Knowledge Involvement Research Advancement through Nurturing (KIRAN) Programme is being implemented by the Department of Science & Technology to provide various career opportunities to women scientists. It is primarily aimed at gender parity in Science & Technology sector by inducting more women talent in the research & development domain through various programmes, namely, Fellowship Schemes for break-in career women scientists [i.e. Women Scientist Scheme-A (WOS-A), Women Scientist Scheme-B (WOS-B) and Women Scientist Scheme-C (WOS-C)], Institutional support through Consolidation of University Research through Innovation and Excellence in Women Universities (CURIE) scheme and Women Technology Parks (WTPs). In 2016-17, a new programme “Mobility Scheme” has been launched under KIRAN to address relocation issue of working Women Scientists. Further, they are also encouraged to avail of capacity building schemes related to basic research, societal development and self-employment. Department of Science & Technology has also constituted “Standing Committee for Promoting Women in Science” in May, 2016.

As per the latest Official Statistics available (2011-12), out of 1.93 lakh persons in Research & Development, only 27532 women scientists are directly engaged in R&D activities at various research institutions, which constitute 14.3% of the total. The State/Union Territory wise data is not being maintained by the Department.

Women are not lagging behind in this field. They could be statistically less in number, which could possibly be on account of rigorous academic and research in the crucial stage of life, familial issues like marriage, family responsibility, relocation due to transferable job of spouse etc. These sometimes leads to dropout from higher studies, career break, overage for scientific jobs and prolonged absence from place of work or even resignation from the job. The Draft National Policy for Women 2016 has taken cognizance of these issues.

This was stated by Minister of State for Ministry of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Shri Y.S.Chowdary, in a written reply to a Question in Lok Sabha today.

The Union Government has developed 20 Centres of Excellence in Nanotechnology in various States of country. In addition, 12 Units on Nano Science and 8 Centres of Nano technology were also funded earlier. The details of these Centres of Excellence, budgetary allocation made during last three years and in the current year, and also their areas of excellence institution-wise are given in the Annexure (attached below).

The Government has been supporting such Centres of Excellence in Indian institutions. A budget of about Rs. 100 crore is earmarked this year to provide research grants to a large number of institutes in the country, which also include the Institute of Nano Science and Technology- Mohali (INST-Mohali), Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences- Bengaluru (CeNS) for implementing research and technology development projects, thematic centres of excellence and organization of national and international conferences/workshops to give impetus to nano science and technology.

This was stated by Union Minister for Ministry of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Dr. HarshVardhan, in a written reply to a Question in Lok Sabha today.

The Ministry of Science & Technology through its Department of Biotechnology, which is also the Certification Agency for Tissue Culture raised Plants, organized a stakeholder meet on the National Certification System for Tissue Culture Raised Plants (NCS-TCP), in New Delhi today. The event was organized by Biotech Consortium India Limited (BCIL) to raise awareness about the opportunities under the NCS-TCP to ensure production and distribution of quality tissue culture planting materials.

Realizing the potential of plant tissue culture to revolutionize the growth of agriculture in India, the Department of Biotechnology established the National Certification System for Tissue Culture Raised Plants (NCS-TCP) in 2006 under the Seeds Act 1966 with the objective of mentoring the tissue culture companies for production and distribution of disease-free and high quality tissue culture plants.

The NCS-TCP has made a substantial impact since its inception a decade ago. Since then, 96 companies have been recognized and 5 test laboratories and two referral centres have been accredited under this system. So far, around 80 million tissue culture plants have been certified through this system.  It is important to note that there has been no major virus outbreak in the last 10 years since the inception of the NCP-TCS.

With increasing demand for agricultural, forestry, plantation and horticulture crops, the demand for high-quality, high-yielding, disease-free planting stock has increased significantly over the last two decades. Plant tissue culture has emerged as an important biotechnology and commercially viable tool to multiply elite varieties of high quality, disease free and high yielding plants rapidly in the laboratory irrespective of the season of the year. The market size in India is estimated at Rs.500 crores.

At present, there are around 200 commercial tissue culture companies in India with a gross installed production capacity of about 500 million plantlets per annum and an actual production of approximately 350 million plants.  Banana, Potato, Sugarcane, Apple, Pineapple, Strawberry, Gerbera, Anthurium, Lillium, Orchids, Bamboo, Date Palm, Teak and Pomegranate are some of the major plants tissue cultured in India.

