Help attain self- reliance, scientists told

New Delhi: 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. We must enable their creative talents to find fulfilment,” 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 and actively interested in the growth and development of science in India for his long 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.

The CSIR Mrs. Gandhi said with its national laboratories and other scientific organisations represented a segment of our national effort. Although this effort was still small in relation to the country’s needs and aspirations it represented a substantial quantity of human and financial resources.