President Pranab Mukherjee calls for international collaboration in science

Bengaluru: With a galaxy of top-notch scientists from more than 30 countries constituting the audience at the inaugural of the first Commonwealth Science Conference, President Pranab Mukherjee handed them a plan to collaborate in mega science initiatives here on Tuesday.

Mr. Mukherjee, who inaugurated the four-day conference with the theme “Science for the common good” through a laser show, said: “Because of their scale and technical complexity, such mega science projects are manifestly multi-agency, multi-institutional, and most often international in character. I encourage the Royal Society (London) to develop such programmes of international collaboration that could stretch from the West Indies to Australia, with support from national funding agencies and private philanthropy.

India would be happy to collaborate in whatever manner possible, especially to strengthen the scientific base and research capabilities of smaller countries of the Commonwealth.”

President Pranab Mukherjee handed scientists a plan to collaborate in mega science initiatives during inaugural of conference

Stating that India is committed to fundamental values and principles of Commonwealth, the President said “We believe the Commonwealth with its diverse membership and democratic style of functioning based on consensus and informality, is well placed for global advocacy on contemporary issues. It is, therefore, important that all Commonwealth countries get together not only to discuss contemporary issues related to science and technology but also to explore how best science can be used to address the pressing challenges that confront humanity.”

Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, Nobel laureate and President of the Royal Society Sir Paul Nurse, Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma, Bharat Ratna Prof. C N R Rao and Union minister for Science & Technology Dr. Harsh Vardhan also addressed the inaugural session.