National Science Day

National science day is celebrated in India on 28 February each year to mark the discovery of the “Raman effect” by Indian physicist Sir C.V. Raman on 28 February 1928. India is now progressing leaps and bounds on the path of scientific development. The government has introduced a slew of measures to promote innovation, R & D and opportunities for excellence. The theme for National Science Day 2023 is “Global science for Global Wellbeing”. This coincides with India assuming presidency of G20 with the theme “One earth, One Family, One future”. This is evident from the words of Union minister Dr Jitendra Singh who stated that “As India enters 2023, the theme indicates India’s emerging global role and visibility in the International arena”. The fact that scientific progress has helped drastically in reducing poverty levels across the world over the last few decades as mentioned by President of Indian National Science Academy and the Country’s chair for the G20 Science-20 Inception meeting Dr Ashutosh Sharma, is a testimony to the role that science can play in improving human lives.

To provide much needed fillip to the science and research culture in India, the government had launched the Science and technology policy to boost the participation of youth and students of the country in the field of science and technology. Over the time various other initiatives including “INSPIRE”, a pilot program which apart from attracting investment and talent, train summer research interns and other scholars has a special focus on North Eastern states, J & K and Ladakh. It aims to promote research culture among students pursuing post-graduation courses in various science and technology streams and also provide research cum exposure training for students of North Eastern states and UTs of J & K and Ladakh for pursuing research career in frontier areas of science Technology and innovation.

This is just a tip of the iceberg when it comes to the myriad steps adopted to induce a science based culture among the students from a very young age. The results are emerging in the form of young scientific talents like Gopal Jee who by the age of 17, had 11 inventions to his credit including one of his inventions which was declared as one of the top 3 inventions for environmental protection by Italy. Another example is Kashmiri scientist, Dr Zahoor Ahmad Parray who bagged the National award for his contribution to the field of microbiology. Humaira Gowher hailing from Srinagar is another Kashmiri who has made the Nation proud by excelling in molecular biology. There are many other similar examples including Dr Nadeem hailing from apple town Sopore of Kashmir who achieved a rare feat after he was named a member of the US based Morris Animal Foundation. He is working as an assistant professor at the faculty of Veterinary sciences and Animal Husbandry at SKUAST, Kashmir. The Union budget 2023 has given a profound push to science and development.

The government has allocated a whopping 16361.42 crore to the Ministry of Science & Technology which played a stellar role during the Covid-19 pandemic. This is an increase of 15 Percent from last year. This has been received as a welcome step by the scientific community. In light of this, the National Science day assumes all the more importance as it is high time that the public realizes how it can change the destiny of mankind. The onus lies on the teachers at school to professors at various colleges across the country to impart the right wisdom and knowledge to the young generation so that it will herald a new era for the Nation where development will be driven by scientific prowess that too in a sustainable manner.

Ideas, Opinions and Views expressed in articles are Writer’s own and may not be in accord with those of SUBAH KASHMIR