India should not depend on foreign technologies: Kakodkar

"If we remain dependent on foreign technologies, we can never become a world leader. Our education system must produce empowered youths who can pull the country up the ladder," Kakodkar, addressing the sixth convocation of the Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT), said here on saturday.

The eminent nuclear scientist said, "education is a route to enlightenment and a tool for empowerment. If carried out effectively, education can transform our youths into a huge human capital. And it can make India one of the most powerful nations in the world."
It is necessary that the orientation of students should remain India-focused and not to the West, he said.

"The domestic lineage between high level of research activities and its conversion into new innovative technologies can be nurtured only on the basis of such an orientation," he said.

Referring to the research activities in India, Kakodkar said, "the efforts required to translate a laboratory development into an industrially robust product are many times larger. We have not paid sufficient attention to bridging this gap."

"Research, development of applications, their demonstration and field deployment should be seen as a chain of interlinked activities that need to be pursued in close coordination," Kakodkar opined.

The former chairman of AEC said institutes of excellence in higher learning should create solutions to the problems faced by the industry and society.

Such institutions expose students to challenges that exist in the country and prepare them to work on their solutions, he added.