BENGALURU: The Union Government is coming out with a ‘scientific social responsibility’ policy to ensure the benefits of science and technology reach the wide spectrum of people. Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the 107th Indian Science Congress here on Friday, Union Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan said his ministry is in an advanced stage of developing the policy on how “we can actually fulfil our scientific social responsibility.”
The minister emphasised the need to use knowledge, manpower, experience and infrastructure to reach the wide spectrum of stakeholders in science. There are a lot of challenges and the most important among them is the improvement in the quality of fundamental research, technology transfer and societal connect, he said.
“It is our duty to strengthen the deep foundations of science and research and its applications to ensure that we have a rapid, sustainable and inclusive socio-economic growth. We are strengthening the quality of research and technology development and creating end-to-end startup ecosystem for the country, also to ensure societal connect for the betterment of our people,” he added.
Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said the state was the first to establish Science & Technology Council in the country to pro-actively identify, propose and implement solutions to local specific needs of the state, particularly the rural population. He said the prime minister has set a target to “double” farmers’ income
by 2022.