Chennai, Oct 13 (PTI) The Ministry of Science andTechnology today said it is setting up a chain of laboratoriesin the North East to enable thorough parity in terms ofservice and facilities to the people.
Stating this while delivering the inaugural address atthe third edition of the India International Science Festivalhere, Union Minister of Science and Technology Harsh Vardhansaid that the Centre was spending a "significant" portion ofthe budget to develop the North East.
"Our Department of Bio-Technology is working to establisha series of laboratories in North East and there are a numberof programmes. We spend a very significant portion of ourbudget only in the North East", he said.
"We want to ensure that each and every part of thecountry and of course, the North East all develop to a levelwhere we can say that there is thorough parity in terms of theservices and facilities available to people", he said.
Referring to the four-day Science festival, he said ithas a unique Science Village wherein the last two editionshave been inviting children from the most remote villages ofIndia, to participate along with their teachers.
"Over 2,000 young children are participating in thescience village and they will have access to the best ofthings happening in science. For the first time they will havereal exposure to science", he said.
Vardhan said that Prime Minister (Narendra Modi's)passion is to develop the North East and to see whether theregion develops in totality and there is a thoroughlyinclusive approach there, he said.
Several science teachers have come from North East andduring the conference here would learn the new dimensionsof science teaching, the Minister said. PTI VIJ APRAPR.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.