Shame that so many yrs after independence, no big innovation in India: Goyal

New Delhi, Mar 31: Power Minister Piyush Goyal today rued that it is a "shame" that even more than 60 years after Independence, the country has not come up with significant innovation even as 25 union ministries entered into an ambitious pact to carry out research in collaboration with IITs and IIScs at an event here.

"It's a matter of shame for us that so many years after independence, India hasn't really come up with any huge innovation or significant substance for which we can feel proud in the world as our own contribution to science, technology and human development," Goyal said.

He was speaking at an event where an MoU under Modi government's IMPRINT initiative was signed by 25 Ministries in 10 fields ranging from healthcare, defence, nano technology, communications, manufacturing environment etc.

In her speech, HRD minister Smriti Irani too appeared critical of previous policies saying that "when we look at research in IITs, history till now has been that whenever grants will come from HRD, the IIT faculty encourages research while also trying to forge partnerships with the industry."

It is perhaps for the first time the IIT family has come together on one platform to identify the scientific needs of the country, she said at the event where Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha were also present.

Prasad struck a note of caution saying that from experience he knew that collaboration between different entities could lead to turf battles and emphasised that true collaboration should be ensured.

The IMPRINT initiative envisages a collaboration between central departments and institutes of learning for instance in health care, Health Ministry, AYUSH and various bodies like ICMR in research with IIT Kharagpur being the coordinating institute.

PTI