Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh on Wednesday called upon all scientists of different ministries and departments to further enhance collaboration in the field of research and development so that the country's dependence on imports can be reduced considerably, according to a statement.
Addressing the first-ever joint meeting of all science ministries and departments here, the minister emphasised the need for ground-level collaboration among all science ministries to further step up research and development activities and collaboration with industries and corporate houses.
The present cooperation in scientific and human resource sectors needs to be streamlined and efforts should be made to give shape to an institutional mechanism at the earliest, said Singh, who took charge as the minister of science and technology as well as earth sciences last week.
Besides, he holds charge of departments of space and atomic energy.
He also complimented the "excellent" R&D efforts by private sector industries.
"Dr Jitendra Singh today called upon the scientists of different ministries and departments to further enhance collaboration in the field of Research & Development so that our dependence on imports can be reduced considerably," the statement said.
In the concluding session of the meeting, Singh said such inter-ministerial meetings will be held every month to evolve an institutional mechanism. Subsequently, efforts will be made to extend such collaboration outside the government.
The minister pointed out that while different science ministries are making noteworthy contributions to nation-building, they should not be working in isolation.
Touching upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mandate that scientific endeavour should be citizen-centric, Singh said the performance of science ministries and departments should impact the lives of the common man.
Principal Scientific Advisor K VijayRaghavan, secretaries of departments of atomic energy, science and technology, earth sciences and biotechnology, and other senior scientists participated in the brainstorming session. ISRO chairman and secretary of Department of Space K Sivan joined the meeting virtually.