Good morning, all of you.
It could not have been more delightful for me, everyone present in this room is a role model for me. Your contributions are spinal, your contributions in silence are resonating with the last man in the last row, your efforts are changing Bharat. A great occasion for me to be here, this is a very distinguished premium platinum category that is defining the growth history of Bharat, home to one-sixth of humanity.
Professor Ajay K. Sood, rightly honoured with the civilian distinction of Padma Shri, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, his address though brief on account of constraints of time, was illuminating. He indicated synergetic stance being generated with all stakeholders to ensure sustainability of the rise of Bharat.
Dr. K. Radhakrishnan his lecture will be a feast to intellect, team excellence, team itself in hears excellence, team is something which is harmonious. Harmony doesn't mean keeping your point of view to yourself, harmony means having enough space to voice the other’s point of view. It is heard with respect, not rejected by drop of a hat. Team excellence is the ultimate sublime evolution of it, then, Indian Space Odyssey and your life lessons.
I have instructed my team to record it, I will have a look at it, as will millions, through our platform in Rajya Sabha and Parliament.
Dr. N. Kalaiselvi, Director General, CSIR, normally we say, the man is always in the move, gone are those days, she is always on the move, always in action, with passion, mission, and execution.
I very fondly remember the visit I had where she was there, I had the occasion to see for myself how the aviation landscape of skilling will be changed by what her team has created. I had the occasion to visit Dehradun and another institute in her absence, we are proud of her because she sacrificingly gives credit to everyone except herself. I was greatly touched by this reflection of Indian civilisational ethos.
Dr. G. Mahesh he is a Chairperson of the CSIR Foundation Day Celebration, we are gratified and honoured by the presence of those who laid the firm foundations of CSIR who headed it as DGs Dr. Mashelkar is present here.
Dr. Samir Brahmachari is amongst us but science is all about finding out. Everyone present here, particularly in the front row, is to be respected by us. Because like education, education never ends when you leave an institution, education is life long learning same they may have left legally CSIR but their bond continues.
I must mention the Central Electronics Limited chairperson, Mr. Jain, for one reason, the honourable minister, who is very passionate about this sector, he wanted to come, I dissuaded him please won’t, he was preoccupied unavoidably.
Distinguished scientists, researchers, staff, and esteemed audience, my greetings to the entire scientific community in the country, we are beholden to this category for the contributions they have made to make a Viksit Bharat which is before us today. This day is a special day, not just for CSIR alone. This is a very special day for the nation because if we go into our historical perspective, we will find that ages ago, our Bharat had scientific prowess. We were global leaders, we were the centre of the globe when it came to scientific knowledge, the kind of discoveries and inventions that were made by us made the world proud, we lost our way somewhere, we are regaining that way.
It is your foundation day, but it is integrally connected with the firm foundations of Bharat, you are firming up those foundations of the most vibrant, functional democracy on the planet. You are firming up the foundations of a nation that is on the rise as never before, and this rise is unstoppable, the rise is incremental, and the destination of a developed nation by 2047 will be realised, if not earlier.
What I see here is your activities and activities of your sister's concerns. It is an endorsement that we are on the way to regaining our past pristine glory in the world of science. As I said, your contributions are in silence, I am using the word "silos" in a positive sense, your activities are in silos, but they physically, positively, and affirmatively impact the lives of 1.4 billion people.
CSIR can be defined as a catalyst scientifically and imaginatively for Ras. C for catalyst, S for scientifically, I for imaginatively, and R for rashtra.
Distinguished audience, it is my great honour and privilege, and it will forever be etched in my memory, that I am associating with the 83rd Foundation Day of CSIR. This is an occasion to commemorate and commend the past achievements, and also to look ahead, unfold a roadmap to be more significantly involved with the nation's rise and global rise, because Bharat stands for Vasudev Kutumbakam.
A journey that started in 1960, when I was in class four, and where we have come, is a recognition of the hard work you all have done. I am fully aware of the headwinds you face, the air pockets you endure, the difficult terrain you negotiate, and, on occasions, the lack of due recognition therefore an ecosystem existed earlier where you were contributing, but recognition was not forthcoming in the right form. Soothing to note that, in the last few years, recognition for the scientific community has increased. It has increased in several ways, including the government's serious focus on it. The Prime Minister's heart and soul are deeply connected to the scientific community. His belief in your power, prowess, and capacity to generate, at global level, those aspects of science which matter to humanity is evident. I am sure, therefore, that we are in good times.
Now, there is an ecosystem in place where our scientists can fully exploit and expand their energy, exploit their talent, and contribute to the nation by unleashing their innovative skills. I was not surprised, because that was my expectation, but I was in disbelief when I went through the thematic exhibition, amazing things are happening. Imagine if, from bamboo, you can have wooden flooring. Imagine if, from bamboo, you can have something which far superior or equivalent to sagon teak wood and sagon teak wood life is 4 decades or so. It helps the farmer, and it creates wealth. I am making a reference only to only one, there were many such things, I was greatly touched.
These developments reaffirm my confidence, and the confidence of the nation, that Bharat is a factor to reckon with globally. Your tremendous accomplishments have emboldened me to assert that, in research and development, it is matter of time when we will be having our due share at the moment, we are on way to it., much remains to be done. Several energies have to converge, they have to converge diligently, they have to work togetherness and in tandem, there has to be the right amount of fiscal input.
I am so glad that the Principal Scientific Advisor that is uppermost in his mind, you may not be aware, and it may not have been covered in the media, but he is your star batsman when it comes to securing everything for your scientific community.
