Call for 'technology with a human face'

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MAY 11. The Governor, Mr. Sukhdev Singh Kang, today exhorted the scientist community in India to harness technological development for the benefit of mankind.

Inaugurating the National Technology Day celebrations organised by the Centre of Indian Consumer Protection and Research (COINPAR), he said the concept of technology with a human face was easy to formulate but difficult to execute.

Mr. Kang said scientists, technologists and political and social leaders should take up the challenge to utilise the fruits of scientific research for the betterment of humanity. "Without technology, there cannot be development. But when technology leads to unemployment, it results in negative consequences for a country like India with teeming masses of the deprived.

"India is often depicted as the 10th largest economy and the nation with the fourth largest army. But it is also a country with the largest number of the blind and the highest population of lepers." Mr. Kang said the advantages of a great scientific tradition and the largest trained manpower could help the country to address these contradictions.

The Governor said universities could also contribute a lot to the application of scientific technology for the benefit of mankind. He said the successful launch of the first development flight of the GSLV demonstrated the hard work and concerted efforts of the ISRO team. He said the achievement had rekindled the hopes of masses in the scientist community.

The VSSC director, Mr. G. Madhavan Nair, said the ISRO had demonstrated the successful use of remote sensing, telecommunications and ground observation for mass applications like tele-education, telemedicine and disaster management and mitigation. He said the GSLV success was a major milestone in achieving self-reliance in space technology.

The LPSC director, Mr. N. Vedhachalam, said the ISRO was poised for another landmark by using indigenously developed cryogenic engines in the succeeding launches of the GSLV. The GSLV project director, Mr. R.V. Perumal, said the development of launch vehicle technology in India had taken second preference to the utilisation of space research for social benefits. He cited the example of the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) which was undertaken in the primary phase of space research in the country.

Earlier, Mr. Kang presented the Sangethika Vidya Puraskar to the Mr. G. Madhavan Nair, Mr. N. Vedhachalam, Mr. R.V. Perumal, the Inertial Guidance Systems Centre director, Mr. A. Bose, and the associate director, Mr. B.N. Suresh.

The Lok Ayukta, Mr. P.C. Balakrishna Menon, presided over the function. The COINPAR chairman, Dr. A.D. Damodaran, and the secretary general, Mr. M.A. Vahab, also spoke. The National Technology Day celebrations was jointly organised by the Indian National Society for Aerospace and Related Mechanisms, the Society of Research and Development Managers of India and the Space Scientists Forum of India.

The VSSC director, Mr. G. Madhavan Nair, speaking at a function organised in connection with the National Technology Day celebration in the city on Friday.

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