DR BANARSI LAL
Every year National Technology Day is celebrated on 11th of May across India to commemorate the major technological breakthroughs, achievements and contributions of our scientists and engineers. The day is also celebrated to promote the development of technology in various fields. The day highlights the importance of science in our daily lives and encourages students to embrace science as a career option. The theme for National Technology Day 2024 is “From Schools to Startups: Igniting Young Minds to Innovate”. The theme emphasizes nurturing school children to start their own start-ups and contribute to make India the hub of startups in the world. This day reminds us the anniversary of Pokhran Nuclear Test (Operation Shakti) which was carried out on 11th of May, 1998.On this day India successfully tested the nuclear missile Shakti-I at the Indian Army’s Pokhran Test Range in Rajasthan. India’s former President, Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam headed the operation. It was renamed Action Shakti or Pokhran -II and two days later as a part of operation Shakti, India successfully launched two nuclear weapons. India achieved a major technological breakthrough by carrying out successfully nuclear tests at Pokhran on this day. On this day, we emphasize on the value of science in our everyday life. The younger generation is promoted to consider science as their career opportunity on this important day. This day was introduced by our Late Prime Minister Sh.Atal Bihar Bajpayee. With the accomplishments of Pokhran Test, India also joined as the sixth nuclear community nation in the world.
On this day the achievements of our scientists and engineers are highlighted in the field of science and technology. Various events are being organized in different technical institutions to mark the significance of the day. Various competitions, quizzes, lectures, interactive sessions and presentations of various aspects of science are organised across the nation. The day is crucial for scientists, engineers, planners and others who are engaged in nation building and governance. This day is considered as a symbol of pursuit for technological creativity, scientific inquiry and the conversion of that pursuit in the integration of science, industry and society. The technology has brought massive changes in many fields whether that is agriculture, education, health, space, defense etc. Changes by the technology are quite apparent from our daily lives. Everybody has different opinion of technology. Some consider it as a boon while consider it as a bane. Generally our perception towards science is limited to weapons and automobiles. Innovations are the engine for the national and international growth. Govt. of India has declared 2010-2020 as the decade of Innovations. Scientific and technological developments are the keys of development for any nation. Technological innovations are considered as the main driving force in fostering economic growth of any nation.
On this day we highlight the importance of science and the groundbreaking achievements in science. The day is far more than the historical event. New technologies are the gateway of future. On this day our best scientists and innovators are honoured by the government. These scientists devote their whole lives in their respective scientific fields. The innovations developed by them help us to transform our lives through innovations. On 11th of May, Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) also carried out the Trishul missile test-fire. It is a short range surface- to -air missile. This was later adopted by the Indian Army and Indian Air Force. This day also marks the flight of India’s indigenous aircraft -Hansa-3 which was flown in Bengaluru when nuclear tests were conducted at Rajasthan.Hansa-3 was developed by National Aerospace Laboratories. It is light weighted, double seater airplane. It is mainly used in the pilots trainings, sports, aerial photography, surveillance and environmental projects. Shakti, the Pokhran Nuclear Test was carried out in May 1974 with the first nuclear test code called ‘Smiling Budha’. The second was the Pokhran II which was a sequence of five nuclear bombs explosion tests performed by India in May, 1998.Considering above technological achievements on a particular day, it was declared as the National Technology Day. It was first observed on 11th May, 1999 in present of our Hon’ble former Prime Minister, Sh.Atal Bihari Bajpayee. Since then Ministry of Science and Technology has been celebrating 11th of May as the National Technology. On this particular day many innovative scientists are awarded to recognize their achievements in their respective fields. This day is celebrated as the symbol of quest for scientific enquiry and technology creativity.
Technology has connected the world together and brought us closer. It has simplified our lives. Numerous scientists, innovators and engineers work very hard to simplify things for us and making technology better and useful for us. Presently our country is moving in the right direction to reach the developed country provided we need to prepare our rural base. Presently we need to adopt the renaissance concept taking advantage of the many advances in science and technology. We are employing the modern tools of information technology and knowledge management in rural areas also. Now we have to integrate our ideas and design a management strategy to develop a strong rural technology base. Rural road connectivity, rural housing, health, sanitation, safe drinking water projects are already in progress. Setting up of more and more rural technology based rural enterprises will help to upgrade human skills, generate employment and create wealth. Also era of growth and development will be ushered by the use of rural technologies. It has been observed that rural technologies are not reaching to the rural people to an extent as they should have to reach. There are various reasons like lack of awareness about rural technologies, lack of resources to access technologies, rural technologies are not cost-effective, not according to the needs of the users, not according to the culture of the people, not skillfully demonstrated etc. responsible for it. Policy makers need to contemplate over the rural people’s aspirations. Now the time has come to change our mindset for rural renaissance. Technology works for a specific purpose, be it hi-tech or low-tech, hi-investment or low-investment oriented and need of hi-profile or low-profile marketing. Any technology that is developed by an individual or an institution needs to be transferred for field use. For rural development we need to prepare a Directory of Rural Technologies (DRT) which can be a valuable source for rural information. It can be particularly useful for potential entrepreneurs, consultants, promotional and financial agencies and field functionaries in rural areas. Even the research and development scientists should have rural technology information for further improvements. Some rural technologies like handicrafts, artisans and traditional ones are not documented in the conventional sense. The directory of rural technologies should be available in local language of the respective areas. In the 6th and 7th plans there was much excitement with the establishment of many National Technology Missions on certain projects like oilseeds, safe drinking water etc. It was thought that all the rural problems would be solved with the implementation of these projects. But unfortunately that did not happen. Presently we all know the status of rural areas: our majority of rural population does not have access to proper sanitation, one-third does not have access to clean drinking water, a major section of rural population is illiterate, many villages lack road connectivity and electricity position is also critical. We all are aware of the rural problems and perhaps we also know how to solve these problems. There are lots of funds for rural areas. New innovative technologies need to be introduced in the villages to bring a big change. There is need an all round development in both rural and urban areas if India has to reach the developed country status. There is need to develop needful technologies for the rural areas. In order to get quick results, replication of rural technologies which are successful at one place should be implemented at other places also.
The writer is Sr. Scientist and Head of KVK, Reasi (Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology-Jammu).
