Taking exception to the poor participation of women in science and technology in the country, President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday said that if this disparity was not addressed, then country's "scientific achievements will always be less than perfect and less desirable".
"I must point out here that none of our developmental goals has any meaning without gender parity and without equal opportunities for our daughters and girl-children. In the past seven decades, CSIR as a body and India as a society have made enormous progress.
"Yet, the participation of women in science in our country is distressingly small. less than two of every 10 scientific researchers in India are women. Of those who join the Indian Institutes of Technology each year, just about 10 per cent are women," he said at a function to mark the platinum jubilee of the CSIR.
These numbers are simply not acceptable. We have to take accelerated steps to promote the participation of girl students and of women in science and technology. If this disparity is not addressed, our scientific achievements will always be less than perfect and less than desirable, he added.
lauding work done by the CSIR, Kovind said while it constituted about three-four per cent of India's scientific manpower, it contributed to nearly 10 per cent of scientific output.
He dedicated to the nation two technologies developed by the CSIR, a hand-held milk tester that will allow identification of adulterants and a waterless chrome tan technology that eliminates the use of water in processes before and after tanning for use in the leather industry.
Union Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr Harsh Vardhan said that CSIR is working on 100 technologies addressing the issues of common public. CSIR has launched Mission Mode Projects aiming at translational research.
The president also gave away awards to scientists in the CSIR for their achievements.