Development of villages key to achieve Vision 2020: Nair

Bangalore, May 11 (UNI) Developing cities and metros only will not help the country achieve Vision 2020 as envisaged by President A P J Abdul Kalam, ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said today.

''Wealth and knowledge should be first taken to villages,'' he said, delivering the valedictory address at a workshop on 'Delivery Systems to Promote Science and Technology among Rural People' organised by ISRO and DAVP here.

''We have to find ways to eradicate illiteracy as 70 per cent of the people live in villages and half of them are illiterates. We have to take as a challenge to find a sure way to convey the message of knowledge to the rural areas,'' he added.

Mr Nair regretted that the media was merely highlighting the negative incidents. ''The front page carries negative incidents, while the inside pages just have obituary, engagements and career opportunities. Most of the pages carry advertisements. What are we trying to tell the people. We have to use the media for positive communication. But are we doing this,'' he asked.

Stating that ISRO got good coverage but most of the other scientific institutions were ignored by the media, he said ''I visited BrahMos Corporation yesterday. What a tremendous achievement they have done. Unfortunately, they end up in a remote corner of newspapers, that too occasionally,'' he added.

Mr Nair called for better use of satellite technology in rural areas as concepts like tele-education and tele-medicine could go a long way in making adult education a better success. Similarly, audio visual media was a better way of transferring knowledge in villages.

''We have to select a proper medium to attract the attention of different types of people in the society, understand their mood and tap that,'' he told DAVP officials attending the workshop.

UNI