I am told that Land Corporation has classified 22 of 192 nations of the world as scientifically advanced, 24 as scientifically proficient, 40 as scientifcally developing and the rest as deficient. India is ranked among the scientifically proficient nations. We must ask ourselves how we move from the scientifcally proficient category to the rank of scientifcally advanced nations. Jawaharlal Nehru said fifty-one years ago, The modern world is a world of science. Whatever the sphere of life we examine, we find we cannot live without science. That is why we have determined that our country should progress in science. We should produce high-class scientists. We require them in thousands. Only then our country will progress. It is clear that Nehru's dream of scientists by the thousands' must be realised if we are to become a scientifically advanced nation. What will make India so? More funding and less restrictions. This is what our Government aims to do. Science our must grapple with the key challenges facing the country today. These include the pressures of increasing population, greater health risks, changing demographics, degraded natural resources, and dwindling farmalands. We need new science and technologies, new priorities and new paradigms to address these fundamental challenges. We in India are practising new physics and new chemistry to make new materials. These are of direct relevance to the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations. We need to underline and emphasise our priorities in all these areas. Ultimately, all research efforts require not just policy statements and encouragement, but funding. I am keenly aware that we must commit more resources to science and technology to emerge as a scientifically advanced. Science and technology to emerge as a scientifically. Enjoy at present, particularly those powers relating to the economic life of the community. I am not very happy at the large number of persons who have been detained in jail, and in view of the general relaxation of conditions on the border, I think that the time has come for government to release all persons unconditionally. All the material that is available is pressed into service.
