minister also gave national awards for successful
commercialization of the indigenous technologies to M/s Troikaa Pharmaceuticals
Limited Ahmadabad for indigenous development of novel technology for topical
drug deliver and its commercialization and the National Award, for Technology
Business Incubators for the year 2014, was presented to Startup Village, Kochi
in recognition of the remarkable work done in fostering the spirit of
innovation & entrepreneurship and promoting an ecosystem for innovation
driven entrepreneurs.
Innovative
Products supported by the Technology Development Board were launched and books/publications
on issues relating to innovation and entrepreneurship were released on the
occasion.
Earlier Member
for Science & Technology in the National Institution for Transforming India
(NITI Ayog in Hindi) Dr. V.K.Saraswat spoke on the theme of ‘Inclusive
Innovation for India’. He said though science had done substantial
contribution for agriculture, industry and service sector, much more needs to
be done in the areas of energy, power, water supply, health and there is a need
for a second agricultural revolution in the country.
Chairperson
and CMD Biocon Dr. Kiran Majumdar Shaw delivered a lecture on the topic of
‘Creating an Ideas Economy to Innovate the Future’. She said India should try
to exploit its strength in the field of biotechnology, like in US where there
is a lot of work in progress in this sector. She said personalized treatment
through genomics is an area where India can persue.
Secretary,
Department of Science & Technology, Professor Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary,
Department of Biotechnology, Professor Vijay Raghvan, Secretary, Ministry of
Earth Sciences, Dr. Shailesh Nayak , DG, CSIR, Dr. M.O. Garg several
scientists, industrialists and students participated in the celebrations.
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KSP/SS