Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan said that every scientific research activity should reach the common man but government departments were still not making use of the knowledge being disseminated by scientists, like in agriculture to reduce the loss made by farmers.
Addressing a seminar on “Recent Trends in Space Sector: New India” organised by the Academy of Science, Technology and Communication (ASTC) and the National Academy of Sciences (NASI)- Hyderabad, at the CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) on Friday, she said that pace technology with remote sensing makes it possible to inform farmers about what crops need to be raised and when, but this was not being effectively disseminated.
She called for transformative science that will benefit the common man and wanted scientists to be more active in their research towards taking more benefits to citizens. In this context, she referred to cheaper stents and callipers for the disabled developed as spin off from space technology by scientist and former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
“Space research and technology directly help us increase our food production and give us security but many public representatives unfortunately are not even aware of it and question the allocations for science,” she rued and hailed the scientific community for bringing out the indigenous COVID vaccine within 11 months of the outbreak.
Former chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) A.S. Kiran Kumar said about 5,000 gadgets for using the indigenous ‘Navic’ mobile app has been installed for the fishermen community in Tamil Nadu (following a HC order) which will guide them to potential fishing zones, location and weather updates.
The country should have over 200 satellites in space for communication, weather forecasting, navigation and other activities, from the current 50, but for the capacities to be increased, private sector and academic institutions have to be involved, as in developed nations.
While the human flight mission ‘Gaganyaan’ delayed by COVID pandemic is likely to pick up pace with more flight trials in the coming months, he said that mobile phone could soon become a space monitoring tool with projects on handling space debris, 3D printing, drug manufacturing and thermal energy in space on the anvil.
Blue economy policy
Ministry of Earth Sciences secretary M. Ravichandran said the blue economy policy will be unveiled shortly for sustainable utilisation of ocean resources, weather forecasting, climate change, and disaster preparedness, with the country having a 7,500 km coastline. Coastal management plan for Puducherry and Lakshadweep islands indicating the shore line change, land loss, impact of sea level rise, and multi-parameter vulnerability plan, among others, will be released soon.
Chairman ASTC & NASI Ch. Mohan Rao and secretary C. L. Narasimha Rao said that Lasik eye surgery, scratch proof glasses, infra-red screening, wireless headphones and camera phones, have been developed from space technology.
CSIR-NGRI director Prakash Kumar, INSPACe director-technical Rajeev Jyoti and secretary ASTC & NASI-Hyd C.L. Narasimha Rao, also spoke. The Governor felicitated Skyroot Aerospace CEO Pawan Kumar Chandana and Dhruva Space CEO Sanjay Nekkanti for their respective achievements last year on the occasion.
Published - January 20, 2023 07:48 pm IST
