Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Oct 15: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is President of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) , today chaired the meeting of CSIR Society.
Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh, who is the Vice President of CSIR and Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal were present in the meeting along with other CSIR Society members who include eminent scientists, industrialists and Secretaries of scientific and other ministries in the government.
Prime Minister appreciated the efforts of CSIR in the past 80 years and called for developing a future vision for 2042 when CSIR turns 100 years old. He emphasised that for technology to reach the common man, an integrated approach of Scientific, commercial and social components must be pursued.
Modi called upon scientific community to come up with technological solutions to increase protein content in cereals and new varieties of millets to improve the yield and also the nutritional content. He called upon the industry and academic and research organisations to work seamlessly with greater integration and focus on addressing India’s energy needs and also foster circular economy and develop economically viable solutions towards sustainable development.
PM called for India to develop technologies not only for India but for the world and pursue novel approaches for addressing energy needs focussing on Green energy and make Indian traditional medicine globally acceptable by setting high benchmarks and standards. He highlighted the to use scientific approach and technology such as AI in various fields ranging from traditional knowledge to mapping students to their interest, skill sets and competencies which will make them better suited to meet the demands of future India and the world as we move towards Vision 2047 with the aim of India being a global leader.
Earlier, in his opening remarks, Dr Jitendra Singh highlighted that this year CSIR has completed 80 years just around the time when India celebrated 75 years of independence and the two have traversed the journey together. He emphasised integration, synergy and desiloization of industry, academia and research.
DG-CSIR, Dr N Kalaiselvi made a presentation on the recent achievements and contribution of CSIR and highlighted the recent efforts on India’s first Hydrogen fuel cell bus, ushering in purple revolution in J&Kand opening of TKDL library to spur innovation based on India’s rich traditional knowledge. The preparedness for future pandemics through mRNA platform technology, nurturing young scientific leaders, and sustainable start-ups and reaching out to the school students through Jigayasa virtual lab were some of the other major initiatives that were highlighted by DG-CSIR. She also presented the road map of CSIR Vision 2030 which is aligned to national ambitions and vision@2047.