New Delhi: National Science Day 2021 was celebrated at Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Headquarters in New Delhi on March 1 with great fervour.

To mark the occasion, a special function was organised by Defence Science Forum. Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government, Prof K Vijay Raghavan was the Chief Guest on the occasion. The function was presided over by Secretary DD R&D and Chairman DRDO Dr G Satheesh Reddy.

In his keynote address, Prof Vijay Raghavan elaborated that there is a significant amount of work being done by DRDO that epitomises quality science. He appreciated the speed and quality of innovations by DRDO during the pandemic. He said India was a design driven world, and the two major goals should be designing and manufacturing indigenously.

He said that in this new era of partnership between DRDO and industry, the country should have the capability to buy local and make local.

Secretary DD R&D and Chairman DRDO in his address congratulated the scientific community for its ongoing quest to achieve excellence and self reliance. He emphasised the need to concentrate on science in laboratories and academic institutes to come out with state of art technologies.

He highlighted the requirement for a focus group in each DRDO laboratory to work on future technologies. He said that it is very important for any nation to work on the fundamental side of science, for which the universities need to be made stronger, so that the nation can come out with quality products.

Forty Seven research papers were received from various DRDO labs/establishments, out of which three research papers were adjudged best. Defence Science Spectrum, a compilation of the scientific papers received from labs of various clusters, was also released by dignitaries on the occasion. DRDO Science Day orations were delivered by scientists of three DRDO laboratories namely, Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL), Hyderabad, Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), Bengaluru and Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE), Gwalior.

Dr AK Singh, Director General (DG), Life Sciences, and Convenor Defence Science Forum delivered the welcome address. Sudhir Gupta, DG (TM), KS Varaprasad, DG (HR) and Ms Nabanita Radhakrishnan DG (SAM & R&M).