A week-long pan India science festival takes off

MoS Dr Jitendra Singh said India’s scientific laboratories and scientific manpower compete with the best in the world. He said under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, technology has now entered every household, and it is for the scientific community to decide how to get the optimum results from the new scientific breakthroughs.

New Delhi, Feb 22: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; Minister of State PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh on Tuesday emphasised the need to incorporate the scientific achievements made in India into the country’s cultural ethos to help in laying the road map for the future progress.

Inaugurating a week-long pan India science festival titled “Vigyan Sarvatra Pujyate” (Universal Reverence for Science), along with Union Minister of Tourism, Culture and Development of North-eastern region of India, G Kishan Reddy, he said one should not ignore the past while marching forward. “As Churchill said, `The longer you look back, the farther you can look forward”.

Tracing the legacy of scientific achievements in the last 75 years, Dr Jitendra Singh said under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, technology has now entered every household, and it is for the scientific community to decide how to get the optimum results from the new scientific breakthroughs. He noted that Prime Minister Modi, on numerous occasions, has highlighted the role of science and technology in achieving the country’s national and international goals and the need to nurture scientific temper and take science to people in their mother tongue.

The Minister pointed out that India’s scientific laboratories and scientific manpower compete with the best in the world. He recalled that the world’s best corporations and companies, such as Alphabet, the parent company of Google, Microsoft, Twitter, Adobe, and IBM, are being headed by Indians or Indian Origin people, who have got their basic scientific training in scientific institutions within the country.

Dr Jitendra Singh said to get the maximum fruits and benefits out of science and technology, there is a need to teach a scientific mindset and achieve access to scientific information and knowledge. He noted that “Vigyan Sarvatra Pujyate” is being organised in 75 different cities across the country, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from Kachch to Kamprup, marking the National Science Week (22-28 February 2022) and popularising science among the

The event is part of the “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav” to pay homage and showcase the achievements of the 75 glorious years of India’s Independence. It is being coordinated by Vigyan Prasar, under the aegis of the Ministry of Culture, Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) and other Ministries of the Government of India.

Dr Jitendra Singh said the Government is bound to achieve not just a 100% literacy rate, but a 100% scientific literacy rate and noted that Vigyan Prasar had commenced an ambitious programme in this direction, Project Vigyan Bhasha, to communicate science in various Indian languages. Including Sanskrit, they have begun work in Urdu, Kashmiri, Punjabi, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Nepali, and Assamese.

The science festival will end with a grand valedictory function. It will coincide with the National Science Day, celebrated on February 28 every year since 1987, in remembrance of Nobel Laureate Sir C.V. Raman’s path-breaking discovery of the Raman Effect in 1930.
National Science Communication Awards to this year’s awardees and prizes to the winners of various contests held as part of the Mahotsav would be presented. Information on Vigyan Sarvatra Pujyate is available on www.vigyanpujyate.in

Dr K Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA), Government of India, Dr S. Chandrasekhar, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Dr Parvinder Maini, Scientific Secretary, Office of PSA and Dr Nakul Parashar, Director Vigyan Prasar and other senior officials joined the inaugural event. (India Science Wire)