Government to set a Max Planck Institute in Delhi: Science Minister

Sri Prithviraj Chavan, Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, while addressing the staff of Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad today said that Government is taking initiative to set up a new Max Planck Institute in New Delhi and the president of Germany would be visiting to India on the 3rd of February for this endeavour.

Science Minister was in CCMB for the inauguration of a world class ‘Structural Biology Facility’ at CCMB.

While addressing the Scientists after the inauguration, the minister said that he is quite impressed by what he has seen. He mentioned, “What excites me most is that the distance between what is happening in the best labs in the world, in US, Europe, China, Japan, we are not very far behind.” Identifying the major problem of the basic science sector in the present time, the Minister expressed that in the current times, the (basic) science sector probably does not get the brightest brain of the country due to the pressure from parents and friends to go into other sectors such as engineering, IT, management, financial services, multinational banks and many others. Minister said that if anybody talks of going to the basic sciences, the parents would get pressures from their friends asking them, “What is wrong with your child, why is he talking such language?” Minister informed that there would be a Liberal Science, Liberal Scholarships Program of approximately 1 billion US dollars in the next five years that would aim to hand pick brightest talent to play a role in basic sciences.

“If the country to become knowledge power, science power, it will have to be through science” – Sri Prithviraj Chavan, The Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, while addressing the staff of Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad on 02 February 2010

Minister identified 5 major problems and challenges for the coming times that deserve immediate attention – the problem of efficient energy, problem of food, problem of affordable health, water and the global warming. Each of these challenges would require great amount of science for a better understanding. The role of the labs now should be to create such science which itself could be converted to wealth, he said.

Minister expressed satisfaction on the output of Indian science in terms of the growth rate in peer-reviewed publications which is 12 percent per annum compared to the world growth rate of just 4 percent. However, he expressed worries that the China is growing at the rate of 19 percent per annum for the same.

Minister gave a message to all the scholars of India to dedicate them for the cause of making India a science power and to create solutions for common people. He mentioned, “I see a very bright future of Indian science and you will have to play a very important role putting India to leadership role in the world science.”