President inaugurates Golden Jubilee Year of IIT Delhi

President Pratibha Patil today called upon students and alumni of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), some of the best brains in the country, to be important partners and contributors to the journey of India to become a leader in knowledge-based society of the 21st century.

Inaugurating the Golden Jubilee Year of IIT Delhi here, Ms Patil emphasised that the future of India would derive strength from three sources: from a value-based system based on harmony, tolerance and selflessness; from youth; and from innovations and inventions.

"Educational institutions like IITs are the crucibles where all these three forces can interface with each other. Here, young students while studying science disciplines must inculcate a good value system," she said.

The President recalled that the establishment of the education infrastructure in India, including the IITs, was the outcome of the visition of the country's first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.

"The IIT model seeks to provide a high calibre of education to its students, so that they become scientists and engineers comparable to the best in the world, as they explore the universe of knowledge through the prism of science and technology," she said.

She said IIT alumni had done the country proud, validating the rationale for the establishment of the IIT system.

Tracing the co-evolution of science and society, Ms Patil said India today was seeking responses to the challenges of food, water and energy security.

"This means addressing a wide spectrum of issues like foodgrain productivity and its proper distribution, water and energy conservation, cleaning of rivers and water recycling, reducing the cost of renewable sources of energy like solar and wind. We are looking at construction of energy efficient buildings and low cost housing to provide shelter to those who either have no house or are in urban areas living in slums. We are looking for ways to combat existing and new diseases. We are faced with climate change that is affecting the air we breathe and the weather patterns," she said.

She said responses and solutions, to a large extent, lay in the domain of science and technology. "These challenges are neither limited nor small, and would need sustained research to find appropriate responses," she remarked.

Ms Patil said India needed a second Green Revolution and novel thinking in rainfed farming for food security.

"We need engineering and management capabilities as we expand our infrastructure. We need environmentally friendly technologies. We need cutting edge technologies to be a leading nation," she said.

She said it was important research centres and laboratories in India focused on research and came up with innovations applicable to conditions and requirements existing in the country.

"It is, of course essential that an environment that is conducive for this purpose is created. Scientific research requires dedication and commitment as well as availability of funds. Moreover, science has become increasingly interlinked and multi-disciplinary, it calls for multi-institutional and multi-country participation. Institutes like yours need to develop robust mechanisms for collaborations with other institutions," she said.

Ms Patil said IIT alumni had made their mark globally and the contributions of their faculty, including their research, were widely respected. She noted that the IITs had a number of market patents awaiting registration and that IIT Delhi had filed 40 patent applications last year.

"I congratulate you on this. However, we must look at the global patent scenario to get a broader perspective. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization, in 2009, over 45,000 patents constituting almost a third of global patents in the year were filed by the US. Ranking fifth, China filed over 7,900 patents. India, on the other hand had only 761 applications. We have a long distance to cover. The Government of India has declared this decade as the Decade of Innovation, I am confident that our scientists and researchers with their knowledge, capability and commitment will make it a success," she said.

The President said technology diffusion was another important aspect as it ensured that fruits of innovation reached as many people as possible. Inventions that have germinated in laboratories must be transmitted into the field to become agents of transformation, she said.

She said efforts should be to build collaborations with institutions in different sectors of industry, agriculture and services, which in turn, must also be forthcoming in supporting new ideas and discoveries. She said the challenge was in getting tie-ups for their marketing and commercialisation.

Ms Patil urged the students and alumni of technological institutes, especially the IITs, to take interest and establish links with such individuals and mentor them.

She also advised them to do their work as service to humankind, and stressed their society's welfare and their welfare were interlinked.

"A scientist or an engineer who is a good human being, with values of integrity and with a social conscious, will contribute far more to society. It is in returning back to society that a human being responds to their call of duty towards others," she said.

She recalled that Microsoft founder Bill Gates had said some time ago that, per capita, IITs had produced more millionaires than any other undergraduate institution.

"IITians across the world, indeed, are a very powerful group. They have resources and experience which can be leveraged to generate ideas along with necessary funding for development projects in India. I am confident that IITians will always be ready to contribute to India's growth and prosperity," she added.

NNN