The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Nano is the way forward, says Ansari

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Sunday, Dec 14, 2008
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Nano is the way forward, says Ansari

Special Correspondent

‘It should be used for solving problems in fields like agriculture’

— Photo: V Sreenivasa Murthy

NANO STAR: Vice-President Hamid Ansari presenting the Nano National Award to Deepankar Chakravarthy (right) at the inauguration of the second Bangalore Nano on Saturday. Governor Rameshwar Thakur (left) and C.N.R. Rao, Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, are seen.

Bangalore: Vice-President M. Hamid Ansari said that the challenge of nanoscience in India is to focus on what the technology can contribute to the masses, especially in the field of agriculture and to people living in rural India.

Mr. Ansari was addressing a meeting which adopted the Bangalore Nano Declaration at the Second Bangalore Nano in the city on Saturday.

Mr. Ansari said since government public funding was premised on furthering public welfare, it was important to ensure wider public participation while developing the agenda for the science in India.

The success of nanotechnology depended on it delivering solutions to problems such as clean water, clean energy, housing and health, which were important for most people. Since new technologies “always comes as a package,” practitioners of nanotechnology should “recognise people’s safety and environmental concerns.”

He warned that nanotechnology, which had a “wide array of potential applications ranging from aerospace to miniature arts, can also have disruptive influence because of the moral and legal dilemmas they may pose.”

Prof. C.N.R. Rao, Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, said India could not succeed in the field of nanotechnology without “competing hard”.

Pointing out that nanoscience is a “young science,” he said India had the advantage of a relatively young population.

It was important to draw young people, particularly from the rural areas, to nanoscience, he said. Home Minister V.S. Acharya said Bangalore, with a “readily available knowledge pool,” was a natural choice of location for industries and institutions specialising in nanotechnology. He said the State was setting up an independent authority for IT, biotechnology and nanotechnology, which would monitor the development of infrastructure for these industries and institutions in the public-private partnership mode.

Chief Secretary Sudhakar Rao said Karnataka had taken an early lead in drawing nanotechnologists.

“The State Government will support nanotechnology just as it has supported IT and biotechnology,” he said. “It is time to move on from IT and biotechnology to nanotechnology,” he said.

Mr. Ansari presented the Second Bangalore Nano award to Prof. Dipankar Chakravorty of Jadavpur University for his “formidable achievements” in the field of nanotechnology.

He is Emeritus Professor and Honorary Scientist, Indian National Science Academy, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata.

Governor Rameshwar Thakur released the declaration adopted by the second Bangalore Nano.

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