Team Blitz India
SCIENCE and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh has called for finding Indian solutions to Indian problems as the country is in the frontline of the comity of developed and scientifically advanced nations. Inaugurating the 9th India International Science Festival (IISF) in Faridabad recently, Singh listed Chandrayaan-3 landing near the south pole of the moon, first DNA vaccine against COVID-19 and Aroma Mission as three success stories that defined India’s emergence in the field of science and technology in the last decade.
“India of 2024 is ready to take a giant leap and move forward on its ascent of its scientific acumen and its technological prowess,” he said at the IISF being held at the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI)-Regional Centre for Biotechnology (RCB) campus in Faridabad. Singh urged scientists to find Indian solutions to Indian problems and added that it was time for the country to take the lead instead of following other nations.
The minister said five revolutionary decisions taken under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi — space reforms through the public-private partnerships, National Quantum Mission, Anusandhan-National Research Foundation (NRF), National Geospatial Policy, and National Education Policy (NEP) — will go a long way in achieving the goal of making India a developed nation by 2047.
Singh said India’s space economy stood at a modest $8 billion dollars, and was projected to grow to $40 billion by 2040. “But some international observers, for example the recent Arthur D Little Report, mentions that we could have the potential of 100 billion dollars by 2040,” the minister said.