Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 26: The 72nd Foundation Day of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) was celebrated today at the Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR- IIIM), Jammu.
On the occasion, Prof Gautam R Desiraju, a distinguished structural Chemist, FNA, FTWAS, of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, was the chief guest and he delivered a lecture on “Well-tempered Science: Revisiting Nehru’s Utopia”.
In his lecture, Prof Desiraju eulogized the role of CSIR in Indian Science and Society. He said that much of the science policy of this country in research and education can be traced back to early initiatives taken by Jawaharlal Nehru. He termed Nehru’s Utopia for science as a scenario where the people were imbued with what he called the scientific temper.
Stating that Nehru’s vision called for a radical remake of the ways in which Indian thought about themselves and their surroundings, he said that nearly 75 years after Independence, a new situation has arisen in which we need to rapidly rethink and cope in a world that is vastly different from the world of Nehru.
Earlier, Dr Ram Vishwakarma, Director, IIIM Jammu, while welcoming the chief guest, described Prof Desiraju as leading chemist of India who played a major role in the development and growth of the subject of crystal engineering.
During the function, the chief guest also distributed prizes for best research papers, winner of Science quiz and overall excellence.
In the Best Research Paper category, the 1st prize was shared by Prakash Kannaboina, K Anil Kumar, Nagaraju Mupparapu, Shahnawaz Khan, Satyanarayana Battula and Manoj Kushwaha. Suresh Kumar, SK Guru, Anup Singh Pathania, Wajid Waheed Bhat, Niha Dhar, Sumeer Razdan, Satiander Rana and Rukmankesh Mehra jointly bagged 2nd prize while 3rd prize went to Mufti R Farrukh, UI A Nissar, Quadri Afnan, Rather A Rafiq, Love Sharma, Masroor and Roopali Rajput.
Ashok Kumar Sharma, Sunil Kumar and Neha Sharma were the first, second and third winners of the Science Quiz.
Besides, mementoes were also presented to the Council employees who have completed 25 years of service this year.
Er Abdul Rahim, Head PME, presented vote of thanks while Niha Dhar conducted the proceedings.
On the day, students from different colleges and schools in the city were taken on a guided visit to the various departments of the Institute, where the scientists and technical staff demonstrated their research activities to the visitors.
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