STATE TIMES NEWS
NEW DELHI: Union Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh on Thursday said that India, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is leading the world in addressing the climate related issues.
The Minister was on a visit to India’s premier and one the world’s most upgraded institutions, the “National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast” (NCMRWF) located at Noida.
The Minister said that Prime Minister Modi has strongly raised India’s voice on the issue of climate change at every global forum from time to time. He said that given India’s vast area, diversity, heterogeneity and it being a leader in disaster management, the world looks up to India for global challenges such as climate change.
Dr. Jitendra said that the world should acknowledge and appreciate India’s top position in next 25 years, when the country celebrates centenary of its independence, giving credit to its scientific prowess in research & development and innovation capabilities.
The Minister noted that the country is going through a phase of knowledge explosion with the eager Indian youth looking to explore newer scope in scientific innovation. He said that the pace of scientific advancement in India is astonishing which has started bearing fruits for the world to see.
Dr. Singh said that India is in the frontline in the field of weather forecasting and the best in the world, catering to such a huge and diverse population. He said that the country has a Prime Minister like Narendra Modi who gives high priority to science and technology, encouraging the country’s scientists to achieve greater success. The Union Minister was of the view that Indian youth has a scientific temper by aptitude and the Government of India, too, is committed to encourage them by giving wider exposure. Dr. Jitendra took a walk around the NCMRWF complex and he was briefed about the facilities, functioning and various activities by Dr. Ashis K. Mitra, Head, NCMRWF. The Minister was also briefed about the latest computing facility and India’s first-ever supercomputer CRAY X-MP, which was installed at NCMRWF in 1988 and was in operation till 1999. Dr. M Ravichandran, Secretary, M/o Earth Sciences, along with senior officials of M/o Earth Science and NCMRWF was also present during the visit.
NCMRWF is a centre of excellence in numerical modelling & data assimilation and is one of the 11-12 such centres in the world which do data assimilation. The centre is also one of the top users of National Knowledge Network (NKN).