Kerala becoming nation's science capital: Union MoS Jitendra Singh

Thiruvananthapuram: Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Thursday said that Kerala was becoming the nation's science capital as it has become a favourite destination for scientists.

Singh, the Union Minister of State for Science and Technology, was of the view that the southern state has immense scientific and research potential due to the resources available here and its generations-old legacy of research and innovation, a release said.

The minister was speaking after laying the foundation stone for a Centre for Excellence in Ayurveda Research at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research - National Institute of Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (CSIR-NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram.

The minister said that Kerala, which was a centre for Ayurveda treatment and major tourism destination for those who seek Ayurvedic treatment, is going to benefit immensely through the new centre.

"The centre will develop new scientific technologies to standardise the herbal constituents in Ayurvedic drugs, making them more effective and less harmful to the human body.

"A scientific validation of Ayurvedic medicines through new technologies would also give greater acceptance to Ayurveda globally," he observed.

He further said that while Ayurveda has been in use in the country for centuries, the field still faces issues with advanced research and use of scientific tools in diagnosis.

"The Centre of Excellence in Ayurveda is trying to address these issues and make Ayurveda more scientifically acceptable, and create a wider market for Ayurveda products," the minister said.

Singh also inaugurated the community enterprises of Scheduled Castes-Scheduled Tribes communities of Kerala promoted jointly by the Tribal Science Heritage project of Biotechnology Research and Innovation Council- Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (BRIC-RGCB) and Swadeshi Science Movement-Kerala (SSM-K) at BRIC-RGCB campus here, the release said.

According to the release, the minister said that it was time to scale up efforts to add value to the fruits of scientific research of leading institutions and roll them out for the inclusive progress of the society.

He also said that it was vital to combine the country’s scientific potential with the industrial start-up ecosystem.

The MoS also inaugurated a Centre of Excellence for Performing Chemicals and Sustainable Polymers, which, according to the minister, will boost India's ambitions of becoming the third-largest economy in the world by 2030.