Share ideas with pupils, Modi tells scientists

Asks labs to train youth to make them job-ready

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday asked scientists to open the doors of their hallowed institutes to schools and colleges to share their ideas and resources with students.

Asking the national laboratories to develop appropriate training programme to connect with schools and colleges, he said exposure to such high-end training exercise would make the youth job-ready in a competitive world.

“On the lines of Corporate Social Responsibility, the concept of Scientific Social Responsibility needs to be inculcated to connect our institutions to schools and colleges. We must create an environment for sharing of ideas and resources,” he said, inaugurating the 104th session of the Indian Science Congress here.

More than 11,000 scientists, including six Nobel laureates, are attending the five-day mega show being hosted by Sri Venkateswara University, the alma mater of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, who was also present at the inauguration.

Modi asked laboratories, research institutions and universities in each major city to function on a hub-and-spoke model, in which the hubs will share their infrastructure, drive the national science missions and be the engines that link discovery to application.
For years, Indian scientists faced flak for their ivory-tower attitude with little connect to the needs of the local industry and the society at large.

“College teachers with background in research can be connected to the neighbouring universities and research and development institutions. Outreach activities from the institutions of eminence to schools, colleges and polytechnics will activate the latent science and technology manpower in your neighbourhoods. The brightest and best in every corner of India should have the opportunity to excel in science,” the prime minister said.

“By 2030, India will be among the top three countries in science and technology and among the most attractive destinations for the best talent in the world. The wheels we set in motion today will achieve this goal.