Speaking to the media during the event, Union Minister of State for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Shri Y.S. Chowdary, said that being an agrarian economy, India needs to streamline its expertise in the fields of biotechnology and innovation to improve its agricultural proficiency. The country’s scientists in the Department of Biotechnology have made marvelous strides in the field and improving communication between sectors to work together will definitely boost our knowledge and efforts.

The Minister noted that the commercial biotechnology sector is growing at a rate of 15% per annum currently. It is very essential to work cohesively with the agriculture departments at the State level, in order to lay down standard operating procedures and regulatory mechanisms for the sustainable development of as well as avoiding the misuse of this revolutionary technology, he said.

Shri Chowdary pointed out the abysmal level of awareness that exists among the stakeholders of Tissue Culture technology at the ground level. He opined that it needs to be addressed by methods like employing paid volunteers at village level, organizing awareness campaigns, seminars etc.  He also noted that since the sector is not a capital intensive one, it can easily be scaled up by the involvement of the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector, which in turn, would lead to the generation of a large amount of rural employment.

Further, the Minister stressed upon the need of working upon certain important factors like using information technology in order to give a boost to the sector; linking up the supply side to the consumer side by leveraging demand for tissue culture raised plants through awareness generation among the stakeholders; and matching international standards in the field for exploring export opportunities for Indian biotechnology products.

Addressing the gathering, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, Prof. K.VijayRaghavan,  said  that the unifying vision of increasing crop yield and improving the lives of farmers and the general populace drives India’s efforts in the Department of Biotechnology and the Department of Agriculture. Through the mentorship and guidance to tissue culture companies through the NCS-TCP, this department is looking to significantly improve India’s agricultural production to ensure food security in the country.

Other dignitaries present at the event were Dr. C.R. Bhatia, former Secretary, DBT and Chairman Apex Board, NCS-TCP and Dr. Renu Swarup, Senior Adviser DBT. The event also saw the participation of about 80 Tissue culture companies, farmers from key states along with government officials of the State Horticulture Mission and Horticulture Departments.

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CSIR-CIMFR, a constituent laboratory of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), entered into an MoU with Coal Supplying Companies and Power Utilities today for the quality analysis of coal being supplied to power utilities by the coal supplying companies. This collaboration will enhance efficiency of use of coal by the power sector. Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan presided over the agreement signing ceremony along with Shri Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan, while praising the efforts of CSIR, said that the Government of India, under the guidance of the Prime Minister, is guided by the ethos of transparency, quality control and a corruption-free environment. Hence, this culture will be carried forward through the research at CSIR laboratories in the field thermal energy generation as well and this agreement is the first step in this direction.

Shri Piyush Goyal emphasized on the point that India is the third largest consumer of coal globally, after China and the US, and the share of coal in its energy mix has been rising. Thermal coal accounts for around 85% of India’s coal consumption and the power sector accounts for more than 70% of India’s coal use. Moreover, high ash and moderate moisture content of Indian coal and the use of sub-critical technologies by over 90% of India’s coal-fired fleet reduces the efficiency of its power plants to a great extent.

The mandated use of super-critical technology by the upcoming coal-fired projects in India makes it necessary for the plants to run on high energy, low ash coal. In such a scenario the signing of today’s agreement assumes a lot of importance. The Minister noted that the pilot study has been going on since January this year and now a 10-year contract is being signed for future scaling up of the process.

As a part of this MoU, CSIR-CIMFR would make use of its knowledge base support in maintaining the quality of coal at national level for the entire power sector. It is estimated that about 300 million metric tons of coal samples would be analyzed for quality per year. The contract value of the project is around Rs. 250 crores per annum.

The efforts through the aforesaid project would minimize the disagreements on quality issues between coal producers and end users. The endeavor would help the nation in sustainable energy supply and security planning for future as it may reduce import of thermal coal.

CSIR-CIMFR is providing knowledge based support to the entire coal based energy chain encompassing exploration, mining and impact on the environment. Further, the laboratory is engaged in surveys of other mineral deposits and excavation for hydro-electric projects, tunnels and railways. It plays pivotal role in establishing the national coal inventory and is involved in maintaining the consistency of coal quality for power and other sectors leading to energy security and growth with high standards of safety, productivity and cleaner environment.

Other dignitaries present at the event were Dr. Girish Sahni, DG, CSIR and Secretary, DSIR, Shri Anil Swarup, Secretary, Ministry of Coal Shri Pradeep Kumar Pujari, Secretary, Ministry of Power.

Source: PIB