It is always a pleasure to visit this magnificent campus of the Department of Atomic Energy in the great city of Mumbai. I am delighted to join the Indian Nuclear Society in recognizing excellence in scientific achievement. My good wishes are with you, in particular, today's award winners, for your achievements in the cause of science.

It is a particular pleasure to be here, not merely because the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre is one of India's premier institutions, but also because it enables me to pay tribute to the vision of titans such as Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha and Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru. This institution symbolizes, in bricks and mortar, their aspirations for our nation. For its part, BARC has lived up to our expectations as a Centre of world-class excellence. I also acknowledge our debt to BARC for training generations of scientists to direct vital national programmes. Given Dr Bhabha's abiding passion for physics, it is fitting that we meet today at the Bhabha Centre, in the International Year of Physics. And the fact that this also the centenary year of Einstein's now-legendary formula E= mc2 makes this a most unique opportunity to be with you.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

In the light of his other magnificent contributions to our nation, it is easy to overlook Dr Bhabha's achievements in his own subject. I am told his work in elementary particle physics is still cited among researchers. However, Dr Bhabha's name will forever be associated with his phenomenal contribution to institution-building in the formative years of our Republic. His ability to weave together diverse disciplines in the institutions he built, was, of course, legendary.

Besides his formidable managerial skills, Dr Bhabha's vision of our national development strategy synchronized with that of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. In one of his last public addresses in 1966, Dr Bhabha ascribed the failure to adopt and continuously assimilate modern technology as an important reason for ancient societies such as ours falling behind in the race for development. The affinity between Dr Bhabha and Pt. Nehru was based on a common vision that absorption of technology and investing in development of indigenous and appropriate scientific capabilities were a sine qua non for rapid economic development. Nehru underlined that it was "only by adopting the most vigorous measures, and by putting forward our utmost effort into the development of science that we can bridge the gap." He also affirmed that it was an inherent obligation of a great country like India to "participate fully in the march of science, which is probably mankind's greatest enterprise today".

Much of what I have said about Panditji and Dr Bhabha is not new. However, it bears repetition to underline the level of difficulty, at that early dawn of freedom, to build a climate of opinion supportive of expending scarce resources on scientific and technological institutions. This was done without expecting immediate returns, realizing that benefits would accrue to the nation over generations. History has borne out the vision of Jawaharlal Nehru. If today we speak with pride of our technological capabilities, it is largely due to his vision of a new and modern India. Panditji's commitment to creating institutions of higher education and science inspired visionary scientists such as Dr Bhabha and Dr Sarabhai to share his dream of a vibrant, modern and secure India. It is their vision of selfless service, dedication to science and the indomitable spirit of self-reliance that your Centre has inherited.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

In the five decades since the Science Policy Resolution of 1958, the Department of Atomic Energy has recorded signal successes. You have vindicated the faith reposed in you by our country and I applaud your accomplishments. But we cannot rest on our laurels in this competitive age. The nation has heightened expectations from you. We now look to you to help realize our developmental objectives. We need you to redouble your efforts to achieve the long-awaited quantum jump in power production. Our national objective involves a substantial increase in the contribution of the nuclear sector in our energy mix, based on the three-stage process through Fast Breeder Reactor technology, culminating in the use of our abundant Thorium resources. There are important technological milestones ahead but we have every confidence that our scientists will achieve each one. This is one area where science and technology hold the key to the nation's future energy security and economic well-being.

The need for success is all the more pressing as we strive to raise millions of our people from the clutches of poverty. Our goal of eliminating the-age old scourges of hunger, poverty, ignorance and chronic disease needs unprecedented effort by all institutions, and every element in society. Fifty years ago, our scientists created the first wave of development based on application of advanced research and modern technology. The nation now looks to you once again, to raise the tempo of development through creation and application of cutting-edge technologies. This requires a renewed focus on our mission and the passion to excel in all that we do. In this competitive world, we cannot slacken in our efforts to catch up with developed countries.

I fully realize that this goal will not be reached solely through your own isolated efforts. Government must augment research facilities to meet future challenges. I assure you of the Government's fullest support to encourage R&D. Our Government has been increasing investment in S&T. Ultimately, we aim to raise this investment to around 2% of GDP, double the current allocation. However, to do so, we need to ensure that our economy generates adequate resources. This is where our technology sector, and indeed each one of you, has a role to play. We must also devise innovative approaches to maximize benefits from each rupee that we spend.

Monitoring technological advances elsewhere, and widening the involvement of our young scientists in various projects, enables us to ensure that learning opportunities and access to new developments are not restricted to a minuscule segment of our population. Emerging technologies need to be tracked, assimilated and adapted to our own circumstances through concerted effort. Therefore, we need to greatly widen the absorptive base among our scientists to maximize dissemination of technology among our people. Dr Chidambaram has often spoken of 'Coherent Synergy'; a strategy of national scientific development taking place simultaneously along multiple vectors, promoting synergy, with all these vectors moving in the same direction to ensure coherence.

This brings me to the announcement I made during my last visit here. At that time, I announced that the Homi Bhabha National Institute had received recognition as a deemed University. It is my fervent hope that HBNI will seize this opportunity to become a major contributor to our pool of qualified scientific manpower. This is obviously one of the best investments our nation can make in the cause of development. This is all the more important given the obvious limits on our financial resources, to provide our institutions with the best facilities and faculty that they deserve.

With such constraints, it is important for us to pool our national resources and capabilities. We must strengthen interaction between laboratories, academic institutions and industrial establishments. Ensuring high quality, cost-effective communications infrastructure linking our scientific institutions and laboratories is an important objective. The development of an efficient "Grid Technology" linking our institutions—and our foreign partners—will revolutionize communications in the manner that STD telephony reconnected our country. I am therefore optimistic that in the near future our scientists, teachers and students will also be part of a networked community, interconnected with each other and the rest of world.

At the same time, better physical infrastructure is not the only answer to better cooperation between our institutions. Our systems and institutions must evolve a culture of flexibility, receptivity and adaptability to external ideas and personnel. I am happy to learn that DAE and UGC have already initiated steps to further expand upon the symbiotic relationship between the Department and our universities. Your recent initiative under the Inter University Consortium for DAE Facilities to expand Universities' access beyond the subject of physics to your research facilities is commendable.

Apart from expanding interaction across academic institutions domestically, we must also focus on international cooperation. Increasingly, large-scale scientific projects have made it imperative for nations to join hands, both to share costs and to benefit from the largest pool of expertise. Some of these projects are now the subject of public interest. These include the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project, the Large Hadron Collider (being set up by CERN), the Generation IV International Forum to develop advanced nuclear reactors, and the Satellite Navigation programme, Galileo. India's effort to be an equal partner in these projects requires a nationally coordinated approach. I have personally flagged our interest in some of these projects with world leaders, and I am happy that we are eliciting a positive response. This is fitting recognition of the capabilities and achievements of our scientists.

Before I conclude, I would like to briefly touch upon another aspect of international cooperation in meeting the challenge of our future energy security. I refer to the issue of our agreement with the United States of America, during my visit to that country in July this year, to revive international cooperation for our civilian nuclear energy sector. We have an interest in the establishment of an enabling environment, conducive to international cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. We must create the space for a quantum jump in nuclear energy production in the coming decades, in a manner that is consistent with our national policy of maintaining the integrity of our three-stage nuclear energy programme, without constraining strategic and R&D related aspects of our nuclear programme.

Ladies and Gentlemen

I thank you for giving me the pleasure of joining you. I congratulate the award winners once again. I wish each and every one of you success in your careers and satisfaction in your scientific endeavors. May your path be blessed!

Thank you.