Campaign to promote innovation among children: PM Modi hails INSPIRE-MANAK Abhiyan
The INSPIRE Award MANAK (Million Minds Augmenting National Aspirations and Knowledge) scheme is a programme managed by the Department of Science & Technology (DST) that aims to foster creative and innovative thinking among school students.
The target group of this initiative is students in the 10-15 age group (Classes 6-10).
INSPIRE MANAK aims to encourage a culture of innovation by motivating students to come forward with original ideas embedded in science and technology.
PM Modi also noted the growing reach of the INSPIRE-MANAK Abhiyan, an initiative, he said, was launched to "promote innovation among school children".
"Five children are selected from every school who bring new ideas. So far, lakhs of children have become part of this initiative, and after Chandrayaan-3, the number has doubled," he said.
PM Modi also spoke about the rapid rise of space-related startups in the country, stating that their numbers have jumped from fewer than 50 five years ago to over 200 today.
In this context, he announced that August 23 will be celebrated as 'National Space Day' and invited citizens to share their suggestions on the NaMo App about how they plan to mark the occasion.
Addressing the 124th episode of 'Mann Ki Baat', PM Modi was highlighting the recent achievements by Indians in space, science, sports and culture and also made a special mention of Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, whose recent space mission created waves of joy and national pride across the nation.
Recalling the excitement and curiosity generated after Chandrayaan-3's successful moon landing in August 2023, he noted how the mission had sparked a deep interest in science and space among children.
"I still remember when Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed on the moon... Even young kids now say, 'We will also go to space, we will also land on the moon and become space scientists," he said.
Stressing the new energy with which Indian science is progressing in the 21st century, he proudly spoke of Indian students winning medals at the International Chemistry Olympiad.
"Devesh Pankaj, Sandeep Kuchi, Debadatta Priyadarshi and Ujjawal Kesari -- these four made India proud," he said.
He also acknowledged India's achievements in mathematics, noting the students' performance at the International Mathematical Olympiad, where they brought home three gold, two silver and one bronze medal.
Looking ahead, PM Modi said India will host the Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad in Mumbai next month, with participants from 60 countries.
He noted that this will be the largest such Olympiad held so far and added, "In a way, India is now moving forward in both Olympic and Olympiad."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
8 minutes ago
- The Hindu
RSS arm seeks clarity on draft guidelines on biosimilars
Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), economic wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), urged the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), the apex drug regulatory authority, to bring more clarity in its draft guidelines to ensure production of high-quality and cost-effective biosimilars in the country. In a letter to the Director General of CDSCO, SJM sought safeguards for the Indian industry from 'international pressures for regulations' that favour multi-national pharma companies. The CDSCO had recently issued the 2025 draft guidelines on similar biologics, also called biosimilars. 'Though the draft guidelines represent a pivotal advancement in making affordable, life-saving biosimilars accessible to millions of Indians suffering from chronic and life-threatening conditions such as cancer, diabetes, and autoimmune disorders it requires more clarity and direction,' the SJM letter reads. The SJM appreciated the draft guidelines for embracing the '3Rs principle' (replacement, reduction, refinement) as it reflects India's commitment to ethical scientific practices and alignment with global standards for animal welfare. Modern technologies, including in-vitro assays, organ-on-chip models, and computational simulations, provide robust, accurate, and humane alternatives to confirm the safety and biosimilarity of these drugs, it said. 'These methods are often faster and more precise than animal studies, reducing both ethical concerns and development costs,' it added. The organisation, however, noted that the guidelines stipulating that it will be the discretion of the CDSCO to decide whether a requirement of 'additional non-clinical in vivo animal studies' should be waived or not, poses a 'risk' of increasing biosimilar development cost. This provision goes against the practices of the leading regulatory authorities in other countries, it added. 'Prominent regulatory authorities like the UK MHRA, European Medicine Agency (EMA) Health Canada, and USFDA have either eliminated or phased out mandatory animal testing for biosimilars,' SJM said, adding its recommendation that waiving animal studies entirely when comprehensive laboratory tests demonstrate high similarity between a biosimilar and its reference product. Recently, civil societies, in a letter to CDSCO on the draft guidelines on biosimilars, has urged that there is an urgent need to eliminate unnecessary animal studies, and establish clear conditions for requiring comparative clinical trials for affordable biosimilars without compromising safety and efficacy. According to the SJM, the draft guidelines' provision to waive certain clinical trials when biosimilarity is established through analytical and functional studies is a forward-thinking measure, saying this approach can significantly reduce development costs and expedite market entry, which is critical for patients awaiting affordable treatments. However, the lack of explicit criteria in the guidelines for when waivers are permitted introduces ambiguity, potentially leading to inconsistent application and delays as well as 'room for corrupt practices', it said, stressing the need to establish 'clear conditions' for conduct of clinical trials.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
