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Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kamal made history on January 4, when he became the first Indian President ever to attend and address the Indian Science Congress. He delivered his address on 'Vision for the Global Space Community: Prosperous, Happy, and Secure Planet Earth' at the 90th Indian Science Congress. He called for a movement towards a Common Minimum Global SPace Mission of International Cooperation with a 50-year perpective to address the human crisis of energy, water and minerals. He stressed on the need for an international space force of willing nations to protect space assests for their peaceful use without the looming threat of conflict in earth.
The New Science and Technology Policy in Brief
The Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, while inaugurating the Congress in Banglore on January 3, unveiled a new National Science and Technology Policy that seeks to infuse vitality into the S & T system so that it could squarely face the challenges of globalization in terms of increasing restrictions on the sharing of knowledge among countries, with newer norms of intellectual property rights and technology and trade control regimes.
India has announced a Scientific Policy Resolution in 1958, and updated it with a technology policy statement in 1983. The present 28-page policy document comes 20 years after it lats update, after high antocipation and long delay.
The Policy has spelt out a detailed srategy to identify specific plans, programmes and projects, with clearly defined tasks, estimates of resources and time targets.
The Policy pledges to raise investment in science to atleast 2% of the Gross National Product (GDP) by th end of the 10th Five Year Plan in 2007. It says Government will make necessary budgetary commitments for higher education in science and technology and raise the investment level to atleast 2% GDP through its own resources and contribution by the industry.
Key Policy Objective
Recognizing the changing context of the scientific enterprise and to meet present natioanl needs in the new era of globalization, the new Science & Technology Policy, 2003 enuciates several objectives:
- Advancing scientific temper for pregressive and elightened society ensuring its full integration with all spheres of national acivity.
- Ensuring food, agricultural, nuritional, environmental, water and energy security of our people on sustainable basis.
- Promoting empowerment of women to all science and technology activities, ensuring their full and eqaul participation.
- Providing functional autonomy and freedom to all academic and R& D institutions to encourage ambience for creative work.
- Strengthening enaling mechanisms that relate to technology development, evaluation, absorption and upgradation from concept to utilization.
- Accomplishing national strategy and security related objectives by using thelatest S & T advances.