SCIENCE, SCIENCE, SCIENCE and SONIA GANDHI

India must invest heavily in science: Sonia

Bangalore, Feb. 7 (PTI): UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi has said India must invest heavily in science to sustain the knowledge revolution in the country and declared that the National Science Foundation would free scientific research from bureaucratic impediments.

She also said in a message on the eleventh Rajiv Gandhi Science and Techology lecture, which was delivered here on Mondayafternoon by Nobel laureate David Gross, that a task force on women was examining how greater numbers of talented women could be attracted to the study of science and to scientific research.

Gandhi said the Knowledge Commission was giving priority to the overhaul of science teaching and research in the university system to help universities play a fuller part in India's scientific effort.

Noting that since Independence, India has given a central role to science and technology as a key instrument for its development and the country has invested heavily in creating an extensive scientific and higher educational infrastructure, she said some of its dividends are now visible, notably in Bangalore, as well as elsewhere.

"But we cannot be complacent. As we move into the age of knowledge economy, India must invest even more heavily in science to sustain the knowledge revolution in the country". She said three new Indian Institutes of Science are in the process of being established, each giving equal attention to undergraduate science teaching and research.
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