Address of Governor of Chhattisgarh Shri Shekhar Dutt at ITM University
I am very thankful to ITM University, Gwalior to give me opportunity to join its programme. I am really glad that Padma Vibhushan Dr. Anil Kakodkar, nuclear scientist and Ex-Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India, Padma Vibhushan Dr. V.K. Saraswat, Ex-Director General DRDO are here and shall be felicited by us. It gives me immense pleasure that all of you and family member of the university are present here.
I never had an idea that my writing and addresses would be compiled in the form of a book. I want to give credit to the publisher and my friend Narendra Kumar who has inspired me to make it in a book form. I believe that learning is a continued process and one has to always learn not only from books but also from subordinates, colleagues, common man and environment. I am always keen to take feedback from the people and different sections of the society. I believe that Samvad has a great importance both in communication and in dialogue form. It has a great importance for progressive, prosper and purposeful life.
My father Dr. S C Dutt, a Gold medalist of Calcutta University and prominent Scientist, who was given the Rafi Ahmad Kidwai Award in its inception year, has always been my influence. He had told me that – “even if you eat a ‘Sukhi Roti’ chew it at least 32 times and it starts tasting sweet. The scientific reason is that as you chew the ‘Roti’ the saliva breaks the cellulose in to carbohydrate and then glucose.” The moral of this story is that in every field that we work in and every subject that we handle, if we go deeper into, would bring us immense satisfaction and pleasure.
Today we dream of India emerging as a global power. Indians are conscious of their national security and their ability to affect international security. When India became free, our founding fathers invested resources and efforts in setting up some excellent educational institutions like IITs, IIMs, NITs, Central Research Institutes on various sciences, medical and engineering colleges, Agricultural research and agriculture universities and National Labs. We have seen one of the biggest challenge viz food shortage, being solved by a dedicated team of Scientists and technologists and who brought in the Green Revolution. The Green Revolution is something which we have seen succeed in our lifetime and we have seen how, from a deficit country, we become food surplus and now we have the food security law in place. I think, the Green Revolution brought tremendous confidence in us.
We are a young nation. Our young people are not only capable of bringing about the desired change but are also increasingly getting equipped with the skills and knowledge required for enabling it. It is necessary to motivate them to be good leaders.
Nowadays research and innovations and new discoveries or findings are what can make a nation intellectually great. We must encourage our new generations to take up research in the basic subjects like Physics, Chemistry, Economics, Bio Sciences, Genetics, Biochemistry, Pharmacia etc. It is said that Indians have logical mind. This logical mind has to be given a direction. We should devote ourselves to finding new molecules in drugs, new varieties of seeds for increased agriculture production, new theories and laws of our universe, new methods of surgery and treatments so on and so forth.
This is a gigantic task and we will have to make our new generation of youth aware of their potential and priorities. We will have to shake and stir their mind so that they can develop it to its full potential. If we want to be future leaders of the world, we will have to nurture and develop our intellectual capital.
I have been fortunate of having worked in the health department as its Secretary and have found it to be one of my most interesting charges. The Ministry of Health along with Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) decided to compile all our traditional knowledge and its formulae in a digital form and set up a Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL).With this wealth of traditional knowledge our scientist and doctors should be able to invent new molecules for the betterment of the health of mankind.
Our scientists have done us immensely proud and like always, we have been grateful to our scientists who have brought out this level of self reliance and taught us to be rightfully a part of a bigger league in the world. I have been a part of the project on Integrated Guide Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) which has a number of different aspects from the production point of view, Prithvi, Trishul, Naag, Aakash and then Agni. Each one of those missile has got its own features and they are all great news for the defence of our country. Each one of those developments is extremely interesting and useful. I am thankful to individuals like Dr. Homi Bhabha who set up BARC and the entire atomic energy programme and the leaders and scientists who set up ISRO. Recently I witnessed the historic launching of the second Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS-1B) onboard Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV C-24) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. It was a unique experience to see the INRSS-1B entering into its orbit and its effect. This expedition is another milestone in the space expedition of the country. I am really glad that the former chairman of Atomic Energy Commision Dr. Anil Kakodkar and the former Director General of DRDO Dr. V. K. Saraswat is here.
I am thankful to you all for providing me this opportunity. I am sure that the students of ITM University shall confidently march forward to attain the objectives and usher in an era of excellence.
Thank You,
Jai Hind