Odisha govt keen to promote scientific research: Minister
Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Dec. 5:
The Odisha government has been encouraging promotion of science and scientific research while endeavoring to make education relevant to the market needs and economic demands, minister for Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare, Employment and Technical Education and Training Sanjay Das Burma said today.
“Education must be made relevant to the present needs without compromising on its ethical and moral values,” he said, while inaugurating the national seminar on ‘Science and Technology for Human Development’ organized to mark the two-day 17th Odisha Bigyan Congress at the SOA University here.
Das Burma said the state government had formulated a policy for mopping up resources for expenditure in the field of science and technology. The government had established a technical university while ensuring the setting up of the IIT, NISER and IIM in the state, he said.
The Odisha Bigyan Congress has been organized jointly by the SOA University and Bhubaneswar chapter of Indian Science Congress Association in collaboration with Odisha Environmental Society.
Prof Trilochan Pradhan, former vice chancellor of Utkal University, Prof Omkar Nath Mohanty, former vice chancellor of BPUT and Dr SN Patro, president of Odisha Environmental Society addressed the inaugural session which was presided over by Prof DK Roy, vice chancellor of SOA University.
Around 400 scientists are attending the event.
Prof Pradhan, while praising SOA University for the rapid strides it was making towards becoming a front-ranking educational institution, made specific reference to its faculty of engineering, Institute of Technical Education and Research (ITER), for earning a good name for its academic culture and placement.
Referring to cutting edge research in the fields of energy, he said that a day would come when people would not have to pay their energy bills.
Prof Mohanty underscored the need for documenting the losses incurred because of disasters and natural calamities scientifically. Existing barriers in scientific research should be removed by encouraging inter-disciplinary research, he said.
Six eminent scientists— Prof Bhaskar Das (Chemistry), Prof Bhabendra Kumar Patnaik (Zoology) Prof Chandrasekhar Sarangi (Botany), Prof Gokulananda Das (Mathematics), Prof Sadananda Tarasia (Physics) and Dr SN Patro (Environmental Science)— were felicitated on the occasion.
Dr JK Panigrahi, convener of the Bhubaneswar chapter of Indian Science Congress Association and Dr Jyoti Ranjan Nayak, joint convener of the conference also spoke.
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