Union Ministers Dr Vardhan & Smriti Irani discuss areas for promotion of scientific temper among women

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : Union Health and Family Welfare, Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan and Union Minister for Women & Child Development (WCD) Smriti Irani discussed areas for promotion of scientific temper among women in the country and convergence of efforts of different ministries in this direction, at a meeting held here on December 26, 2019.

The Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Prof. Ashutosh Sharma, DG (CSIR)/Secretary (DISR), Dr Shekhar C Mande, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Dr M Rajeevan, and senior officers of Ministry of Science &Technology and Ministry of Women and Child Development were also present in the meeting.

Dr Vardhan said that the purpose of the meeting is to discuss the issues facing the women in scientific field and identify ways and means for promoting scientific temper among them. The Government aims to promote women-centric schemes, activities and programmes with a view to encouraging more and more women to opt for carriers in Science and Technology including in scientific research, Dr Vardhan said.

WCD Minister Smriti Irani said that the Ministry of Science & Technology should undertake research to identify the hurdles and challenges that women face while choosing carriers in the field of Science and Technology. She said that convergence of efforts of different ministries are essential to achieve the aim of higher scientific temperament among women. She proposed that workshops should be conducted for leaders of scientific institutions to educate them to be sensitive towards gender equality. She also emphasised on efforts to promote scientific skills among women, according to a PIB release.

During the meeting, various issues came up for discussion. The theme of ‘Women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)’ and ‘STEM through Women’ were discussed. It was informed that Government has taken various initiatives including Biotechnology Career Advancement and Re-orientation Programme (BioCARe), National Women Bio-scientist Award, WInER Award (Women in Entrepreneurial Research) and Golden Jubilee Biotech Park for Women (Chennai). It was also mentioned that about 15,000 women have been trained so far in the areas such as food processing, handicraft, herbal medicines, agriculture, pottery, ICT, waste utilisation etc. under the Technology Development and Utilisation Programme for Women (TDUPW).

Both the Ministers agreed that more effort are required to be made to popularise the existing schemes pertaining to increasing participation of women in the field of Science and Technology in synergy with the schemes already being run by Ministry of Women and Child Development and Ministry of Human Resource Development.