12 years of Science in service of India
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Dr Jitendra Singh
Contd from previous issue
Energy Security and Future-Ready Technologies
No account of India’s scientific transformation is complete without acknowledging the strategic depth being built in nuclear energy. The first criticality of the 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam in April 2026 is a milestone of historic proportions. Developed entirely by Indian scientists and engineers at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research and built by Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam, this reactor is the critical bridge to the second stage of India’s three-stage nuclear programme — a path- way designed to eventually harness our country’s vast reserves of thorium, one of the most abundant elements in Indian soil. In an era of energy transition, the ability to generate clean, continuous power from domestic fuel is not merely economical; it is a matter of sovereign security.
The nuclear sector has also extended its reach into medicine. The Tata Memorial Hospital’s recognition by the International Atomic Energy Agency as a ‘Rays of Hope’ Anchor Centre, the expansion of cancer hospitals under the Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital network, and the deployment of advanced radio- pharmaceuticals—medicines that use radioactive particles to diagnose and treat cancer — are bringing world-class oncology care to patients across the country. The SHANTI Act of 2025 has modernised the legal architecture of India’s nuclear sector, enabling greater participation and investment in an industry that will be central to our clean energy future.
Meanwhile, the Deep Ocean Mission is extending India’s scientific reach into the last great unexplored frontier on our planet. Our ocean floor holds vast reserves of minerals essential for clean energy technologies—polymetallic nodules and cobalt-rich crusts that could reduce India’s dependence on imported criti- cal minerals. The mission is also building the underwater vehicle and sensor technologies that give India strategic and scientific presence in its maritime domain.
Towards Viksit Bharat: Science as Destiny
As India counts down the years to 2047 — the centenary of our independence and the target year for becoming a fully developed nation — science and technology will not merely support that journey; they will determine its pace and character. The investments made over the last twelve years have created not just institutions and infrastructure, but something more durable: a culture of scientific ambition, entrepre- neurial energy and National confidence.
The Anusandhan National Research Foundation, created to transform India’s research ecosystem through mission-led science, aca-demia-industry collabora- tion and empowerment of young researchers, and the newly constituted Research, Development and Innovation Fund with a corpus of one lakh crore rupees, represent the largest bet India has ever placed on its own intellectual capacity. They signal a conviction — hardened by twelve years of evidence — that the solutions to our most pressing challenges lie within our own laboratories, campuses and communities.
The lavender farmer in Doda, the genomics researcher in Vellore, the space startup founder in Bengaluru, the nuclear engineer in Kalpakkam — they are all characters in the same story. It is the story of a nation that chose, deliberately and decisively, to place science at the centre of its development. What the last twelve years have built is not a portfolio of achievements but a foundation—sturdy, deep and wide — upon which a developed, self-reliant and scientifically confident India will rise.
(The author is Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences, and MoS, Prime Minister’s Office, Personnel, Atomic Energy & Space, Government of India) PIB
Contd from previous issue
Energy Security and Future-Ready Technologies
No account of India’s scientific transformation is complete without acknowledging the strategic depth being built in nuclear energy. The first criticality of the 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam in April 2026 is a milestone of historic proportions. Developed entirely by Indian scientists and engineers at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research and built by Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam, this reactor is the critical bridge to the second stage of India’s three-stage nuclear programme — a path- way designed to eventually harness our country’s vast reserves of thorium, one of the most abundant elements in Indian soil. In an era of energy transition, the ability to generate clean, continuous power from domestic fuel is not merely economical; it is a matter of sovereign security.
The nuclear sector has also extended its reach into medicine. The Tata Memorial Hospital’s recognition by the International Atomic Energy Agency as a ‘Rays of Hope’ Anchor Centre, the expansion of cancer hospitals under the Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital network, and the deployment of advanced radio- pharmaceuticals—medicines that use radioactive particles to diagnose and treat cancer — are bringing world-class oncology care to patients across the country. The SHANTI Act of 2025 has modernised the legal architecture of India’s nuclear sector, enabling greater participation and investment in an industry that will be central to our clean energy future.
Meanwhile, the Deep Ocean Mission is extending India’s scientific reach into the last great unexplored frontier on our planet. Our ocean floor holds vast reserves of minerals essential for clean energy technologies—polymetallic nodules and cobalt-rich crusts that could reduce India’s dependence on imported criti- cal minerals. The mission is also building the underwater vehicle and sensor technologies that give India strategic and scientific presence in its maritime domain.
Towards Viksit Bharat: Science as Destiny
As India counts down the years to 2047 — the centenary of our independence and the target year for becoming a fully developed nation — science and technology will not merely support that journey; they will determine its pace and character. The investments made over the last twelve years have created not just institutions and infrastructure, but something more durable: a culture of scientific ambition, entrepre- neurial energy and National confidence.
The Anusandhan National Research Foundation, created to transform India’s research ecosystem through mission-led science, aca-demia-industry collabora- tion and empowerment of young researchers, and the newly constituted Research, Development and Innovation Fund with a corpus of one lakh crore rupees, represent the largest bet India has ever placed on its own intellectual capacity. They signal a conviction — hardened by twelve years of evidence — that the solutions to our most pressing challenges lie within our own laboratories, campuses and communities.
The lavender farmer in Doda, the genomics researcher in Vellore, the space startup founder in Bengaluru, the nuclear engineer in Kalpakkam — they are all characters in the same story. It is the story of a nation that chose, deliberately and decisively, to place science at the centre of its development. What the last twelve years have built is not a portfolio of achievements but a foundation—sturdy, deep and wide — upon which a developed, self-reliant and scientifically confident India will rise.
(The author is Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences, and MoS, Prime Minister’s Office, Personnel, Atomic Energy & Space, Government of India) PIB