Prime Minister of India - Dr. Manmohan Singh

PM Inaugurates Indian Science Congress 2009

I am truly delighted that this year the Indian Science Congress is meeting here in Shillong. The North Eastern Hill University has emerged as one of our premier central universities. It has become an important centre of excellence in this part of our country. I commend the organizers of the Congress for choosing NEHU for this year's Science Congress.

This North-eastern region of our country has a wealth of human and natural resources that can contribute immensely to the overall social, economic, cultural and technological development of India. It is the home of many valuable plants like Citrus and animals like the Yak and Mithun. The rice varieties from this region have contributed valuable genes that offer resistance to pests and diseases. The challenge lies in using modern science and technology to convert these biological endowments into concrete economic benefits for this region and for the country as a whole.

For me Shillong is as much an adopted home as Guwahati and this entire region. I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to represent the people of Assam and the North-East in Parliament since 1991. I have always been over-whelmed by the warmth and grace of the affection and hospitality I have received from the people of the North-East. As I have often said, for our sub-continent this is the region from where the sun first rises. I am sure that our developmental initiatives will ensure that the sun will rise and shine forever on the North-East region.

The Indian science congress movement has been closely linked to our freedom struggle and our national movement for freedom. Our fight for political freedom was also our battle for development and for modernization of our economy, our society and our polity. The spread of science and of scientific temper, and the educational development of our people, was integral to our struggle for political and economic emancipation. Each one of you is not just engaged in teaching and research in the respective scientific disciplines, you are engaged in the modernization and development of a traditional society and culture as such your work is of immense societal importance and I salute each one of you for your contribution.

Our civilization was built on the foundations of a knowledge based society. But for centuries such knowledge remained the preserve of a few. Democratic India has widened the base of this knowledge pyramid and raised its apex. The challenge before us is to ensure that both processes continue. And that the light of modern education touches all, and at the same time the pursuit of excellence is encouraged and cherished.

I am therefore delighted that the theme for this congress is "Science Education and Attraction of Talent for Excellence in Research". The theme of the Congress reflects the priority of our Government.

Science education is a fundamental requirement for any modern nation to meet the challenges and avail of the opportunities of our modern scientific and technologic age. Our Government has placed the highest emphasis on making a career in science attractive to our young people.

At the last congress, at Vishakapatnam, I announced a new scheme named INSPIRE - "Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research". I am very happy that we launched this scheme last month, with INSPIRE scholarships being given to some of our talented youth. The scheme, I believe, is unparalleled in its content, scale and scope. It seeks to establish a vertical link between different stages in the pursuit of a career in science.

Our Government takes pride in the fact that in the past four years we have crossed many new milestones in the development of science teaching and research in our country. Four years ago there was only one Indian Institute of Science, which was a hundred year old institution. Today we can say with pride that we have launched five new institutions dedicated to teaching and research in sciences. This marks a historic turning point for Indian science. I had promised and I stand by the promise, that we will double the investment in science from 1% of our national income to 2% of our national income.

Let me enumerate some of the initiatives we have taken for the development of science in India:

We have widened the higher education base of the country by investing in the creation of 30 new central universities, 5 new Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, 8 new Indian Institutes of Technology and 20 new Indian Institutes of Information Technology. We have also established the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology at Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala. The Department of Atomic Energy has taken the initiative to set up the National Institute of Science Education and Research in Bhubaneswar to nurture world class scientists.

We have created a new Ministry for Earth Sciences. An UNESCO centre for education and training in biotechnology are being commissioned. The agro-food park is being designed to promote research-led business in biotechnology. An Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicines, in Bangalore is to be established to create an organizational structure that promotes growth of expertise in stem cell research.

New institutes for research in Himalayan glaciology, molecular materials, nano science and technology are being created. There are proposals from the Ministry of Science and Technology to adopt the Cancer Research Institute in Chennai, the Institute for Advanced Study in Science and the Technology (IASST) in Guwahati and the National Innovation Foundation as grantee institutions.

The budget outlay for the Ministries of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences has been trebled for the last four-year period, 2004-08, relatively to the previous four-year period, 2000-04.

