New Delhi, Nov 7 (UNI) Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar has said that Indian economy will be among the top economies in the world in the next few years using science, technology, and innovation in all sectors, bouncing back soon from the after effects of COVID 19.
Speaking at a webinar organized to celebrate 50 years of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) recently, Dr Kumar said “Steps and reforms have been taken by the Government in all sectors, like agriculture, modern medicine, traditional medicine, New Education Policy, Small & Medium Enterprises, labour sector and so on, to target being among the world’s top three economies".
He said that the pandemic has changed many things and shown new ways of doing things and many of these are going to stay in the post-COVID world, and we need to have an innovative economic system in the post-COVID world to remain floating.
Dr Kumar added that the economy post-COVID has been in the recovery mode after the first quarter and hoped that Indian economy will bounce back in next few quarters from the effects of COVID-19 disruptions, will grow by average 7-8 percent in next 20-30 years and become the third-largest economy by 2047.
Speaking at the webinar, Department of Science and Technology Secretary Prof Ashutosh Sharma highlighted the various steps DST has taken to help Indian economy grow at the desired rate by using science, technology, and innovation in all fields like clean energy, health, education, transport, agriculture, communication, electric mobility, electric storage, quantum technologies and so on.
He also talked about the steps DST has taken to give flexibility to scientists to deliver the desired results for technology missions and steps taken to help increase the number of startups using innovation, science, and technology.
“DST in the last 50 years has done a lot of building of capacity, in all areas. India is number three in science publication in the world, and DST has a great role in it. Our last 50 years has been glorious, but our next 50 years should exceed the last 50 years. Our budget has doubled in the last five years, and it allows us to chart new directions. While keeping all the basic research and development in place and enhancing it, we have introduced a problem-solving approach to research. We are ready for the future, and there is a whole lot of new emphasis on innovation and startups and new models of innovation”, Prof Sharma added.
DST Secretary also inaugurated three Centre of Excellence (CoE) set up under National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE) at Central Universities from two North-Eastern states, and Kashmir and urged the these centres to lead the climate change research in the Himalayan region.
He highlighted the importance of focusing on relevant interventions in this region which is the third pole and is both a contributor to climate change and regulator of it and these centers should be the primary movers of producing knowledge and also using that knowledge with the help of appropriate stakeholders and also be a source of motivation for Himalayan Universities to come forward to take up research challenges.
“Out of the eight national missions which are part of the 'National Action Plan on Climate Change', NMSHE is the only site-specific mission that aims to take suitable measures for safeguarding the Indian Himalayan Region. With capacity building the major focus of NMSHE, we have set up Climate Change (CC) cells in 12 out of the 13 states and Union territories of Himalayan region and will soon have 13th state CC cell in Ladakh,” he added
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