LUCKNOW, Oct 6 - President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday expressed concern over low participation of women in higher science.
Addressing the Fourth Edition of the India International Science Festival (IISF) 2018 at the Indira Gandhi Pratisthan, the main venue of the event, the President pointed to the low participation of women in higher science. He noted that of the 3,446 scientists working at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, only 632 � or 18.3 per cent � were women.
The President said that in a week, when women scientists have won Nobel Prizes for physics and chemistry, this is a telling statistics. �It is a reminder of the scientific potential of our daughters that we are not adequately harnessing. This is both a social and systemic challenge � but it is our collective responsibility to overcome it,� he said.
Hours earlier, the students of GD Goenka School here created a Guinness World Record when at least 550 students successfully isolated DNA of a banana in less than 90 minutes. The previous record was held by Seattle in the US, where 302 students isolated DNA of banana, Guinness Book of Records adjudicator Rishi Nath said.
The function was also attended by Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union Science and Technology Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, besides senior officials of various ministries.
Earlier, Dr Harsh Vardhan recounted the achievements of science and technology mentioning that India ranks sixth in scientific publication in the world, recording a growth rate of 14 per cent. India is number one in tsunami early warning system in the world. The CSIR has developed 800 technology and the organisation ranks ninth in the world.
