Mysore (Karnataka): The BJP government at the Centre is taking a “bold stance” for India to become a “Vishwaguru” (world leader), Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Sunday.
She made the remarks while laying the foundation stone for the Mysore University and Indian Astronomical Physics Institute's Cosmology Education and Research Training Center near Tavarekatte in the Chamundi Hills of Mysore. "I strongly felt a need that something should be developed which is helpful not only for one generation but for many upcoming generations. This idea of COSMOS can help our generations to learn from the great heritage that observatories in Karnataka and India carry since centuries," said Sitharaman.
She said that students at the centre can be guided by faculty, scientists to use the data and see the outcome "which can be put in use for benefits of the state, nation and humanity".
The project is said to be India's first planetarium with a Digistar 7 system and a Domex screen, COSMOS and will also provide students and research scholars a platform to access the real-time as well as archival data for analysis and use. COSMOS is being developed with a budget of Rs 81 crore and is supported under the MPLAD of Sitharaman. An amount of Rs 2 crore has been released by DC Mysore. The project is steered by the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India and it is managed by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, under an MoU between the University of Mysore and the Indian Institute of Astrophysics.
