Nurture students' interest in science, says science and technology minister Jitendra Singh

NEW DELHI: Science and technology minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday made a strong pitch for mentoring and sustaining innovation start-ups and urged scientists to reach out to students to nurture their talent.

The minister was speaking after announcing the winners of CSIR-organised national level scientific creativity competition -- 'CSIR Jigyasa Vigyan Mahotsav 2022' -- to celebrate India's 75 years of Independence as Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. Singh urged the CSIR Jigyasa team to continue to mentor the students so that they will lay strong foundations for the Roadmap 2047 and help India solve various challenges and make it a global leader.

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It is critical to engage the future generation of scientists and technologists and highlight the science, technology & innovation from every part of the country, he said. CSIR Jigyasa Vigyan Mahotsav 2022, launched on January 3, had reached out to more than 20,000 students through boot camps across the country.

These boot camps provided an opportunity to the students to understand the scientific concepts and stimulate their thinking and approach, he added. Singh gave away the grand prize of Rs 1 lakh each to three students -- Mohammed Hisam, Shruti Nimbali and Sanchi Bansal.

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As many as 75 winners from all over the country were chosen for the awards. The children have been evaluated rigorously for their creativity, innovative ideas, storytelling ability, message conveyed, overall aesthetics, out of box thinking, and usability or applicability in case of apps/videos/animations.