New Delhi: Stating that India’s challenges are many and solutions complex, the union science and technology minister, Dr Harsh Vardhan had said that ambitious plans have been made in many new areas and that the need of the hour is to move ahead and scale up.
“We have moved from policy paralysis and worked with our brilliant scientific community to connect with our people and what India needs,” the minister said while addressing a National Video-link Press Conference from New Delhi, linking 13 cities including Mumbai and Pune.
Asserting that “Science is back on track”, Dr Harsh Vardhan listed out key initiatives taken by his ministry in the fields of scientific weather forecasting, formulation of new vaccines, biotechnology, energy research and eco-system for innovation.
Dr Harsh Vardhan asserted that Science and Technology has positively impacted the lives of farmers too. He said currently, over 1.1 crore farmers were receiving crop specific agro-meteorological advisories in their respective languages under the Grameen Krishi Mausam Sewa. The wheat, rice, sugarcane and cotton cultivators have been the major beneficiaries of this service. The Grameen Krishi Mausam Sewa is being provided through 130 Agro-Met zones comprising clusters of 4-6 districts.
Dr Harsh Vardhan also added that drought and salt tolerant varieties of rice and high nutrient grains have been introduced, which would soon be scaled up for mass production.
The minister said major advances have been made in the health sector with the introduction of three new vaccines for immunization and the rotavirus vaccine. “We have streamlined our regulatory system with the Health Ministry and this opens up huge innovation and entrepreneurship in the health sector. New entities and biotech innovations have been put in the pipeline” he noted.
“We have revised the fellowships for research scholars and will have a committee now to examine this regularly. Our programmes to attract the best to India and keep the best in India have been very successful,”
Dr Harsh Vardhan underlined the steps taken by the Government to promote and encourage the innovation and start-up eco-system in the country through the National Initiative for Developing & Harnessing Innovation, NIDHI. This programme supports 200 student start-ups or innovative ideas to undertake viable business plans and ventures. He said attracting young talent to take up Science as career was crucial for the success of India’s innovation programme. “We have revised the fellowships for research scholars and will have a committee now to examine this regularly. Our programmes to attract the best to India and keep the best in India have been very successful,” said Dr Vardhan.
The Minister credited the success of S&T and Earth Sciences Ministries to the Inter-Institutional collaboration across ministerial and departmental boundaries and the excellent work of the scientists. These clusters have become the engines of change and innovation.
The National Video-link Press Conference held at National Media Centre in New Delhi was joined by almost 100 journalists from Mumbai, Pune, Goa, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Guwahati, Lucknow, Chandigarh and Jammu.
