Excelsior Correspondent
CHANDIGARH, Sept 30: Speaking as chief guest on the occasion of foundation stone laying ceremony of the new block of building at CSIR-Institute of Microbiol Technology (IMTEC) here today, Dr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences; MoS in PMO, DoPT, Pensions, Grievances, Atomic Energy and Space, said that although the Institute has undertaken several projects to develop new vaccines for boosting human body’s immunity status and resistance against different diseases, it is actually the defective life style which is primarily responsible for compromising an individual’s resistance against disease. Dr. Jitendra Singh said, while metabolic disease like diabetes, hypertension and heart-attack are directly related to changes in today’s life style, infectious diseases like tuberculosis are also showing resurgence because of life style effects as a result of poor hygiene, lack of sanitation and over population. While applauding the efforts of the scientific community to develop new methods of disease cure and immunization, he cautioned against losing sight of the basic non-medicinal pre-requisites for prevention of disease. Amidst huge applause from young students in the audience, Dr. Jitendra Singh lamented that our inability to pick up young minds with innovative aptitude and groom them has led to a situation where we have a large number of science graduates but hardly any scientists. As the Minister for Science and Technology, he pledged to the youth in the audience that his department will do everything to correct this anomaly. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, former President of India, who was the guest of honor on the occasion, showered all praise for Dr. Jitendra Singh and said that after knowing Dr Singh, he had come to the conclusion that because of his imaginative and exploratory approach,Dr Jitendra Singh is absolutely the right person to head the Ministry of Science & Technology. Elaborating in detail the recent research work in the field of immunology, Dr. Kalam said that the development of new vaccine is essential for checking the spread of diseases, particularly cancer which is on the rise in the country and which even after being controlled through Chemotherapy and other means in one part of the body always runs the risk of re-emerging again at the same or some other site. Emphasizing the importance of scientific interaction, Dr. Kalam said that he has always preferred round table meetings and interactive sessions for the meaningful growth of science. Dr. P.S. Ahuja, DG CSIR and Dr. Girish Sahni also spoke on the occasion.
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