NEW DELHI: President Droupadi Murmu on Monday said the national goal of establishing India as a global knowledge superpower would be achieved only when the world community is eager to adopt the work being done in Indian laboratories. Inaugurating the two-day visitor’s conference 2024-25 at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here, Murmu also said that the ambition of the country’s higher education community should be that researchers from the institutions get recognition at the world level.
She said patents of the country’s institutions can bring change in the world and students from developed countries choose India as a preferred destination for higher education.
The president said the students from India enrich the world’s leading educational institutions and developed economies with their talent and emphasised the need of making efforts to utilise their talent in the country.
She said the national goal of establishing India as a Global Knowledge super power would be achieved only when the world community is eager to adopt the work being done in the country’s laboratories, according to an official statement.
The president is the visitor of 184 central institutes of higher education.
She said the level of development of any country is reflected in the quality of its education system and told the heads of the institutions of higher learning that they have a crucial role in achieving the goal of establishing India as an important centre of the knowledge economy.
She highlighted the need to pay a lot of attention to research along with education and said that the government of India has established the National Research Fund with a very good objective.
Murmu expressed confidence that institutions of higher learning would make good use of this important initiative and encourage research and said many higher education institutions of the country have global brand value.
The students of these institutions get big responsibilities in the best institutions and companies of the world, she said, adding, however, all the institutions should move ahead very fast.
The leadership of heads of institutions of higher learning would be recognised by developing and utilising the immense talent of our large youth population, she said.
The president said along with excellence, social inclusion and sensitivity should also be an essential aspect of the education system and no economic, social or psychological limitation of any kind should be a hindrance in getting higher education.
She said that heads and teachers of institutions of higher learning should take care of young students, remove any insecurity from their minds and provide them moral and spiritual strength.
Murmu urged them to make every possible effort to provide counselling and inspiration to students and spread positive energy in the campuses.
She said India has a rich tradition of scientific achievements and the branches and sub-branches of Indian knowledge and science have flourished in every region of the country.
It would be very useful to rediscover the invaluable but extinct streams of knowledge and science by doing intense research, she said, adding it is the responsibility of the higher education ecosystem to find ways to use such organically grown knowledge systems in today’s context.
During the inaugural session, the president presented the eighth Visitor’s Awards in the categories of Innovation, Research and Technology Development.
The Visitor’s Award for Innovation was given to Saripella Srikrishna, Banaras Hindu University, for developing Novel Indigenous Innovation in Quantum Technology to boost the National Green Hydrogen Mission.
The Visitor’s Award for Research in the field of Physical Sciences was conferred upon Ashwini Kumar Nangia, University of Hyderabad, for his seminal research in the discovery and development of high bioavailability drugs and pharmaceuticals with enhanced efficacy at affordable cost.
The Visitor’s Award for Research in Biological Sciences was jointly presented to Prof Rina Chakrabarti, University of Delhi and Prof Raj Kumar, Central University of Punjab. Prof Chakrabarti has been conferred the Award for her research contributions to Sustainable Freshwater Aquaculture while Prof Raj Kumar has been presented the Award for his research contributions to exploring various cancer hallmarks and the development of synthetic anticancer lead molecules.
The Visitor’s Award for Technology Development was presented to Venkateswarlu Chintala, Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya, for his research contributions to the petrol and diesel production at commercial scale from landfill municipal mixed plastic waste.