Kanpur: Asking the IITs to take lead in
creating efficient and low-cost technologies to deal with
energy, security and other day-to-day challenges, President
Pratibha Patil on Saturday said they can play an important role in
mentoring innovators at the grassroots level.
Addressing the Golden Jubilee celebrations at the
Indian Institute of Technology here, Patil also pressed for
proper training and mentoring of young science students to
maintain country's position as one of the knowledge power
centres of the world.
Qualified and talented individuals of our nation have
to find innovative solutions to our myriad challenges, keeping
in mind our specific conditions, she said.
"There are several challenges that confront our nation,
and certain issues are global and affect us as we speak...
There is a great scope for wind and solar energy in India.
But where are the technologies that are both efficient in
performance and effective in costs? Will the brain power of
the IITs provide the nation some options in this regard?," she
said.
"What is also required is the application of new
technologies in helping solve the problems of everyday life...
In agriculture, given the large number of small sized land
holdings in the country, for example, can there be sugar
harvesting machines that are suitable for such land holdings?
Development, the President said, requires peace and an
environment of law and order. "Can there be equipment for our
security forces based on technologies like thermal imaging or
laser penetration or any other, which can be effective in
tracking and surveillance including in densely urban populated
areas or in thick forested areas?," she said.
"Can there also be devices that provide a greater
protective shield to our law enforcing personnel? I have also
observed that there are many persons, not necessarily
scientists, but ordinary people, in our country who have
demonstrated the ability to find innovative solutions to
problems which they face," the President said.
Patil urged IITs and other major institutes of
technology to link up with talented people at the grassroots
level and help them fine-tune their work and also provide a
new dimension to their knowledge, by mentoring them on even
better approaches.
"India has built considerable capacity in science and
technology since independence. If training and mentoring young
science students and encouraging work on research was
envisioned as a high priority in the early years, it is now of
even greater criticality in the 21st Century, as India seeks
to sustain its position as one of the knowledge power centres
of the world," Patil said.
She said the Indian Institutes of Technology are a
product of the vision of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who believed
that educational institutions of the highest standards for
teaching science and technology were an absolute necessity for
India's overall development.
On the occasion, a nanosatellite 'Jugnu' developed by
students and teachers of IIT, Kanpur was also handed over to
the scientists of Indian Space Research Organisation.
The president also buried a time capsule carrying the
history of IIT-Kanpur's 50 years.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, March 06, 2010, 20:12