BHUBANESWAR: Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday encouraged young minds to make use of evolving technology to find solutions to India’s complex problems, including energy needs and climate change.
Interacting with the students and young scientists at the 26th National Children’s Science Congress (NCSC) 2018 on SOA University campus here, Pradhan said, “My generation is waiting for you to come up with innovative ideas to find solutions.”
He said India spends huge amount of money to pay its energy import bill as the country happens to be the world’s third largest consumer of energy. This could be addressed by finding alternatives to fossil fuel and hydrocarbon. However, India does not have much fossil fuel. Efforts are on to find solutions to this problem, he said and added that the CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum at Dehradun has developed jet fuel from waste which could be successfully used to fly an aircraft from Dehradun to New Delhi.
“The young talents hold the key to the future and the country looks forward to them to find solutions to its various energy needs,” he added.
The Minister also urged the children to think about the fallout of climate change which could lead to the submergence of several island countries.
Referring to the employment scenario, he said, “Around 2.4 crore children turn 15 every year of whom half go to school while the rest seek employment or remain jobless. By 2040, half of all jobs which exist in the market today would disappear but developing technology and digitalisation would give rise to more number of jobs.”
Pradhan also felicitated the State coordinators and child scientists from different states and UTs. He presented copies of ‘Freedom at Midnight’ book authored by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins to five children on the occasion.