NATIONAL SCIENCE DAY
February 28 is celebrated as National Science Day as it marks the discovery of Raman Effect by Sir CV Raman on this day in year 1928 for which he was awarded Noble Prize in Physics in 1930. The day reminds us of great scientific contribution and honors the scientific legacy and serves as an occasion to encourage and appreciate scientific research and innovations. The day highlights the importance of science, its contribution to make our lives easy and significance of science in solving global problems and challenges.
The theme for Science Day-2025 is “Empowering lndian Youth for Global Leadership in Science & lnnovation for Viksit Bharat” as put forth by Department of Science and Technology (DST), GoI. The theme focuses on empowering the youth with scientific skills to foster innovations and to groom minds which will contribute to built a developed country i.e., Viksit Bharat and making country a global leader in scientific attainment and innovations. Some great milestones in the field of science, technology, engineering and mathematics have been achieved and country is significantly progressing forward. India has secured 39th position in Global Innovation Index (GII) as per GII 2024 and according to WIPO report, it is ranked at 6th position in terms of intellectual property (IP) fillings in the world.
For promotion of research and development, the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) has been established by ANRF act 2023 which came into effect on 5 Feb 2024. ANRF replaced the Science and Engineering Research Board and is considered a leap step to unleash Indian research and innovation talent to achieve global scientific and technological excellence. Some of the initiatives so far taken by ANRF include; launch of Prime Minister’s Early Career Research Grant (PM ECRG) program to assist young researchers to start their research career in different fields of Science and Technology enabling recipients to undertake independent and impactful research. Electric Vehicle (EV) mission of ANRF is to promote research and development of EVs, adoption in country to achieve self reliance and sustainable. Other notable steps of ANRF are launch of Partnerships for Accelerated Innovation and Research (PAIR) and Inclusivity Research Grant (IRG) etc., to pursue interdisciplinary research at the interface of science, engineering and humanities and social sciences for addressing societal challenges as well as undertaking research on public policies.
With the implementation of National Quantum Mission (NQM), India became the seventh country to have a dedicated quantum mission after the US, Austria, Finland, France, Canada, and China. NQM at a total cost of Rs.6003.65 crore for a period of eight years 2023-24 to 2030-31, aiming to seed, nurture and scale up scientific and industrial R&D and create a vibrant & innovative ecosystem in Quantum Technology.
Under this, four Thematic Hubs have been established, each dedicated to a specific technology vertical; the first is Quantum Computing at IISc. Bengaluru, second Quantum Communication at IIT Madras in association with C-DOT, New Delhi third one is Quantum Sensing & Metrology at IIT Bombay; and fourth is Quantum Materials & Devices at IIT Delhi which in turn cover a good number of subsidiaries under them. The effort reflects the ambition to lead in the rapidly evolving field of quantum technologies focusing on technology development, human resource development, entrepreneurship and international collaborations in their respective technology verticals and will impact the policies like Make in India, Skill India, sustainable development goals etc.,
While, India celebrated its maiden National Space Day on 23 August 2024 to celebrate landing of Chandrayaan-3 lander and rover on the moon last year on same date. This made India the fourth country to land on the moon and the first to land near the moon’s southern polar region. The theme for the day “Touching Lives while Touching the Moon: India’s Space Saga” signifies the transformative impact of India’s space programs at national as well at international levels. In 2024, ISRO continued its mission with the launch of X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat) aboard PSLV-C58 on 1 January 2024. This placed India second to NASA to study space-based polarisation of X-ray emissions.
India’s maiden solar mission, Aditya-L1 launched last year on 2 Sep 2023 reached its halo orbit (L1) on 6 Jan 2024. Another milestone achieved are launch of INSAT-3DS and Proba-3 Satellites for ESA on 17 Feb and 5 Dec 2024 respectively. ISRO also achieved major breakthrough in two successful landing experiments (RLV-LEX-02 and RLV-LEX-03) in 2024. India has become the fourth country to join the select League of Nations to achieve space docking, through its own indigenously developed Bharatiya Docking System. The Gaganyaan mission, India’s first crewed spaceflight also progressed in 2024, the assembly of the Human Rated Launch Vehicle Mark-3 began in December, with the uncrewed test flight scheduled for early 2025. Gaganyaan aims to send a three-member crew to a 400-km orbit for three days, marking a significant leap in India’s human spaceflight capabilities. Other missions of ISRO include approval of Union Cabinet to the Venus Orbit Mission and Chandrayaan-4 in September 2024.
To provide access to research articles to academic and research institutes, One Nation One Subscription (ONOS) scheme was approved by Union cabinet on 24 Nov 2024 at a cost of 6000 crore initially covering three years 2025 – 2027. The goal is to ensure that India’s academic and research communities are equipped with the best global resources, fostering innovation and enhancing the quality of research across disciplines. It covers more than 6,300 government-managed higher education institutions and central government-managed research and development institutions across the country. It will provide access to more than 13,000 scholarly journals from 30 major international publishers which is centrally coordinated by INFLIBNET (Information and Library Network), an autonomous inter-university centre under the University Grants Commission (UGC). ONOS will surely democratize the research literature availability and empower the budding researchers with the resources to excel.
In defense technology, on November 16, India the successfully tested its first long-range hypersonic missile developed by Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO). It is intended to carry “various payloads for ranges greater than 1,500 kms for the Armed Forces.” The test makes it one of the few nuclear-armed countries to develop these missiles, including the United States, China, Russia, and North Korea. This places country in a select group of nations having such critical and advanced military technologies.
On Jan 9, 2025, ‘Genome India Database’ was made launched marking an important step of scientific mission launched in year 2020 by Department of Biotechnology. It is a compilation of 10,000 human genomes, representing 83 population groups, or about 2% of the country’s 4,600 population groups as a database. This collection will serve a template of future investigations into disease and drug therapy. The Whole genome sequencing data for 10,000 individuals have been archived at the Indian Biological Data Centre (IBDC). The project reflects a landmark collaboration of 20 academic and research institutes (SKIMS from J & K) across the country with the aim to drive genomics-based health revolution for India to build a database of genetic variations reflecting unique diversity of population. Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi described this as the way for strengthening the biotechnology economy as well as biotechnology-based manufacturing.
These are some of advancements India made last year reflecting its growing leadership in science and technology. National Science Day serves as a day to celebrate these advances and inspire the younger generation to drive research and innovation. Initiatives like ANRF, NQM, Genome India Database reflect advances in the fields ranging from quantum computing to biotechnology. Achievements in Space technology, ONOS foster the position of country as a hub of scientific progress and substantiate the vision of ‘Viksit Bharat’ by year 2047.
(The Author is Assistant Professor (Biotechnology) at Govt. Degree College, Pulwama. Feedback: [email protected])
