Prime minister says nuclear autonomy will be preserved

Following is the text of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh''s address at the graduation function of the 50th Batch of BARC Training School in Mumbai on 31 August, 2007:

"It gives me great pleasure to be here in the midst of some of our brightest scientists and engineers. For any young man or woman, a graduation ceremony is always a defining moment in his or her life. It becomes particularly poignant when you belong to the 50th graduating class.

No words are enough to express our gratitude to the hard work put in by the faculty of the BARC Training School over these 50 years. They have single-handedly contributed to the training of over 7,500 graduates during this period.

It is these scientists and engineers who have laid the building blocks of self-reliance in the field of nuclear science and technology and of India''s emergence as a knowledge economy. Today, we have honoured some of them.

The Training School has evolved into a model institute, which is recognised internationally as a school of excellence. It is because of your collective efforts that India is ranked among the top few countries to have mastered the entire nuclear fuel cycle. I am especially glad that the Homi Bhabha National Institute has successfully started its academic programmes.

The creation, and successful operation of a wide variety of institutes of high quality fully conforms to our government''s belief that education and human resource development is the best investment we can make for the future of our country.

I have approved the setting up of five new Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, eight new Indian Institutes of Technology, seven new Indian Institutes of Management, and 20 new Indian Institutes of Information Technology.

On the 15th of August I said from the ramparts of the Red Fort that our nation is today ready for a New Revolution in Education. We seek a quantum leap in the availability of educational opportunities for our children and our youth at all levels of the pyramid of knowledge and training.

We have effected a major increase in elementary and secondary education. We are now increasing the capacity of our higher education and research system. It is not just a quantitative leap forward that I seek in education, but also a qualitative leap forward.

I have earlier expressed concern at the declining enrolment in basic sciences in our colleges and universities. We are working to revitalise existing scientific institutions and creating modern new institutes of excellence. But at the end of the day the intellectual imagination of our youth will be fired by great names and great achievements.

We need new role models in our scientific community. Our scientific community must create a culture of excellence that will attract the best talent. We should nurture, celebrate and reward merit and achievement.

One of the unique features of the BARC Training School, and indeed one of its great strengths, is that it has a faculty of professionals. This synergy between in-house research and development and its applications has contributed to our technological capacity to, for example, build and operate indigenously designed nuclear power plants.

The Government stands fully committed to strengthening the autonomy of our nuclear R&D programme. Our unique three-stage programme, which is predicated on the need to utilize our vast thorium deposits, is a logical response to the needs of our economy. We should expedite progress in the setting up of fast breeder reactors, after having successfully implemented the Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor programme.

I am told that the design of an advanced heavy water reactor is ready, and that BARC is also working on several-advanced reactor designs, including the development of a high temperature reactor, which would enable generation of hydrogen from nuclear energy.
New vistas for our scientists are opening up. India has received observer status in the European Centre for Nuclear Research in Geneva. India has also joined the International Thermonuclear Research Reactor or ITER project as a full and equal member along with a handful of technologically advanced countries.

I would urge you not to overlook the many other useful applications of nuclear technology. Our nation needs this technology in the areas of agriculture, food preservation, health care and industry. BARC has done outstanding work in these areas in collaboration with various universities and organisations. I look forward to greater contribution from you in these areas.

To our young graduates gathered here, indeed for all our youth across the country, I wish to make one appeal. Be bold, be brave, be innovative, be curious and be open to new ideas, new ways of thinking and new ways of doing things. This is the scientific method.

You are stepping into an India of exciting opportunities and limitless possibilities. In facing this brave new world, show the courage of your convictions, demonstrate your self-confidence, and be not afraid to strike out on new paths. For that is how knowledge has been acquired and assimilated.

There is a nuclear renaissance taking place the world over and exciting opportunities await you. Your skills, knowledge and creativity will be at a high premium as the industry revives.

This great national institution was built by men like Homi Bhabha, Homi Sethna, Raja Ramanna and many others who had the self-confidence to be bold in their thinking and brave in their action. They reached out to the world to learn from it. I believe they were inspired by the words of the Father of our Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, who said, and I quote:

"I do not want my house to be walled in on sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any."

Such is the self-confidence we Indians must have in ourselves. The world today has growing regard for the skills and the intellect of our people. We see so many global research organizations coming to India to make use of the talent of our young minds. When the world is willing to invest in India, in our future, we must also learn to invest in the world, and benefit from this two-way flow of ideas, of goods and services, of people and possibilities.

I feel heartened by the fact that more and more of our talented young people today wish to live in India, study in India and work in India. Even those who go abroad to study, are increasingly returning home to work. I want to also encourage a "reverse brain drain" so that Indians worldwide return home and contribute to our development.

Before I conclude, allow me to remind you of how JRD Tata once described Homi Jehangir Bhabha. He said, and I quote "Scientist, engineer, master-builder and administrator, steeped in humanities, in art and music, Homi was a truly complete man." I want each one of you to develop such a holistic personality, combining a scientific temper with a modern outlook."

Also see: India cannot shy away from nuclear power: Prime Minister and
Dr Manmohan Singh dedicates two reactors to the nation at Tarapur Atomic Power Plant