The Vice President of India Shri M.Hamid Ansari awarded young scientists across from different parts of the country who participated in the 3rd National level exhibition and Project Competitions 2013 under the 'Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research' (INSPIRE) programme' organized by Department of Science and Technology. Speaking on the occasion he said it is now universally acknowledged that science and technology can significantly impact each of the three dimensions of sustainable development - economic, social and environmental. However, many challenges still remain and new ones are emerging as rapid growth in population and indiscriminate consumption is depleting our finite natural resources and irreversibly transforming the planet. In the future, science and technology will be critical in finding answers to these seemingly intractable challenges.
Shri Ansari said though our science output has reached 3% of the global output in 2010 still, much more needs to be done. As the country continue on the path of rapid, more inclusive and sustainable growth, we will have to do considerably better in the field of science and technology, not just for our own development but also to keep pace with the rest of the world. Our human resources are outstanding and given a fair chance and adequate resources, they can achieve almost the impossible.
He expressed his concern on the present scenario where India fall short of global standards in science and technology and in research and development areas. the Vice-president said India's share of top 1% impact-making scientific publications in the world is only 0.5%, less than those of other Asian countries like China and South Korea. Inventiveness in our basic science, as indicated by creation of intellectual property, is low. India's innovation system ranking varies between 50 and 60 among the nations.
He said our spending in our gross domestic product (GDP) in the R&D sector is only 1% which needs to be raised to 2% of GDP, just to match other developed and emerging economies. For a country of our size and population, our ownership of intellectual assets also needs to sow an increase - from a little more than 1900 filed by Indians and sealed in 2007 to about 20000 patents sealed per year by 2020.
He congratulated all the young scientist who bagged award and asked them to continue working harder.
Nearly 900 young scientists from 28 states and all the Union Territories except the Lakshadweep took part.