Pratibha Patil also pressed for proper training and mentoring of young science students to maintain country's position as one of the knowledge power centres of the world.
Asking the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs to take lead in creating efficient and low-cost technologies to deal with energy, security and other day-to-day challenges, president Pratibha Patil today said they can play an important role in mentoring innovators at the grassroots level.
Addressing the golden jubilee celebrations at the IIT in Kanpur, Patil also pressed for proper training and mentoring of young science students to maintain country's position as one of the knowledge power centres of the world.
Qualified and talented individuals of our nation have to find innovative solutions to our myriad challenges, keeping in mind our specific conditions, she said.
"There are several challenges that confront our nation, and certain issues are global and affect us as we speak... There is a great scope for wind and solar energy in India. But where are the technologies that are both efficient in performance and effective in costs? Will the brain power of the IITs provide the nation some options in this regard?," she said.
"What is also required is the application of new technologies in helping solve the problems of everyday life... In agriculture, given the large number of small sized land holdings in the country, for example, can there be sugar harvesting machines that are suitable for such land holdings?
Development, the president said, requires peace and an environment of law and order. "Can there be equipment for our security forces based on technologies like thermal imaging or laser penetration or any other, which can be effective in
tracking and surveillance including in densely urban populated areas or in thick forested areas?," she said. "Can there also be devices that provide a greater protective shield to our law enforcing personnel? I have also observed that there are many persons, not necessarily scientists, but ordinary people, in our country who have demonstrated the ability to find innovative solutions to problems which they face," the president said.
Patil urged IITs and other major institutes of technology to link up with talented people at the grassroots level and help them fine-tune their work and also provide a new dimension to their knowledge, by mentoring them on even better approaches.
"India has built considerable capacity in science and technology since independence. If training and mentoring young science students and encouraging work on research was envisioned as a high priority in the early years, it is now of even greater criticality in the 21st century, as India seeks to sustain its position as one of the knowledge power centres of the world," Patil said.
She said the IIT are a product of the vision of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who believed that educational institutions of the highest standards for teaching science and technology were an absolute necessity for India's overall development.
On the occasion, a nanosatellite 'Jugnu' developed by students and teachers of IIT, Kanpur was also handed over to the scientists of Indian Space Research Organisation.
The president also buried a time capsule carrying the history of IIT-Kanpur's 50 years.
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