PM lauds scientists for indigenous vaccines
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday lauded scientists for the scale and speed at which they developed indigenous vaccines against Covid-19 pandemic and bolstered measures to fight the viral disease within a year, even as he reiterated his government’s call for a self-reliant and strong India.
“In the previous century, inventions were made in other countries and India had to wait for many years. But today the scientists in our country are working at the same speed and at par with other countries,” said Modi while chairing a meeting of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Society through video conferencing.
“Our scientists, within a year, developed ‘Made in India’ vaccine and made it available to the countrymen,” he added.
The Prime Minister further hailed science for always helping world fight crises. “Coronavirus pandemic has come before the whole world as the biggest challenge of this century, but history is witness to this, when there is a big crisis on humanity, science has given better future ways to be prepared,” he said.
During the meeting, Modi reiterated his call for an Aatmanirbhar Bharat (Self-reliant) and a strong India, saying that the pandemics may have slowed its pace but the country’s resolve remains the same.
The PM also spoke about the concerns of climate crisis and urged experts to actively look for solutions while preparing for carbon capture, energy storage and green hydrogen technologies. “Our scientists, our institutions should prepare ourselves for this future challenges with a scientific approach. From carbon capture to energy storage to green hydrogen technologies, we have to take a leap,” he said.
Lauding the work done by the CSIR, he said: “This institution of ours has given so many talents and scientists to the country. A great scientist like Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar has given leadership to this institution.”
The CSIR, he added, has a powerful ecosystem of research and patents and its scientists work for many problems faced by the country.
Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal and Harsh Vardhan were also present at the meeting.