'India should develop basic engineering'

BANGALORE, INDIA: “India has been developing and growing, but is missing out the basic passion for science. The country needs to look at the ways to inculcate passion for science, it is the time to bring young minds and scientist together,” said  eminent scientist Dr Vasudev Kalkunte Aatre at the inauguration of  the Mega Science fair in Bangalore.

“The whole idea of this exercise is to attract students to science and aspire them to build a career in science. This is just a small step towards achieving the bigger goal. We should look at a bigger setup like these which exposes science to thousands of students,” he said.

Dr. Vasudev Kalkunte Aatre, who is former head of the Defence Research and Development Organisation,  has also served as the scientific advisor to the Defence Minister and was honoured with the Padma Bhushan.

He believes that from past one decade, the country has made great advancements in information technology and is ready with the right infrastructure to help students to learn, grow and contribute to the growth story.

“We should not get enamored by the progress in software, but work towards building a strong foundation for basic product and engineering. The present generation is ready to take the challenge and go forward, but it would take India another one to two generations to beat the developed countries.”  Dr. Vasudev added.

The five-day science fair in Bangalore, organized by IBM in partnership with Agastya Foundation, and supported by Sarva Siksha Abhyan, was inaugurated by Krishna Palemar,  Minister for Science and Technology, Karnataka.