New Delhi, July 29 : To boost rural development in the country a tripartite Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) has been signed among Center of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR),
Unnat Bharat Abhiyan-Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (UBA-IITD) and Vijnana Bharti (VIBHA).
The MoU is to provide access to CSIR rural technologies for UBA and is expected to lay the
foundation for cooperation and joint action in the area of UBA for rural development of India.
This will pave the way for the adoption of CSIR technologies and related knowledge base in tune
with the people’s aspirations in furtherance of initiatives such as UBA and VIBHA.
Dr Shekhar Mande, Director General, CSIR and Secretary, Department of Scientific and Industrial
Research (DSIR) emphasized that CSIR has a rich tradition of developing various technologies
and products and collaborations with various stakeholders is important in taking CSIR
technologies to the people across the length and breadth of the country and that this MoU is an
important step in this direction. Prof. Ranjana Aggarwal, Director CSIR- National Institute of
Science, Technology and Development Studies (NISTADS) expressed the hope that the MoU will
pave the way for effective coordination between CSIR, IIT Delhi, and Vijnana Bharti (Vibha)
towards meeting the objectives of the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan.
Virendra Kumar Vijay, National Coordinator, Unnat Bharat Abhiyan described how the Unnat
Bharat Abhiyan has now become a national level program since its start in 2014 and talked
about a large number of institutions that have become associated with it in a short period. Dr
Sunil K Khare, Dean, Centre for Rural Development and Technology (CRDT), IIT Delhi spoke of
the association between CSIR and IIT Delhi and how two institutions can further contribute to
the development of the country through their increased cooperation. Sahasrabudhe from VIBHA
expressed his optimism about the contribution of the MoU towards taking the benefits of
science to society. (India Science Wire)