Let me make a brief reference to the Union Budget 2024-25. He must have put his foot down, I am sure of it when the budget is formed, there are always too many claimants. He fought for your segment, got the due, and it can only be incremental henceforth. It emphasises the budget. Innovation, Research and Development, and Anusandhan – the National Research Foundation has been started. I leave it at that; you know it when a beginning is made, even by a toddler, it takes shape over the years, unstoppably. My congratulations to him, for being your advocate with the government, you are an able advocate. I am so glad.
The growth engine of the nation, any nation in the world, is driven by science and technology and this is fuelled by research and development, this makes the focus on research and development of paramount importance. I call upon you from this platform to come forward and generously invest in research and development. I look forward to the day when our corporates will figure in the top 20 global corporates that invest in research and development at the moment, there is none, that doesn't mean our corporates are not doing enough, they are doing enough. In automobile and in information technology, much is being done but looking at our nation's size, its potential, its position, and the growth trajectory on which it is, our corporates need to come forward to engage in research and development.
The investment in research and development is lasting and this, distinguished audience, please note, has another cutting edge: soft diplomacy, if you get something, nations flock to you. We have that power, research and development is so integrated with security these days therefore, investment is for the nation. Investment is for growth. Investment is for sustainability.
I am concerned about one aspect in particular, and that aspect, fortunately for me, was voiced in a survey by CSIR, the sample size was 3,000. We must not do lip service to research and development, our contribution has to be substantial, the result has to be substantial, not cosmetic or superficial. We cannot just take pride in saying so much for research and development. The one doing research or development in academic institutions should not be in pursuit only of academic information. Research is not a simulation. Research is research, and I therefore appeal to everyone concerned to have SOP for it. Invest in that human resource or institution that can authentically engage in research and development. The two are separate, when I went to one of the IITs – all IITs are doing well, I am not naming the IIT for that reason – I was amazed that research and development were excellent, it was being done by professors and students. So, we will have to be on guard that merely because physical resources are committed, we cannot take pride, saying, "Oh, I have spent so much for research and development."
Investment in research and development, distinguished audience, has to be correlated to tangible outcomes and there are people in the front row who can evaluate what is a tangible outcome.
Friends, there is enough to say, but I will conclude by focusing on the state of the nation, state of the nation today is beyond my dreams. I never imagined it. I did not conceive of the earth as it is today, I did not have that contemplation. I am referring to 1989, when I was elected to the Lok Sabha. In 1990, I was a union minister. I will focus on four aspects.
One, we went to Jammu and Kashmir, Srinagar, as a member of the Council of Ministers. We stayed at a hotel near Dal Lake, everything was dull, not even twenty souls could be seen on the road, a state of dejection and hopelessness and it was declared in the Rajya Sabha, which I preside as chairman, that last year, two crore tourists went to Jammu and Kashmir. Where is the figure of twenty? Two crores, article 370, a temporary article of the constitution – the only article labelled as temporary was taken by some people, including those who had taken oath under the constitution to be permanent. It is no longer there.
Second, I suffered the pain because, as a student, हमें पढ़ाया गया था कि भारत सोने की चिड़िया है। As a minister, I had the occasion to see our gold physically airlifted, to be placed in two Swiss banks to sustain our fiscal credibility, because our foreign exchange was around one billion US dollars. Now it is more than six hundred billion US dollars, mind you. We are getting things back rather than giving. I suffered the pain then when the World Bank and IMF would give us not advisories or advice, but peremptorily direct us: "Do this, otherwise..." and now the same institutions, IMF says, India is a favourite global destination of investment and opportunity. World Bank says, digitisation of India and its penetration that happened in six years is otherwise not achievable in four decades or more. We are a role model, according to the World Bank, of digitisation, that happened there.
Another aspect was that we had a system where corruption was rampant in power corridors, nothing could catalyse without a middleman, your pedigree was a password to opportunity and a job or a contract. Now power corridors are fully sanitised, the middleman has disappeared from the one-sixth of humanity, at least. Do we see middlemen around? No. All transactions are taking place digitally, without human interface. That is the change I never imagined. This change I am seeing myself. We were living in an era where there was privilege pedigree.some thought law was not for them, they were immune to law. They were not accountable to law, it was a concept not known to them but now, the privileged pedigree is feeling the heat of law and why not? Equality before the law is an inalienable facet of democracy. How can we call a nation a democratic nation if some people pass away more equal than others? That is the benefit to young minds and as a result of that, our youth are energised.
The fourth point I wish to make is about the economy. I can't even tell you the size of the Indian economy in 1990 was smaller than the city of London or Paris. Imagine. A decade ago, we were counted amongst the fragile five nations. A cliff hanging economy, a concern to the global community. Now we are a robust economy, we are amongst the five great economies of the world, we are the fifth largest, on the way to becoming the third, ahead of Japan and Germany, in two years. Our economic rise is like a plateau, affecting everyone.
In all this, the contribution of science is there, technology is there, corruption would have been there, Transparent, accountable governance would not have been there unless there was technology. Digitisation and penetration would not have happened but for democracy. People are adept at technology, they may not be very literate, but they know how to use the internet, how to avail themselves of services. This means the Great Marathon March for Viksit Bharat@2047. You are the major stakeholders. You may not be that visible on the screen, but you are the driving force of it. You will have to be contributing 24X7.
My best wishes to you, CSIR exemplifies excellence, academic brilliance and cutting-edge research. In the near future, we will doubtlessly see Bharat emerging as a global pioneer in the domains of science and technology that will help us script a new chapter in our growth story.
Thank you so much.
