Union Minister for Human Resource Development Smriti Irani urged women scientists to suggest a way enabling women to pursue PhD anywhere and anytime so as to encourage them take up research.

She was speaking after inaugurating the three-day fifth Women’s Science Congress, held as part of the 103rd Indian Science Congress in Mysuru on Monday. Women, though play a major role in propagating science, they lack the opportunities to do so, Smriti said.

“When I asked mathematician Manjul Bhargav, what inspired him to study mathematics, he said, it was his mother who inspired him. But, when I interact with intelligent women why they are not into either teaching or research, they say they can either raise a family or make a career. They feel doing PhD is time consuming.
So, something has to be done,” she said.

However, besides using their knowledge and intelligence in laboratories, women scientists can find solution to our day-to-day problems in social and ecological fields, she added. “If a student is asked to name a woman scientist, the immediate answer will be Madame Curie, but if the question is about an Indian woman scientist, there is no answer.”