Prime Minister Narendra Modi today asked scientists to make innovation useful for the people and develop technology that is affordable to the masses with “zero defect” and “zero effect” on the environment.

“Everybody engaged in research may not get a Nobel Prize, but the real award for them is to make their invention useful for the common people,” he said after inaugurating the new campus of the National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) at Jatni near here.

On the country’s traditional knowledge, Modi said, “Dr Manjul Bhargava became one of the great mathematicians by gathering knowledge from scriptures. His father was a Sanskrit scholar. We should connect traditional knowledge with science and technology.”

“Our priority should be to make science and technology affordable to the masses with zero-effect and zero-defect,” the Prime Minister said, adding that what he meant by ‘zero-effect’ was that it should not have any adverse impact on environment and be free from side effects.

He said Odisha had abundant coal reserves. Therefore, affordable, cheap and green technology should be developed so that coal gasification could be developed here.

Noting that India’s ocean and sky remained untapped, Modi asked the scientific community to explore the resources and utilise them for the benefit of the people.

“Why did our forefathers describe the ocean as ‘Ratna Garva’. This is because of the wealth in the ocean. There should be scientific research in the field of marine areas,” he said.

On space research, he said India had already made its presence felt in space technology through the Mars mission. He recalled when scientists began research on space technology, there was insufficient logistics to support them. Still they were successful.

While stressing on energy conservation and generation of cheap energy, the Prime Minister said it had been a great challenge for the scientists to produce cheap solar energy.

Technology should be developed for the same so that the poor people across the country could benefit.

“If 100 (smart) cities use LED bulbs, the country will save 20,000 MW of power. A small technological advance could save crores of rupees,” Modi said and added that efforts were on internationally to further develop renewable energy. He also called upon the scientists to create wealth from the waste being generated in cities.

Noting that a scientific temper should be infused among students, he called upon the authorities of NISER to interact with science teachers in schools and students so that they were attracted to the subject and could devote time on innovation.

Modi, however, expressed displeasure over not finding any greenery in ISER’s new campus though it has developed beautiful infrastructure and laboratories and libraries. He asked the authorities to make the campus green.

Among those present at the function were Odisha Governor S C Jamir, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Union Ministers Jual Oram and Dharmendra Pradhan.

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