Representative picture
(Bhadresh Gajjar/TOI, BCCL/Ahemdabad)
The government will set up science museums across the country to promote scientific temperament, especially among children and the younger generation, Union State Minister for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh said on Wednesday. .
Singh was speaking after the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) in the presence of the Minister of Culture, Tourism and DoNER, G. Kishan Reddy.
The MoU aims to establish science museums in selected CSIR laboratories to promote scientific curiosity and awareness among ordinary people in all walks of life, according to a statement from the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Singh called for immersing oneself in scientific thinking to face the challenges of the 21st century. He said the recent pandemic has highlighted the importance of increasing society’s awareness of science and scientific thought.
Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent speech at the 76th United Nations General Assembly in New York, in which Modi highlighted the threat of regressive thinking and extremism facing the world, the minister reiterated that the scientific, rational and progressive thinking should form the basis of development and in order to reinforce a science-based approach, India promotes learning based on experience.
The new initiative of CSIR to set up virtual labs in partnership with IIT-Bombay for students as desired by the Prime Minister during the CSIR society meeting in 2020 is highly commendable, Singh said, as he welcomed the decision by CSIR and HMCS to set up a museum within the NPL to showcase the technologies and interventions developed by CSIR over the past eight decades.
Reddy said: “Globally, it is recognized that science centers play an important role in supplementing science education in the country and creating a culture of science and technology and developing the scientific temperament among the masses and young people in particular.”
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