Minister urges nation 'not to miss out' on the IT, science revolution to come

Citing former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s lament that India had missed the industrial revolution, Karnataka IT and Biotech Minister K G George said on 27 September that the country should not miss the electronic revolution at least. “I remember Gandhi telling me that we (India) had missed the industrial revolution. Hence, we cannot afford to miss the electronic revolution at this point of time,” said George at a preview of the 10th edition of Bengaluru Indian Nano event on 5-7 December here. [caption id=“attachment_4639901” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] Representational image.[/caption] Assuring the state government’s support to the meet, George said that Indian scientists and engineers should catch up with disruptive technologies like Artificial Intelligence, blockchain, data analytics and nanotechnology, which was gaining recognition worldwide. “As India’s IT and Biotech capital, Bengaluru is at the heart of innovation and emerging technologies. We are also witnessing a great deal of change in science over the last two years, with the city becoming a platform for academia, experts and entrepreneurs to build the eco-system,” asserted George. Distinguished scientist and Bharat Ratna C N R Rao urged his fraternity to make the best use of nano-technology and nano-medicine which enable early detection of cancer. “Extraordinary things are taking place in science, which has become an interesting field to explore more. Advancement in nano-technology has also been tremendous,” said Rao. Rao, however, cautioned the stakeholders against losing the excitement of pure science in the pursuit of its applications such as nano-technology and nano-science. Indian Institute of Science (IISc) professor A K Sood said about 700 national and international delegates, including 60 Speakers from the world over, would participate in the summit, whose theme is ‘Nano for a Better World’. Organised by the Karnataka IT, BT, Science and Technology department along with the industry and academia, the annual event will be flagged in dozen cities across the country for its awareness and participation by other states and stakeholders. The expo will showcase advancements in nano-technology to improve the quality of life.