Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday lauded the work of Indian scientists for “working at the same speed and at par with advanced countries” in making India self-reliant in COVID-19 vaccines within a year to fight against the deadly coronavirus.

Addressing a meeting of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Society through video conference, the Prime Minister praised the scientists for the scale and speed at which the vaccines were made within a year, to save humanity from the pandemic. He said this is the first time such a big thing has happened in history. He added that in the previous century, inventions were made in other countries and India had to wait for many years.

 PM Modi remarked that the coronavirus pandemic has emerged as the biggest challenge of this century. But whenever there was a big humanitarian crisis in the past, science has prepared the way for a better future. The basic nature of science is to create new strength by finding solutions and possibilities during crises, he added.

Climate Change

The Prime Minister said that experts around the world are constantly expressing huge apprehension about climate change. He gave a call to all the scientists and institutions to make preparations with a scientific approach. He asked them to take the lead in every sector from carbon capture to energy storage and green hydrogen technologies.

The Prime Minister said today the goals of institutions like CSIR are also extraordinary. Today's India wants to be self-reliant and empowered in every sector, from biotechnology to battery technologies, from Agriculture to Astronomy, from Disaster Management to Defense Technology, from Vaccines to Virtual Reality.

He added that today India is showing the way to the world in the field of sustainable development and clean energy. Today, from software to satellites, India is accelerating the development of other countries, playing the role of a major engine in the development of the world. Therefore, he said that India’s goals should be in line with the needs of this decade as well as for the next decade.

He praised CSIR for its role in the Aroma mission launched in 2016. He added that today thousands of farmers of the country are changing their fortunes through floriculture. He lauded CSIR for helping in cultivation of asafoetida within the country for which India was dependent on imports.

The Prime Minister urged CSIR to move forward in a definite way with a roadmap. This COVID-19 crisis of Corona might have affected the pace of development but the commitment to realise the dream of AatamNirbhar Bharat remains. He gave a call for making optimum use of opportunities in our country. He said that there is immense potential in every field from agriculture to the education sector for our MSMEs and Startups. He urged all the scientists and the industry to repeat the success achieved during the COVID crisis in every field.