He was addressing the gathering at the diamond jubilee celebrations of Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) at its premises in the city. Brahmachari said that CSIR is working on a document called 2022 and the final lesson of the document stresses on developing technology for inclusive growth and have a firm faith in the future, besides having the capacity to foresee it. He said it is time to introspect in the context of changing times. Most importantly, people should decide the technology they need. “We need to give science and engineering leadership and also end to end technology”, said Brahmachari.
On CSIR activities, he said an Academy for Scientific and Industrial Research has been commissioned and the enrolment of students and faculty is expected to get a push shortly. Saying that there is a need to create virtual laboratory, Brahmachari said more impetus should be given to grooming young talents to handover the baton of future to them.
Buttressing the call for leadership given by Brahmachari, ‘Father of Green Revolution’ Prof M S Swaminathan said ‘leadership is extremely important as youth form a chunk of the population. More and more opportunities have to be given for the youngsters, he added.
Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Prithviraj Chavan said that the future of science is good as the nation is all set to emerge as most powerful in the coming days. Giving a piece of advice, the Minister said ‘we should not rest on laurels and work for creating wealth and employment opportunities. Referring to MIT he said there are 25,000 entrepreneurs providing job to 3.3 million people.
Director, CFTRI, Dr V Prakash explained about the 60 years of journey of the institute with the help of slides. He didn’t forget to recall the services of his predecessors who had largely contributed in the progress of the institute. The highlight of the celebrations as said by Prakash was the ‘good old wooden table bearing the logo of CFTRI used during the opening of the institute, decorating the dais’. The same table was put for Chavan, said Prakash to the applause of the gathering.
Dignitaries heaped praises on CFTRI for maintaining the heritage building earlier the ‘Princely Mansion‘ during Maharaja’s rule.
Books on ‘Sixty years of CFTRI Reminiscences’, ‘Flora and Fauna of CFTRI campus’, ‘Sixty years of Research and Development at CFTRI’ and ‘A Compendium of Major Analytical, Pilot Plant and other infrastructural facilities at CFTRI’ were released on the occasion.
