Eastern India's first observational astronomy institute is set to come up in Ayodhya Hills of Purulia district of West Bengal. Land for the facility has been acquired and necessary clearances have been obtained.
Announcing this in Kolkata today, Union Minister for Science and Technology, Dr Harsh Vardhan said S.N.Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences (SNBNCBS), will be implementing this project.
The centre supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) has already recruited a couple of talented, young astronomers.
Dr Harsh Vardhan said that the establishing of an observatory in eastern India was long overdue.
The country's first astronomical observatory was founded in St. Xavier's College, Kolkata in the 1880s.
It had state-the-art equipment of that era and Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose spent many hours there as a student. Subsequently many private observatories came up but could not sustain themselves.
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SNBNCS is one of the five DST centres to benefit from a Rs 500-crore package announced by the new government for research in basic science-driven technology.
This is under a scheme announced in last year's budget for setting up new Technology Research Centres.
"The outlay for DST has been enhanced by 32 percent in this year's budget. That is because Prime Minister Narendra Modi realizes that no country which is today an industrial power could get there without solidly backing basic science research. Our government's vision of making India a global manufacturing hub cannot be realized if basic science research does not give the theoretical innovations with which Indian processes acquire cutting edge competitiveness in the world market," said Dr Harsh Vardhan.
"For the 23 independent autonomous institutions and professional bodies under DST, the Plan and Non-Plan allocations amount to Rs 872.5 crore. About Rs 300 crore has been allocated for multi-disciplinary research. For mega facilities in basic science and research Rs 99 crore has been earmarked," he added.