National Conference on technological empowerment of women
The NASI has organized a “national conference on the technological empowerment of women” on the occasion of International Women’s Day in Vigyan Bhavan which was inaugurated by Harsh Vardhan, Ministry of Science & Technology (India), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Ministry of Earth Sciences. The platform witnessed the discussion of multiple topics essential for the technological empowerment of women which includes inclusiveness of women, renewal of policy and procedures, transparency in appointments, recruitments, promotions, and awards. The the conference witnessed the presence of Anil Kakodkar, president, NASI, Prof. Ashutosh Sharma, secretary, department of science & technology, the government of India, M.S.Swaminathan, Chairman, Advisory Committee, Conference and some renowned international dignitaries.
The conference started with an opening note by Manju Sharma, Distinguished Women Scientist Chair, NASI where she acknowledged the presence of multiple woman scientists from India and abroad and thanked them for their presence on such an important and crucial occasion. The conference was organised with an objective to discuss all issues related to the technological empowerment of woman on the national as well as on the international level.Manju emphasized on the importance of women in all business verticals stating, “Business enterprises, welfare activities, academic endeavors, and requirement of more woman scientists and technologists. For this, the education and research should be expanded in such a way that maximum girls are encouraged and attracted to take up science as a career from the very early stage. This requires mentoring and guiding from an early age.
This enhances confidence building, choosing and sustaining a career, employment opportunities, livelihood security, and the importance social responsibilities. Utilization of talents hidden in every woman should not be used just for the motive of gender equality. Their inputs are essential for rapid economic progress, sustainable happiness and bring a newer dimension to development. I thank the government for dedicating an entire ministry for the development and betterment of woman. To make our contribution we have organised over 25 workshops in different regions of the country to get more and more involvement of women in Science and Technology. Technological Empowerment of Women at the grassroots level is equally important for which we have started training of trainers setting up centers, Dr. Manju added.”
The National Academy of Science, India has taken many initiatives for the technological empowerment of woman like creating a task force for a woman and building technology parks for a woman like the Golden Jubilee Park for Biotechnology in Chennai.
As Harsh Vardhan, Ministry of Science & Technology inaugurated the conference, he addressed the audience and thanked Manju and the team members of NASI for their initiative to organise such an event. He said, “This gave the women scientists a new platform to get recognised for their skills and talents. As the honorable Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has taken a goal to create a new India by 2022, these budding women scientists will have a great role to play in that dream. A celebration with a magnitude of this level, in comparison to last year’s event is so grand, and it is the first time in 30 years that I am witnessing such an event which has given emphasis to women scientist which is an overwhelming response all over the country and justify the objective of the conference which has been organised to empower women which is the need of the country. This has also been stated by our honorable Prime Minister, Narendra Modi that we not only want development of the women but by the women” Vardhan also awarded multiple woman scientists and scholars for their contribution to the field of science and technology.
Woman scientists from various fields like Health, Nutrition,Agriculture, Environment, Education, Empowerment, Training, and Entrepreneurship Development Science attended the conference. Many hundreds of women scientists received awards for submitting their research papers. The technology interventions for women in rural India and to mobilize the work force for economic progress to aim for better living standards were discussed in the conference.
