Science &Technology can change the challenges to opportunities in the state to progress and prosper
Two-day DST S&T Councils Meet concluded at Science City with a note to take S&T for progress and prosperity
Gandhinagar: “Each state in India is unique in its location, language, community, resources, along with its culture and traditions. All the states have also a unique diversity which has both challenges and opportunities. As a part of science and technology promotion and popularization, we have to focus a comprehensive approach to address all the issues at local level and to convert the problems into the opportunities for development” – expressed Dr. Neeraj Sharma, Head, Technology Development and Transfer (TDT) division of DST, Govt of India at the inaugural session of the two-day meet of the State S&T Councils at Science City on Thursday.
Explaining the roles and responsibilities of the State S&T Councils, he expressed that the State S&T Councils have a key role in connecting the science to the community at grass root level. The State S&T Councils have a unique mechanism to spread science across the state and country.
He further explained that the diversity in the state brings lots of challenges which can be resolved by the S&T. Hence our role is to strengthen the culture of research and development with technology development and transfer.
Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Awdhesh Bhardwaj, Director, Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur and the Chairperson of the Expert Committee of the DST expressed that the State S&T Councils should identifying the location specific problems and exploring the solutions to it with minimizing the gap in the society. The councils should also identifying the local unsung heroes who have developed their expertise with experiences in working with the community for a long time.
Er. Ravindra Gaur, Scientist and Member Secretary, State S&T Programme of DST Govt of India urged the state councils that there is an ample opportunity to work at the interface of science, technology and society as S&T is the central to all. S&T intervention can bring equity in excellence and our society should be ready to go ahead with it.
He requested all members to be proactive in their approach and to identify more and more location specific problems and challenges to expedite the solution for the societal benefits.
A total of 36 State S&T Councils including 29 States and 6 Union Territories attended the programme and participated in the two-day brainstorming session at Science City
The meeting was hosted by the Gujarat Council on Science & Technology (GUJCOST). The two days meet had a series of presentations and discussions on science and technology promotion, popularization along with its issues and challenges by the State S&T Councils and also to discuss the innovative programmes and technologies are to be designed to lead the future with inclusive growth and sustainable development.
The meeting had a group of expert members including Prof. Awadhesh Bhardwaj, Director, Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur as Chairman, Dr. Neeraj Sharma, Advisor & Head, Technology Development and Transfer Division of DST, Govt of India, Shri R. M. Singh, DS Finance, Dr. A. K. Rawat, Scientist F, DBT, Dr. S. B. Sareen, EDI, Sr. Chander Sekhar, Scientist G, ICMR, Dr. Partha Sarkar, Director, BPUT, Rourkela, Dr. Budheswar Majhi, ICAR, Kolkata, Er. Ravinder Gaur, Member Secretary, TDT – SSTP, DST, Govt of India.
Science, technology and engineering are major forces of socio-economic change. They cause humanity and its social and natural environment to evolve rapidly and, therefore, they carry serious responsibility and accountability. State S&T Councils are playing a major role in taking science closer to the community level with a network within the state.
Scientific endeavor is as much about us as it is for us. Its place in society, therefore, is not to unfold quietly at the sidelines but to become a fundamental part of the game. Now more than ever, science must engage with us, and we must engage with science. It tells us about the past, helps us with the present, and creates ways to improve our future.
Talking about the impact of the meeting, Dr. Narottam Sahoo, Advisor, GUJCOST opined that the brainstorming session enabled all State S&T Councils to showcase and exchange new ideas and evolving challenges in the field of S&T applications and to adopt appropriate measures to meet the local, regional and national goals for human development and prosperity.
In the concluding remark of the S&T Councils’ Review Meeting, the chairman of expert committee, Prof. Prof. Awadhesh Bhardwaj, advised that all S&T councils are working well in order to achieve the set objectives of sustainable development of society and the nation. However, still there is lot to achieve and some more thrust should be given on creating bench mark projects and initiatives from S&T Councils for the technology development and technology demonstration for the societal benefit.