While addressing the Indian Science Congress (ISC) meet in Nagpur on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the scientific community in India should work to make India 'aatma nirbhar'.
With the growing energy needs, the scientific community should forge innovations to benefit the nation, said Modi, while inaugurating the event via video-conferencing. He pointed out that scientific attempts could turn into big achievements when it's out of the lab and touches the ground.
"Development in science should be aimed at fulfilling India's needs, and this should be the inspiration for our scientific community. Since India is home to 17-18 per cent of the world population, progress of such a large number of people will lead to a surge in global advancement as well," he said.
PM Modi also noted that India jumped to the 40th rank in the global innovation index from 81 in 2015 in a list of 130 countries.
The focal theme of this year's ISC was "Science and Technology for Sustainable Development with Women Empowerment," and is focused on measures for increasing the representation of women in science and technology.
Discussions on issues of women's empowerment, women in STEM, and the role of science and tech in sustainable development will also be conducted as part of the programme, the Prime Minister's Office said in the statement.
Several other programmes that would help stimulate scientific interest and temperament among children would also be organised.
The first session of Congress was held in 1914. This year the ISC was held at Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University.