Kerala has a vision of tech mission

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala could just be the first state to  finetune the central government’s ‘Technology Vision 2035’  and come out with a state-specific document. The Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE) in consultation with scientists, planners and policy makers will bring out the Kerala document within a few weeks.

KSCSTE executive vice-president Suresh Das says, “for the nation's vision to be implemented, it needs to be translated to the state-level. This is why we brought together planning board members, policy-makers and various experts to discuss ‘Technology Vision 2035.’  In a few weeks,  we will meet again to prepare a state-specific document,” he says.

‘Technology Vision 2035’ prepared by Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC)  was released in January. It outlines the broad technology areas that the country should focus on so that future development answers the common man’s needs and aspirations.

However, the needs vary with each state. “Each state has a specific issue which needs to be addressed. If you take the energy sector, we have been importing power and need regular supply of environment-friendly power. Moreover, unlike states like Rajasthan and Gujarat which have a lot of land, we need to think of solutions which help us save on land. So we have  to conduct  research into rooftop solar power,” says Suresh Das.

Some of the areas identified by the experts for future research are rainwater harvesting, climate change resilient crops, desalination and  optimisation of agricultural practices to make the best of the scarcity of land. TIFAC wants other states to follow suit, according to Suresh Das. “The TIFAC officials were very happy and wanted a similar process to be initiated in all states with the respective state science departments taking the lead,” he says.