JATNI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today called upon scientists to make innovation in areas that will bring change in the life of people and develop technology that is affordable and sustainable.
Inaugurating the new campus of the National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) at Jatni, about 25 km from Bhubaneswar, the Prime Minister said innovation is the need of the hour for every society. The scientists must see that the technology they develop is affordable to the masses with ‘zero-defect' and ‘zero effect' on the environment. Referring to India's space programme, which had begun from scratch, Modi said the whole world is now taking note of it after the success of the Mars mission.
He called upon young scientists to be similarly inspired to achieve and serve the people through their work. It is important to develop a scientific temper among students. "I am happy that our students, teachers and professors are seriously involved in research works and eager to innovate something. It is not that everyone engaged in research will get a Nobel prize. But if they bring a little change in someone's life, that is more than the Nobel prize," Modi said.
The students and teachers of NISER will do a great service to the nation if they spare some of their valuable time with school students in remote areas and ignite the passion for science among them. The Prime Minister hoped that an environment of innovation could be fostered among school and college students and their teachers by offering them short duration crash courses in NISER.
In the context of NISER, he said there is a great possibility for innovation in areas such as coal gasification for generation of clean energy. Stating that Odisha has huge deposit of coal (black dimond), the Prime Minister said a big movement is building up at the international level against use of fossil fuel. "We must take this as a challenge and develop technology for use of the fossil fuel as clean energy," he said.
Noting that Indias ocean and sky remained untapped, Modi asked the scientific community to explore the resources and utilise them for the benefit of the people. "Why did our forefathers describe the ocean as ‘Ratnakar'. This is because of the ocean is a treasure of wealth. The scientific research should be in the field of marine areas," he said. Reiterating his Government's commitment of housing for all by 2022, the Prime Minister said, "We must look for materials from the waste for construction of houses at an affordable cost."
The Prime Minister urged the students of NISER to work towards making the institution, as one of the greenest campus of the country with a zero-emission and zero-discharge premises which uses only renewable energy. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in his address said his Government is committed to promote Bhubaneswar as hub of scientific and technical education.
"I give a blank cheque to NISER to work with the Government and help us build an empowered and modern Odisha," Patnaik said. Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission Sekhar Basu and Director of NISER V Chandra Sekhar also spoke.
Governor SC Jamir, Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Jual Oram, Union Minister of State for Atomic Energy Jitendra Singh and BJD MP Prasanna Patsani were present.