Young scientists should solve social problems with technology: UGC chief
The Chairman, University Grants Commission, Prof Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, today said young scientists should solve social problems with new technologies. It was very important to promote innovation for the development of the country so that challenges could be solved through new technologies.
He was speaking at 17th Goyal Prizes ceremony organised by Kurukshetra University. Goyal Prizes were instituted by late Ram S Goyal, an NRI settled in the US in 1990, to honour scientists for their exceptional work. At the ceremony, eight scientists of the country were honoured with the Goyal Award.
The UGC chairman said, “There is no lack of skills among the youth in India, they have immense potential, they only need awareness. India has made its mark in the world in the field of startups. There is a huge ecosystem for startup companies in India. The Indian education system is the largest in which there are very talented people and it needs improvement. We can increase it by improving the system from the primary level to higher education level. For this, the teachers and students need to work together.”
The chairman, Goyal Award organising committee and Vice-Chancellor, Kurukshetra University, Prof Som Nath Sachdeva, said the scientists made our life better in a meaningful and measurable way with their brilliant scientific research. Prof Sachdeva also announced that Goyal Peace Prize will be awarded in the near future to the ISRO Chairman, Prof S Somnath. Prof Sachdeva proposed to the scientists of IISc, Bengaluru, that Kurukshetra University was ready to allocate 100 acres if IISc planned to set up a science research centre in Haryana.
The convener, Goyal Award organizing committee, Prof Sanjiv Arora, said Prof Bhim Singh, Professor Emeritus, IIT-Delhi, Prof Santanu Bhattacharya, IISE, Bengaluru, Prof V Nagaraja, Department of Microbiological and Cell Biology, IISc, Bengaluru and Prof SK Satheesh, Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, IISc, Bengaluru, were awarded the Goyal Award for 2021-22 by Kurukshetra University and each scientist was awarded a medal, a citation and a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh.
Four scientists of the country, who are below 45 years of age, were awarded the Rajib Goyal Prize. They were Prof Saptarshi Basu, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Bengaluru (applied sciences), Prof Sebastian C Peter, JNCASR, Bengaluru (chemical sciences), Prof Bushra Ateeq, Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering, IIT-Kanpur (life sciences) and Prof Sanjib Kumar Agarwalla, Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar (physics).
