Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India recently held a meeting with top scientific officials of the Government of India.

Dr. V.K. Saraswat, Member, NITI Aayog; Dr. R. Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Advisor, Government of India; and Secretaries related to scientific departments in the Union Government were part of this meeting.

Modi said, “Science, technology and innovation are the keys to progress and prosperity of India. The Government’s priority in the science and technology sector is to apply science to solve our country’s problems.”

Giving the example of talent spotting in sports, Modi said that mechanisms should be made to identify the brightest and best science talent among school students.

Urging officials to break silos Modi said, “A lot of innovation is happening at the grassroots level. A mechanism should be formed to document and replicate successful innovations at the grassroots level.” 

Expressing confidence in the abilities of Indian scientists to rise up to the challenges, and provide solutions to improve the lives of the common man in India, he asked the officials to draw up clear targets to be achieved by 2022, the 75th year of independence.