Imphal, Feb 28 :Union Minister for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and Health

& Family Welfare, Dr. Harsh Vardhan on Sunday highlighted how science technology and

innovation (STI) would impact our future in education, skills and functioning in the

post-pandemic world.

He was addressing the National Science Day (NSD) funFction through video-conferencing

from here in Manipur.

Awards to science communicators and women scientists were also conferred by the Science

& Technology Minister on the occasion of National Science Day which is celebrated to

commemorate the discovery of Raman Effect on this day every year.

The NSD celebrations were organized by the National Council for Science Technology Communication (NCSTC).

Dr Vardhan said, “The 30 percent increase in the budget of Ministry of Science & Technology

and Earth Sciences put together for the year 2021-22 would provide stimulus to S&T infrastructure resources in the country”. The Union Minister said that in view of last year’s challenges thrown by

the COVID-19 pandemic, the theme of the National Science Day 2021, ‘Future of STI: Impacts on Education, Skills, and Work,’ becomes all the more important.

“World has witnessed how Indian S&T systems rose to this recent unprecedented crisis caused

by the pandemic. Scientific awareness and health preparedness shall become even more important

in post-COVID 19 times. A comprehensive National programme has already been launched on

health and risk communication with a focus on COVID-19, namely, Year of Awareness on Science

& Health (YASH). We have brought out an online interactive multimedia bilingual resource for mass awareness on COVID- 19, COVID Katha,” Dr. Harsh Vardhan disclosed.

“The data portals launched today will be game changers. We feel that scientists with legacy from

India should be on one platform and contribute to India’s growth story”, the Minister explained.

He further said that the Prime Minister has been talking about Scientific Social Responsibility

for which the Fundamental and Translational Research have to be people centric.

“So on this National Science Day, let each scientist dream of something new to make

perceptible difference to the life of people in India”, Dr Vardhan urged.

He also underlined the importance of sustained efforts of inculcating, nurturing, and unleashing

the scientific temper and innovative mindset of projected population of 1.5 billion (+) people in

2050 for sustainable and inclusive growth.

Dr. Vardhan presented the National S&T Communication Awards, Augmenting Writing Skills for Articulating Research (AWSAR) awards, and SERB Women Excellence Awards and conferred Rajendra Prabhu Memorial Appreciation Shield for outstanding work in science media and

journalism.

The Minister also released the first-ever National S&T Databases on S&T Awards in India and

Indian origin Academicians abroad. The database on S&T Awards in India is an excellent source

of information about S&T awards presented to R&D professionals in India. The database of Indian Origin Academicians is a unique database developed in the country and has a huge information

base of about 23,472 Indian academicians and research scholars working in various countries.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan also conferred an appreciation shield to National S&T database developers.

Speaking on the efforts of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) in driving STI as

a tool for the growth and development of the country, Secretary DST Prof. Ashutosh Sharma said

that science and technology has a critical role in creating ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, which is ready for

the future.

“Future of STI is going to impact us in every aspect of life. Recalling our glorious past will show

us the light to take us to future. There are huge challenges, like sustainable development, climate change, clean energy, rise of intelligent machines, and so on. The future is multi-disciplinary, and

in order to solve problems, one has to approach them in an interdisciplinary manner. The job of scientists is to help reach science to every corner of the country”, he pointed out.

Dr Shekhar C Mande, Secretary, DSIR and DG, CSIR, highlighted the contributions of the Indian scientific community during COVID-19 pandemic.

“The pandemic has shown that the Indian S&T community is ready for facing all the challenges

like the recent pandemic and those that may come in the future,” he said.

Dr. Gargi B Dasgupta, Director, IBM Research India, and CTO, IBM India and South Asia,

Bangalore, India, delivered the special lecture on the theme and said that fourth industrial revolution

is creating demand for new skill sets displacing existing jobs as well as giving rise to new ones.

She spoke about the future of jobs and the urgency of science, highlighting the recent study by

World Economic Forum (WEF) on the new emerging job clusters and the skills required for the

economy of tomorrow.

Secretary, SERB Prof Sandeep Verma and Head, NCSTC Dr. Praveen Arora were also present

on occasion.

National Science Day is celebrated every year on February 28 to commemorate the announcement

of the discovery of the ‘Raman Effect’ by Sir C.V. Raman, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize

in 1930. The central government designated 28 February as National Science Day (NSD) in 1986. Since then, theme-based science communication activities are carried out all over the country on

this occasion.

National Council for Science & Technology Communication (NCSTC), DST acts as a nodal

agency to support, catalyze and coordinate the celebration of the National Science Day throughout

the country in scientific institutions, research laboratories, and autonomous scientific institutions associated with the Ministry of Science and Technology.

NCSTC has supported various programmes countrywide through State S&T Councils &

Departments for organization of a range of activities, such as lectures, quizzes, open houses,

etc.

DST also instituted National Awards for Science Popularization in 1987 to stimulate, encourage

and recognize outstanding efforts in the area of science and technology communication and popularization as well as inculcating scientific temper among masses. These awards are presented every year on National Science Day. The awards consist of a memento, citation, and award money. (UNI)