Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called upon scientists to work for the welfare of the society and find solutions to various challenges faced by the country.  He was speaking after inaugurating 107th Indian Science Congress in Bengaluru today.  Mr Modi expressed happiness over India climbing to third position globally in the number of peer-reviewed science and engineering publications which is growing at a rate of about 10 per cent as compared to the global average of four per cent.

He also informed about India’s ranking at Innovation Index reaching the 52nd position. He highlighted that Government programmes have created more incubators in the last five years than in previous 50 years. Saying that the government was able to release funds to six crore beneficiaries under PM-KISAN programme, Mr Modi noted that this was possible only due the Aadhaar-enabled technology.

Similarly, it was technology which helped in building toilets and providing electricity to the poor. He said that owing to the technology of Geo-Tagging and Data Science, many of the projects in rural and urban areas could be timely completed.

AIR Correspondent reports, the highlight of the day two of event will be Children Science Congress with National Research Professor C N R Rao and Nobel Laureate Ada Yonath from Israel interacting with children.

Around 250 selected children along with their mentors from different States will be showcasing their science projects on this occasion. Various school children are invited to visit the Children Science Congress to view the live science demonstrations and science projects.

There will be prizes given for the best innovations and ideas. The series of lectures by 150 eminent scientists from India and abroad will begin tomorrow and go on till Monday.

The Pride of India Expo will be open to public tomorrow onwards. ISRO, DRDO and other CSIR labs apart from start-ups are taking part in the expo.