Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Feb 7: 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 said that the growth of SCO depends on its success in science, technology and innovation sector and there is a need to transform this landscape.
The Minister also suggested organising StartUp forum and an Innovation Contest to promote Micro-, Small- and Medium Sized Businesses, considering the huge StartUp and entrepreneurship potential in this domain.
Dr. Jitendra Singh was delivering the inaugural address at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) “Young Scientists Conclave” today in virtual mode. He recalled that India’s Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, at the 19th Meeting of Council of Heads of State of SCO, had coined an acronym HEALTH (‘H’ for Health-care cooperation, ‘E’ for Economic cooperation, ‘A’ for Alternate Energy, ‘L’ for Literature and Culture ‘T’ for Terrorism free society, ‘H’ for Humanitarian Cooperation). He said that SCO brings together the colourful and distinctive cultures of Central and South Asia and it promotes mutual assistance and team spirit. The Minister added that the SCO consists of approximately 42% of the world’s population, 22% of its land area, and it contributes 20% to the global GDP. He said that the SCO countries have the demographic advantage of having a large number of young people.
Dr. Jitendra Singh highlighted Food security as a major area of concern for SCO economies, as it accounts for a combined population of over three billion people. He said that technology will play a critical role in enhancing both, the quality and quantity, across the agriculture value chain from the use of inputs at the pre-production stage to post-production and marketing to improve the income of farmers. He added that leveraging the SCO scientific talents in this endeavor will certainly add a great value.
Highlighting another area of concern for SCO, the Minister said that Environmental degradation has been a cause of concern in the SCO space for a long time, especially in Central Asian region. He said that the “preservation of the natural environment, ecosystems and biodiversity” in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is very important. Dr. Singh noted that providing every person with accessible, reliable, sustainable and modern energy sources is one of the major Goals of the UN Sustainable Development Agenda until year 2030.
He also opined that critical and emerging technologies such AI, data analytics have pervaded all walks of life and is playing a transformative role in almost all sectors, be it, health, education, energy, environment, agriculture, industrial sectors, etc. He said that it has become imperative for governments and industries to be prepared to adopt these emerging technologies in order to remain competitive, drive societal progress, generate employment, foster economic growth and to improve the overall quality of life and sustainability of the environment. There is a huge potential in this domain for StartUps and entrepreneurship. We may organize a Startup Forum and an Innovation Contest to Promote Micro-, Small- and Medium Sized Businesses.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said that India shares close cultural and historical ties with the SCO nations and our ancestors kept alive this shared historical and cultural heritage alive with their untiring and persistent contacts. He added that people-to- people contact and cultural cooperation within SCO area have a huge potential for all stakeholders and that the networking of young scientists will play an important role to further deepen our relations. He said that India looks forward to deepening the SCO collaboration in the field of Science, Technology and Innovation. Dr. Singh expressed hope that this Conclave will prove to be a catalyst for fostering collaboration among young scientists.
Zhang Ming, Secretary General SCO, representatives of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation of SCO countries, Officials, experts, and scientists from India are attending the Conclave to share their experiences and learn from each other in the domain of science & technology.
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