National Technology Day celebrations were held at an impressive function in Vigyan Bhavan, in New Delhi today. The Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan while complimenting Indian Scientists for doing a good job had urged them to connect themselves to the lives of the people through their work. He recalled how the former Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee had given us the National Technology Day on this day on 11th May in 1998, when the country achieved a major technology break through by successfully carrying out nuclear tests at Pokhran. On the same day India performed successful test firing of the Trishul Missile and had test flown the first indigenous aircraft – ‘Hansa – 3’. He called upon all scientists in various institutes to come togateher to do brainstorming for finding solutions in the coming days in the context of ‘Make in India’ programme.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan said that after Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee we are now having another Prime Minister who wants to put science to use for achieving extraordinary things and restore glory to India. Earlier the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi had given a message greeting the people on the occasion of the National Technology Day.To mark the occasion Dr. Harsh Vardhan had felicitated Dr. Satyajit Mayor, Director National Centre for Biological Sciences, Professor Manindra Agarwal, Department of Computer Science and Engineering & Dean, Faculty Affairs, IIT-Kanpur and Prof. Ajay Sood, Professor, Department of Physics, IISC, Bengaluru for their contributions to science and for being elected to international International science bodies. The Minister also gave national awards for successful commercialization of the indigenous technologies to M/s Troikaa Pharmaceuticals Limited Ahmadabad for indigenous development of novel technology for topical drug deliver and its commercialization and the National Award, for Technology Business Incubators for the year 2014, was presented to Startup Village, Kochi in recognition of the remarkable work done in fostering the spirit of innovation & entrepreneurship and promoting an ecosystem for innovation driven entrepreneurs. Innovative Products supported by the Technology Development Board were launched and books/publications on issues relating to innovation and entrepreneurship were released on the occasion.
Earlier Member for Science & Technology in the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Ayog in Hindi) Dr. V.K.Saraswat spoke on the theme of ‘Inclusive Innovation for India’. He said though science had done substantial contribution for agriculture, industry and service sector, much more needs to be done in the areas of energy, power, water supply, health and there is a need for a second agricultural revolution in the country.Chairperson and CMD Biocon Dr. Kiran Majumdar Shaw delivered a lecture on the topic of ‘Creating an Ideas Economy to Innovate the Future’. She said India should try to exploit its strength in the field of biotechnology, like in US where there is a lot of work in progress in this sector. She said personalized treatment through genomics is an area where India can persue. Secretary, Department of Science & Technology, Professor Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, Professor Vijay Raghvan, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Dr. Shailesh Nayak , DG, CSIR, Dr. M.O. Garg several scientists, industrialists and students participated in the celebrations.