Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the Covid-19 crisis may have slowed down its pace a bit, but even today their resolve remains self-reliant and strong India. He said India wants to be self-reliant in agriculture to astronomy, disaster management to defence technology, vaccines to virtual reality, and biotechnology to battery technology. Modi added India is showing the way to the world in sustainable development and clean energy. He said the country is playing an important role in progress in other countries with its role in software and satellite development.
Self-reliance emerged as the cornerstone of the government’s policy response to the coronavirus disease last year.
“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 in his address to a Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Society gathering.
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He praised the scientific community for making Covid vaccines in India in a record time while expressing gratitude to doctors, other medical staff, and front-line workers for their outstanding work despite the adverse circumstances during the pandemic.
Modi praised the CSIR for breakthroughs in technology, which he said are a source of pride for the country. “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,” he said. “India used to wait for years to get hold of innovations achieved outside, now our scientists [are] working at a same quick pace. Today, our scientists are serving the people by working alongside their foreign counterparts.”
{{/usCountry}}Modi praised the CSIR for breakthroughs in technology, which he said are a source of pride for the country. “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,” he said. “India used to wait for years to get hold of innovations achieved outside, now our scientists [are] working at a same quick pace. Today, our scientists are serving the people by working alongside their foreign counterparts.”
{{/usCountry}}Modi warned the world about the challenges of the future and said that the climate crisis will become the biggest challenge in the coming times. “We have to prepare for this from now on.”