Satya Pal asks IIT-G to work on ancient technologies

Union Minister Satya Pal Singh on Monday asked teachers and professors of the Indian Institute of Technology to work on ancient technologies along with modern innovations, as he exhorted Indians to work towards winning top global awards in science, technology or applied science.

Singh, the union minister of state for HRD in charge of higher education, told the 20th Convocation of IIT-Guwahati here that the professors should explore ancient technology and work on it to provide a judicious balance between modern and older technologies.

"I would like to tell that India as a whole is doing quite well but as far as innovation and research is concerned, much more is required to be done".

Stating that simply publishing papers in journals would not help, he said:"We have to find out how many journals, how many papers are ultimately ending in patents; any start-ups, or helping some entrepreneurs and starting some industry."

Stressing that a "holistic mindset" was crucial, he said the aim was to create a good human being and a good citizen.

He said efforts must be made to get the highest awards in the field of science, applied science and technology.

"When we are sharing our technological and scientific advancements today, we should not forget our cultural roots," Singh said.

Singh also urged the IIT-Guwahati, the faculty in particular, to initiate consolidated research projects that are pertinent to the needs of the North East so that one can have scientific, rather than ad-hoc solutions to the problems like the perennial floods.

A total of 1,450 students were awarded degrees today at the convocation.

Singh also called on Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi at the Raj Bhawan here and discussed issues pertaining to Centre's long-term vision and interest in promoting higher education in the state, an official release said here.

Mukhi and Singh also discussed steps to strengthen the technical institutions under the coordinated action plan for skill development. The Governor requested Singh to start schemes in the state under National Programme of Earthquake Engineering Education as Assam falls in the seismic zone, it said.