Important Topics: Science For Development - Strengthening The Science & Technology Road Map

Introduction

The Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, serves as the nodel agency for all government led initiatives that create and strengthen the science & technology in our country.
The DST accordingly co-ordinates with several other department, stakeholder to develop these policies & implement programmes to serve this important mandate.

Here's a peek into some major initiative to meet the goals and the robust roadmap for way ahead:

Going Global Through Mega Projects
National Supercomputing Mission (March 2015)	Partners with Dept. of Electronics and Information Technology (Deity) to empower national academic and R&D institutions across our country by installing a vast supercomputing grid with more than 70 high performance computing facility.
Impacting Research Innovation & Technology (IMPRINT)	Partnership with MHRD, to address major societal and developmental needs as healthcare, information & communication technology, water resources, security & defence, environmental & climate change etc
A Joint R & D initiative with Ministry of Railways	For fuel efficiency enhancement, alternate fuel, fuel conservation in diesel traction etc
Early Career Research Award (ERCA)	To provide rapid research support to researches in early career stages. To attract & retain young scientists discourage brain drain in academic/R & D institution through National Postdoctoral Fellowship (N-PDF) scheme.
Attracting Women to Science	Enables gender parity through a scheme called Knowledge Instrument in Research Advancement through Numbering (KIRAN)
Social Benefits Delivered (Energy benefits, Wealth from waste etc.)	Surya Jyoti (to light up homes of poor) – In order to capture daylight and concentrate the same inside dark living spaces. A low cost, energy efficient lamp useful particularly for urban slum or rural areas which don't get electricity supply. Indigenous technology for rural industrialization – integrates use of local resources in the rural areas with sustainable industrial activities. E.g. – Rural industry complex in a plot of wasteland at Malunga, a village in Jodhpur (Rajasthan) North-Eastern Centre for Ethno Medical Research: undertake ethno-phyto-chemical research on wild herbs available in N-E region with medicinal & aromatic properties which will also help improve socio-economic status and enhance quality of life of local community.
Thirty Meter Telescope	At Mauna Kea, Hawaii Collaborated with USA, Canada, Japan, China Contribute towards the construction phase.
Associate Membership of CERN	CERN is the world’s largest nuclear and particle physics laboratory To probe fundamental structure of Universe
Laser Interferometer Gravitational wave observatory (LIGO)	India has agreed in principle to setup an advanced gravitational wave (GW). Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune, Institute for Plasma Research, Gandhinagar and Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT), Indore are collaborating with LIGO Labs of California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA
Devasthal Optical Telescope	A state of the art world class 3.6 meter telescope was installed at Devasthal (Nainital) It is the largest steerable imaging telescope in Asia and is result of collaboration between Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) & DST & Belgian Scientist will help for frontline scientific research in astronomy and astrophysics
Collaboration with Italy	The Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR-GmbH) at Darmstadt, Germany – the largest upcoming accelerator facility for basic science research was formed in October 2010, will assist research in field of atomic, nuclear particle and plasma physics.

Conclusion

The objective of DST, is to position India among the top 5 countries in scientific research by -

Augmenting the R&D infrastructure
Enhance number of active scientist
Quality/relevance/impact of research to reverse brain drain for brain gain for societal and industrial development & attract youth to study and pursue career in science and technology.
Also DST will intensify industry – academic R&D partnership, to find solution to national challenges pertaining to energy, water, health, environment, climate & cyber security.
In order to create a robust S&T led innovation and start-up ecosystem, DST has developed National Institute for Developing and Harnessing Innovation (NIDHI) to cover entire innovation chain from scouting and mentoring to up scaling the starting.
Citizen engagement is an important thrust of the DST. The Science Express is a classic initiative that serves this especially for the benefit of children across the country.
Therefore DST is continuously working to further strengthen India's leadership in these areas and continue deliver value added services for benefit of our country as a whole.

POSSIBLE QUESTION FROM EXAM POINT OF VIEW

Right from transforming India into knowledge based economy to achieve the goals of inclusive development, the DST leverages research for equity, empowerment and development. In the light of this statement, discuss the role played by Department of Science & Technology (DST) (200 Words).