The Ministries of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences have been focussing on six priority sectors namely high quality man power, affordable health care, food security, water security, national security and inclusive development with appropriate technology to ensure improvement in quality of life of the common man. This was stated by Shri Prithviraj Chavan, Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences at 10th Editors’ Conference on Social Sector Issues-2010 here today. He informed that under a new innovative scheme called INSPIRE (Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research), the Government will select top one percent students who pass out 10th and 12th standard from every school and about 4 lakh scholarships will be given, so that they may continue their studies in science discipline and focus on research.

The Minister informed that in India annual growth rate of scientific publications during the last five years is about 12 per cent against global growth rate of 4 per cent. Making a mention of intellectual property generated he pointed out that India had 10th rank globally and is likely to achieve 9th rank in the coming years. To achieve the objective of providing improved quality of life and opportunities to every citizen of the country, the nation will have to address the following issues namely food security, energy security, water security, affordable health care for all, terrorism and internal security, he added.

Shri Chavan complimented DSIR who have placed India in the Global Genome Map (GGM) by fully sequencing genome of an India. Listing the priorities of Ministry of Earth Sciences Shri Chavan said that establishment of a state of art Tsunami Warming Centre, ocean observation system, weather observation and modelling capabilities and atmospheric physics are some of the priorities. Possibility of earthquake prediction is being seriously explored, he added.

The Minister expressed hope that a sustained growth rate of 20-30 per cent in Bio-Technology industry will be achieved leading to favourable environment for promoting research and industry. Collaborations in future initiatives in health sector have resulted in India becoming a global hub for development and manufacturing of affordable vaccines.

Dr. T. Ramasami, Secretary, DST, Dr. S.K. Brahmachari, Secretary, DSIR, Dr. Shailesh Naiyak, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences and Dr. M.K. Bhan, Secretary, DBT also mentioned about the achievements of their respective departments.

Source : Press Information Bureau
Date : January 19, 2010