New Delhi: Union minister Jitendra Singh on Friday called upon members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to join hands to innovate affordable scientific solutions for common challenges like ensuring food, affordable healthcare and energy access for the people. Singh, Union Minister of State for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, said SCO member countries must jointly address emerging challenges like climate change and biodiversity loss.
Addressing an SCO meeting through virtual mode, he recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the SCO Dushanbe Summit in 2021 had called for making the region a stakeholder in emerging technologies so that it can compete with the developed world. "For this, we have to encourage our talented youth towards science and rational thinking," the Union minister said, adding that this kind of thinking and innovative spirit can be promoted by connecting young entrepreneurs and start-ups.
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Singh informed the fellow ministers that India in the recent past has launched several flagship initiatives such as the National Mission on Cyber-Physical Systems, National Mission on Quantum Computing, National Mission on Supercomputing, Deep Ocean Mission etc to build scientific leadership in the emerging areas of science. He added that a national programme that addresses the entire value chain of innovations, titled NIDHI (National Initiative for Developing & Harnessing Innovations), has been launched.
Moreover, to attract and encourage young women in STEM and to address the gender imbalance in science, several women-centric schemes have been initiated by the government, Singh added. The SCO currently comprises eight member States China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
PTI
