HELP ATTAIN SELF-RELIANCE, SCIENTISTS TOLD
NEW DELHI, August 10. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi today called upon scientists and technologists to help reduce the country’s net dependence on foreign assistance by one half by 1973.
Presiding over the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR, Mrs. Gandhi said “This is a quantitative expression of our determination to promote swadeshi and selfreliance and this is a tremendous challenge to Indian scientists and technologists.”
Pledging Government’s support in this task, Mrs. Gandhi said that the Government was trying to move more purposefully to streamline administrative methods and systems. “We must not allow red tape or the lack of understanding to obstruct the world of young people,” she said.
Congratulating the CSIR for its achievements during the last 25 years Mrs. Gandhi also paid a tribute to her father Jawaharlal Nehru, who “breathed new life into CSIR making it an instrument of national regeneration and progress.”
He was deeply interested in the growth and development of science in India for his study of history and social development had convinced him that the progress, prosperity and independence of a country was indissolubly linked with its advancement in the fields of science and technology.