The Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee has urged the Indian scientific community to focus on the needs of developing countries while taking steps to position Indian R&D at par with the best in the developed countries. Addressing the scientific community after giving away the Technology Awards 2002 on the occasion of Diamond Jubilee celebration of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), at New Delhi on September 26, 2002 the Prime Minister said, the developing countries admire India''s self-reliant progress in science and technology and know that Indian technology solutions are more appropriate and cheaper for them.
The PM said that all constituents India''s wide and diversified industrial base, whether in big, medium or small sectors are facing the challenges of competition, local as well as global. The fast-changing business environment is also throwing up new opportunities for them both nationally and globally. "They are looking to our scientists and technologists for innovative and cost effective solutions to the problems in energy saving, material saving, constant quality enhancement, customer care and introduction of new products and services on a regular basis," he said.
A good part of India''s global reputation is rooted in our strong scientific and industrial base, which we have built with a firm commitment to self-reliance. Successive governments since Independence have shown immense faith in the power of science and technology to propel our national development and strengthen our national security.
Proof of this lies in the many fine R&D institutions we have created in agriculture, industry, healthcare and, of course, defence. Another proud evidence of this is the fact that CSIR is now the largest publicly funded industrial R&D system in the world, he pointed out.
Vajpayee reiterated his Government''s commitment towards offering substantial support to the country''s Science & Technology establishment. He also applauded the birth of the "Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology" and said that it shows CSIR''s response to the emerging challenges and the opportunities that arise in a science that unravels the alphabets of life and has written the first draft of the human genome sequence.
Addressing the scientific community, he reminded that the mandate of CSIR requires them to pursue scientific research and its industrial application in tandem. "This is best achieved through an active partnership between Indian science and Indian industry. I am happy to see that, over the years, your partnership with industry has both widened and deepened. Nevertheless, there is an urgent need to further enlarge public-private partnership in priority areas of research and development," he said.
The minister said that there is a need to transform India''s large S&T base into a dynamic force capable of occupying leadership positions in global R&D.
He appreciated the progress made by the ''New Millennium Indian Technology Leadership Initiative.'' NMITLI was launched by CSIR two years ago, aimed at capturing global leadership in certain select technologies. He pointed out that CSIR has catalyzed 14 large networked projects involving as many as 110 R&D academic institutions and 45 industry partners as part of this initiative.
He also congratulated Indian private sector for participating enthusiastically in this largest Indian knowledge network, which has taken up projects that are truly path breaking and ones capable of setting new technology directions.
"When we see the problems of the poor in India and in other developing countries -- whether it is drugs to control diseases of the poor such as Malaria, or nutrition for the poor, or providing gainful employment for the poor in their local habitats - it is clear that no research will be done in the western world to tackle these problems." The PM said. He wanted CSIR and institutions such as ICAR, ICMR and others to continue their efforts in finding solutions to these problems.