Says he wants to nurture innovation and enquiry, reiterates commitment to public access for drug R&D
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today reiterated the Government of India’s commitment to the Open Source Drug Discovery project, as part of a statement of intent on the need to facilitate work on alternative modes of growth and development.
The project, funded through the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, has a Government of India commitment of Rs 150 crore, of which Rs 46 crore hasd already been released. It is meant to facilitate sharing of research results on drug discovery. The PM said an equal amount would be raised from the international community for the project.
Inaugurating the four-day 21st general meeting of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World here, he said intellectual property rights sometimes bedevilled the collaboration on research. "We have seen how the path of development followed by industrialised countries has the potential to threaten our existence and way of life,'' he said.
And, stressed the need for exploring an alternative and more sustainable path for improving the economies of developing countries without destroying the ecosytem.
Developing nations should voice their concerns more forcefully in evolving scientific policies in areas like climate change and biodiversity, as many of the scientific processes are dominated by scientists from advanced countries.
"The impact of climate change is more devastating on the developing world,'' he said, adding that the latter was constrained by a lack of well-organised systems and a critical mass of expertise in its scientific establishments.
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Developing countries, which face similar challenges relating to combating tropical diseases, transforming traditional agriculture and predicting and tackling natural disasters, should invest in science and scientific infrastructure in schools and laboratories. India has been an advocate of South-South Cooperation on challenges facing the developing world, he said.
"We need to promote an eco-system that rewards innovation, creativity and excellence. We need to nurture inquisitiveness and a questioning mind. We need to change our pedagogical methods that emphasise memory rather than enquiry,'' the Prime Minister said.
Lays stone for TIFR campus
Later, addressing the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Hyderabad campus of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Singh said innovation and knowledge would be key factors in our nation's progress this century.
"Scientific development is an integral part of the journey towards inclusive, balanced and sustainable growth," he said.
Therefore, the Prime Minister said, we must foster an environment that promotes and nurtures scientific achievement and makes us a world leader in creating intellectual property. For this, it was essential to strengthen our scientific infrastructure, draw the brightest minds to scientific research and create institutions of the highest standards of excellence.
TIFR’s director, Mustansir Barma, said the institute's vision for the new campus was unification of traditional disciplines under common themes, convergence of fundamental and applied sciences, and unification of teaching and research in ways that reinforce each other.
In the initial years, he said, the new centre would focus on themes chosen across optical science, condensed matter, materials and chemistry and life sciences or, in other words, "Light, Matter and Life".
The Centre for Inter-Disciplinary Sciences was expected to be functional by 2013.