“The Ksheer Tester will empower the common man with a technology to tackle a national level health hazard due to adulteration in milk”, said Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences. The Minister was addressing the media on the occasion of the 64th Foundation Day Celebrations of Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-CEERI) in Pilani today, where he presided over the event as the Chief Guest. Padmashri Prof. Sankar K. Pal, Former Director, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata was the Guest of Honour for the function.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan, while appreciating the R&D achievements of the lab, specifically highlighted the ‘Ksheer Tester’, a newly developed handheld GPS-enabled version of the recently launched Ksheer Scanner technology to check adulteration in milk. The device, developed by the CSIR-CEERI, would enable any person to track the location of the tested sample and receive the test results through SMS on the device.
On this occasion, Dr. Harsh Vardhan delivered the Foundation Day address and presented Service Awards to staff members. He also released the Annual Report of CSIR-CEERI for the year 2015-16, the logo of the Institute and the CSIR-CEERI profile folder. The Minister inaugurated CSIR-CEERI foundation technology exhibition which demonstrated the technologies developed by CSIR-CEERI for dairy products, smart automated systems for water quality assessment, health care devices and strategic sectors such as Defense, Atomic Energy and Space.
The Minister took keen interest in the R&D achievements of the lab in very high power Microwave tubes (Gyrotron, Travelling Wave Tubes (TWTs), Klystrons & Magnetrons), Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS), sensors & nanotechnology, hybrid micro circuits, opto-electronic devices, Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI), instrumentation systems for societal needs such as water, milk etc., wireless sensor networks (WSN), Internet of Things (IoT), industrial electronics, image processing and electronic control systems.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan stressed on the necessity of building robust R&D infrastructure and promoting synergies between industry and research institutions for the implementation of “Make in India” programme of Government of India. “The R&D output of the institute should match to the needs and expectations of the industry and our society so that the CSIR-CEERI can render appropriate state of the art technological services”, he added.
During the event, Prof. Santanu Chaudhury, Director, CSIR-CEERI, gave a presentation on the latest R&D achievements of the lab to the Minister. Heads of the local organizations, dignitaries of Pilani, the retired staff members of CSIR-CEERI and the media representatives attended the function.
