IITs should start major research programmes to spice up the agricultural economy through the event of sustainable technologies, vice chairman Venkaiah Naidu said on Monday.
The research at IITs and other education institutes, he said, must be relevant to society and specialise in finding solutions to varied problems faced by mankind from global climate change to health issues.
“Indian institutions are going to be counted among the world’s best only they begin impacting the societies around them by developing optimal and sustainable solutions to the issues faced by the state . Research should specialise in making the lives of individuals comfortable, quicken the progress and ensure a more equitable world order,” Naidu said in his address at the jubilee celebrations of IIT Delhi.
Calling upon the IITs to concentrate to the issues faced by the farmers and rural India, the vice chairman asked them to figure not just for enhancing agri-production, but also specially specialise in the assembly of nutritious and protein-rich food.
“With quite 50 pc of our population still hooked in to agriculture, it’s important for IITs to start out major research programmes to spice up the agricultural economy through the event of sustainable technologies,” he said.
“Higher education institutions shouldn’t add silos and form a symbiotic relationship with the industry to develop cutting-edge technology and therefore the industry experts in various areas should act as mentors in guiding researchers. this sort of collaboration will help in fast-tracking projects and produce quicker results,” he added.
Stressing on the necessity for greater investment in Research and Development projects which specialise in finding solutions to societal problems, Naidu urged the private sector to collaborate with the academia in identifying such projects and fund them liberally.
“There should be greater investment in R and D projects which specialise in finding solutions to societal problems. I call upon the private sector, including industry bodies like CII and Assocham, to collaborate with academia in identifying such projects and fund them liberally,” he said.
Asserting that the New Education Policy seeks to market India as a worldwide study destination, Naidu acknowledged that only eight Indian institutions figured within the top 500 globally.
