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Science should be solution-based, people-centric: Vardhan

WION Web Team
New Delhi, IndiaUpdated: Feb 28, 2021, 05:16 PM IST
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Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr. Harsh Vardhan Photograph:(ANI)

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Elaborating on the budgetary allocations for this sector in 2021-22, Vardhan said there has been a hike of 30 per cent for all the scientific ministries

Fundamental and translational science is important but it has be solution-based and people-centric, Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Sunday.

Speaking on the occasion of National Science Day, Vardhan said it is the problems of the people that should be guiding the intellectual acumen while pursuing research.

"We have to make sure that the science that we do of course, the fundamental science is important, translational science is important (but) it has to be solution-based science. It has to be people-centric," Vardhan said in a virtual address.

The National Science Day is celebrated on this day to mark the anniversary of the Raman Effect, the discovery made by Indian physicist Sir C V Raman. 

Elaborating on the budgetary allocations for this sector in 2021-22, Vardhan said there has been a hike of 30 per cent for all the scientific ministries.

Projects like Deep Ocean Mission, with an outlay of Rs 4,000 crore over the next five years, are also being launched, he said.

Speaking at the event, Department of Science and Technology Secretary Ashutosh Sharma stressed on the need of inter-disciplinary research.

He said inter-disciplinary research is the foundation of science and it is also the future.

"We talk of being inter-disciplinary only because we have created water-tight disciplines. But problems are multi-dimensional," he said. 

Sharma said the future is built on data information and Industry 4.0 is all about it. Earlier industries, he noted, were built into controlling the flow of materials and energy.

The important aspects of the future of science and technology are diversity, inclusion and equity, he said.

The future problems need a shared perspective with regards to gender, people from different geographical locations and transcending the barriers of age, he added.