As Shri Kapil Sibbal has just now mentioned that the Parliament has recently adopted a Bill to set up a National Science and Engineering Research Board to be responsible for major scientific research funding in the our country. The Board will be an autonomous body and would have the freedom to establish new modalities of funding research as well as for creating facilities and structures that would help improve the quality and quantity of scientific research in the country. It is expected that this Board would bring in major changes in the scientific research scenario in the country.

Bills for the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights for publicly funded research, and for Medical Devices Regulations are on the anvil. The Bill on Research and Development Projects (Protection of Intellectual Property) is expected to facilitate the flow of research results from universities and academic institutions to industry and provide financial incentives for inventors.

A National Biotechnology Strategy, with a focus on human resource development, infrastructure development, promotion of biotechnology parks, regulatory mechanisms and public communication and participation has been formulated. Apart from INSPIRE, we have also launched PURSE - Promotion of University Research and Scientific Excellence and the Small Business Innovative Research Initiative.

Our government has mounted several promotional measures to strengthen the Research and Development base in the country. Fellowships named after renowned scientist Dr. Ramanujan, Dr. Ramalingaswamy, Dr. J C Bose, and Dr. Raja Ramanna have been instituted to provide additional research support. Research fellowships for doctoral students have been increased by 50% and the University Grants Commission is committed to providing research fellowships for all Ph. D students in various disciplines of sciences.

The Pay Commission has made a recommendation that scientific personnel can be provided a new scheme under Performance Related Incentive System (PRIS). The Government has accepted the special recommendation and we will implement a suitable scheme to reward good performers.

In order to promote research in the area of drugs and pharmaceuticals, a special scheme with a provision for providing grant to industry for research and development on neglected diseases has been initiated. Open-source drug discovery and CSIR-800 are major steps forward in ensuring social gains from publicly funded research.

An Inter-Ministerial Group of Secretaries in the biotechnology sector and the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council have been set up. Several schemes and programmes based on Public-Private partnerships have been launched. We are encouraging partnership programmes with the corporate sector to promote privately funded research. I am happy to learn that NASSCOM and FICCI have been helpful in this national effort.

I am very happy to learn that these initiatives are beginning to bear fruit. I am told there has been a sharp rise in the number of research proposals received and research projects sanctioned in recent years. New public-private partnerships and technology incubators have been established. But we have a long way to go before we can say that we are satisfied with the pace of progress.

I do recognize that India lags behind not just developed western nations, but also the newly industrializing economies of Asia. While our government is doing its bit to ensure quantitative development, the leadership for qualitative development must come from you.

It is teachers and researchers who inspire new generations. The Government can at best ease the supply side constraints on teaching and research. The demand side stimulus must come from institutions of excellence and from industry. Our Universities must do more to foster a research environment. We need strengthening of institutional leadership in Universities and research institutions. We need a new generation of role models and leaders.

The best science is done by young people. Our institutions, therefore, must be receptive to the needs of young people. They must promote younger talent and allow youth to lead. Seniority and age may be relevant in bureaucratic systems, but scientific institutions must be led by creative intellectual leaders, irrespective of their age.

Indian industry too must invest more in research and development and boost the demand for science and technology graduates and researchers. Look at the role played by public investment in nuclear energy, space and defence related industry in creating the demand for science and technology graduates. We need a new wave of such investment from the private sector so that our young people will be encouraged increasingly to seek a career in science.

In conclusion, let me say once again say that I am delighted that this session of the Congress is being held in Shillong. Our Government has developed and implemented special packages for supporting science education and research in colleges and universities in the North Eastern Region. 58 colleges in the region have been accorded a special package of Rs 50 lakhs for strengthening their laboratory infrastructure. About 240 fellowships exclusive to the region for promotion of research for various categories have been instituted. A special package for biotechnology related research has been launched. Science-society linkages and activities have been launched under the National Mission on Bamboo Applications. I sincerely hope this special session in the Indian Science congress on S&T issues for the North Eastern Region will come forward with brand new ideas for the promotion of science in this region.

Many years ago Sir Winston Churchill had said that the "empires of the future will be the empires of the mind". It is on the foundation of investment in science and technology that modern societies are going to move forward. We have a proud record in this, but not an adequate one. We have to do much more to make ours a knowledge based society. Our Government has made investment in education and skill-building a corner stone of our development process.

I urge each one of you to contribute to this gigantic national effort to build a truly knowledge based society and a science-based economy in this ancient land of Bharat.