The Hindu : Front Page : Investment in security technologies vital: Manmohan

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Sunday, Dec 21, 2008
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Investment in security technologies vital: Manmohan

P. Sunderarajan

— Photo: V.V. Krishnan

Achievers: Some of the Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar awardees with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal, and CSIR Director-General S.K. Brahmachari, in New Delhi on Saturday.

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday regretted that the role of technology in supporting counter-terrorism and internal security efforts was not being adequately appreciated in the country, though it could not only act as a force multiplier but also provide solutions to problems relating to command, coordination and communication.

“We should use scientific interventions to neutralise weapons of terror and mass destruction. I believe that investment in security technologies is vital if our security systems are to keep pace with the increasing sophistication of international terrorism and crime.”

Pointing out that other nations had been using modern science and technology in their security structures with “great effect,” he said some of the areas where greater work was required were surveillance systems, cryptography, near real-time search and identification from distributed large databases and computer simulation exercise to enhance crisis tactics and response.

Dr. Singh referred to the challenges of “growing” economic recession and the “potentially devastating” climate changes faced by the world. Part of the public investments that were being made to stimulate the economies could be used to develop new technologies to meet these problems.

“We can use the ingenuity and inventiveness of science to find ways to ‘leapfrog’ to future technologies, which were affordable and also sustainable. We can use some part of the public investment, which will spend to stimulate our economies, in these new technologies that will help build sustainable pathways to development.”

Noting that China and Japan had scored over India in creating efficient systems to reach the benefits of scientific and technological benefits to their people, Dr. Singh urged scientific institutions, the industry and government agencies to work in unison to create such mechanisms. “We cannot be satisfied becoming [merely] a back office for providing research and development solutions for multinational companies.”

Presenting the prestigious Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar awards of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research for young scientists, he asked the CSIR to take the lead to define new strategies for translating cutting edge science and technology into globally competitive enterprises.

“To begin with, let CSIR work to commercially exploit its vast knowledge base, currently embodied in more than 3,000 or so patents held nationally and globally.”

He expressed the hope that the various scientific departments would make judicious use of the steps taken by the government in recent years to enhance the allocation for science and technology, based on a new vision, a new work culture and a renewed focus on scientific solutions that impacted on the lives of the common man. Public-private partnerships should be used to commercialise the technologies emerging from research and development programmes funded by them.

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