NISAR a milestone in Indo-US space ties; space minister says sat will be a ‘game changer in disaster management'
NEW DELHI: The successful launch of the world's most expensive and unique earth observation satellite NISAR, jointly developed by US and Indian scientists over a decade, has given a big push to Indo-US space cooperation and has been hailed as a milestone in space collaboration between the two countries under the leadership of US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Wednesday's launch came weeks after Nasa and Isro successfully collaborated on the Axiom-4 mission, under which Indian astronaut Shubanshu Shukla was sent to the International Space Station for microgravity experiments. Congratulating Isro and Nasa, space minister Jitendra Singh called the NISAR mission a 'game changer in precise management of disasters'. In a post on X, he said: 'NISAR's capacity to penetrate through fogs, dense clouds, ice layers, etc., makes it a pathbreaking enabler for the aviation and shipping sectors. The inputs from NISAR will benefit the entire world community…in the true spirit of 'Vishwabandhu'.' He also expressed pride in being 'associated with the Department of Space at a time when Isro is registering one global milestone after the other'. Isro chairman V Narayanan said NISAR 'has brought the two agencies closer than ever before'. Though Nasa began studying concepts for a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) mission, inspired by the National Academy of Sciences' decadal survey of the agency's Earth science program in 2007, the US chose to collaborate with India for a huge SAR-based satellite, signing a formal agreement for the NISAR programme in 2014. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Activate Your Antivirus License Click Here Undo The then Nasa administrator Charles Bolden and then Isro chairman K Radhakrishnan signed the pact for production and launch of NISAR in Toronto on Sept 30, 2014. Before 2014, US and India had collaborated on a slew of space missions, including the Chandrayaan-1 mission, under which saw Nasa sent its payload (Moon Mineralogy Mapper) on board Isro's spacecraft for the moon mission, which played a crucial role in finding water on Moon. But the NISAR programme is said to be the first big-ticket ($1.5 billion) satellite mission invested in by both sides. Nasa has contributed L-Band SAR, a high-rate telecommunication subsystem, GPS receivers and a deployable 12-metre unfurlable antenna. Isro, on its part, has provided S-Band SAR payload, the spacecraft bus to accommodate both payloads, GSLV-F16 launch vehicle and all associated launch services.
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Isro-Nasa satellite Nisar takes flight
The Indian and US space agencies on Wednesday launched a powerful satellite that will keep a close eye on Earth and track even minuscule changes on its surface, arming scientists, researchers and disaster response teams with crucial data to help better forecast natural calamities. TOPSHOT - This handout photograph taken and released on July 30 by Isro shows launch vehicle GSLV-F16 carrying the Nisar earth observation satellite lifting off from the launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in India's Andhra Pradesh state.(AFP) The Nasa-Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite, or Nisar, lifted off from the Indian Space Research Organisation's Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 5.40pm, aboard the agency's GSLV-F16 rocket, in collaboration with Nasa. Roughly the size of a large SUV, Nisar was injected into orbit at 5.58pm. Over the next few days, the 2,393kg will begin to unfold itself, extending its 30-foot boom and opening the 39-foot diameter (12-meter) reflector, made of gold-plated wire mesh. Science operations should begin by the end of October. For the next five years, the $1.5 billion satellite will map virtually all of Earth's terrain multiple times from its vantage point 743km above Earth. Its two radars — one from the US and the other from India — will operate constantly, scanning the planet in granular detail twice every 12 days. Experts said the satellite can track changes as small as a centimetre. Data from the landmark effort will transform the way scientists study a rapidly evolving planet and climate. The satellite will push out accurate insights on melting glaciers and polar ice sheets; shifting groundwater supplies; motion and stress of land surfaces prompting landslides and earthquakes; and forest and wetland disruptions boosting carbon dioxide and methane emissions. Union minister Jitendra Singh called the joint-launch India's 'scientific handshake with the world'. 'Its capacity to penetrate through fogs, dense clouds, ice layers, etc, makes it a pathbreaking enabler for the aviation and shipping sectors,' he said on X. Isro chief V Narayanan confirmed that the launch was on expected lines and that the satellite was performing within its required parameters. 'All the vehicle system performance is quite normal as expected and predicted. Today we achieved the intended orbit. We have placed it in orbit less than 3km, within the permissible level of 20km,' he said. Casey Swails, deputy associate administrator of Nasa, who attended the launch, said, 'It has been just an incredible decade culminating in this moment from this technical collaboration, the cultural understanding, getting to know each other, building that team across continents, across time zones, missing weekends with families, holidays.' Nisar will be the world's first Earth-observing satellite equipped with two radars to sharpen its data gathering – an S-band and an L-band. The S-band radar, built by Isro, allows accurate readings of small plants, bushes and shrubs. The L-band, built by Nasa, helps sense taller vegetation like trees. Isro and Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) shared the workload, each building their own components, before integrating and testing the spacecraft at the former's Satellite Integration & Testing Establishment in Bengaluru. Data from the L-band instrument will be available at the Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF) and from the S-Band will be available on Bhoonidhi at the National Remote Sensing Centre in Hyderabad.
