By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, JAN 06, 2025: ADDRESSING the 40th Foundation Day of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research at Dr Ambedkar International Centre here, Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology, Earth Sciences (Independent Charge), MoS PMO, DoPT Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Atomic Energy, Space, announced the indigenously developed drug "Paracetamol", commonly used in pain, fever etc, by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) which is affiliated to the Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt of India.

The Minister elaborated that CSIR has developed indigenous technology to produce paracetamol, a widely used pain reliever and fever reducer. This innovation aims to make India self-reliant in paracetamol manufacturing, reducing dependence on imported ingredients, he added.

Karnataka-based Satya Deeptha Pharmaceuticals Ltd will utilize this breakthrough to produce affordable paracetamol domestically. Currently, India imports the key raw materials for paracetamol from various countries. Thus the CSIR initiative not only addresses this dependency but also aligns with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Atmanirbhar Bharat" (self-reliant India) vision.

Dr. Jitendra Singh, in his address, traced back the history of DSIR and its contribution for the past decade and recalled its mandate to focus on synergizing collaboration with industry partners to scale up innovation and foster technological growth. He also remembered the birth of CSIR which is a much older organization aimed at India's scientific and industrial progress through research.

Dr. Jitendra Singh also congratulated the team of DSIR on their 40th Foundation Day.

The DSIR Foundation Day marked 16 more technology transfers: 9 CSIR-CSIO Chennai and 6 from CSIR-CEERI, Pilani the technology transfer between CSIR and MSME units registered under LAGHU UDYOG BHARATI under the campaign 100 days 100 technology program. LAGHU UDYOG BHARATI is a registered all India organization of MSME in India since 1994 with more than 60,000 registered members. So far 57 CSIR technologies have been transferred under this campaign and yesterday 16 more are transferred.

The technologies transferred by CSIO are in the area of design and development of scientific and industrial instruments with IoT enabled technologies, while transfers by CEERI are in the area of healthcare and societal implications. One MoU is signed between CSIO and ELCIA, Bengaluru towards mutual collaboration in development of sensors.

The Science and Technology Minister also called this as a moment of celebration for NRDC and CEL. He said our significant work many times remains inside the four walls despite having potential to become a successful enterprise as we often lack the marketing part of it.

Speaking on the pace of technological prowess achieved by India in the past decade, Dr. Jitendra Singh credited the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has been a champion of technological development and utilizing its potential for the benefit of the Country.

Dr. Jitendra Singh underscored that even before we had the scientific acumen what lacked was the prioritization of innovation and entrepreneurship. After 2014 the taboo was broken and Government and non-government sectors collaborated on a large scale. The success in the Space sector is the evidence of it with now Startups launching satellites from Sriharikota.

Dr. Jitendra Singh also lauded ISRO for the recent SPADEX (Space Docking exercise) mission which is a landmark making India leaders among few nations to have developed the capability.

Recalling the Success achieved in 2024 and more specifically the third Term Of the government popularly called as MODI.3.0, He said there has been a series of indigenous development naming India's 1 st Indigenously developed Antibiotic- Nafithromycin to treat both atypical and typical drug-resistant bacteria. Going further he also mentioned that 1sr ever successful trial of Gene therapy for treating the Blood disorder Haemophilia.

Highlighting the achievements of CSIR, Dr. Jitendra Singh praised the efforts of CSIR and enumerated the development of 108 petal Lotus, hydrogen bus, Biofuels, the success of Aroma Mission i.e. Lavender cultivation which got featured in Republic Day Tableau and lauded by the Prime Minister himself. And recent progress on indigenously developed paracetamol.

According to Dr. Jitendra Singh, all the arms of Government should work in synergy and called for a Whole of Government and Whole of Science Approach. He recalled the initiatives One week One Theme (OWOT) And One week One Lab (OWOL) of CSIR which were the brainchild of the Science and Technology Minister. He also mentioned that PM Modi believes in Women-led development and thus women scientists and StartUps are being all necessary help by the government, he said.

Towards the conclusion of his speech, Dr. Singh emphasized that it is high time for us to look beyond government resources for innovation and we should start exploring non-government funds along Knowledge partnership and resource sharing. He underlined that Anusandhan NRF is the Step in the same direction where 60% of the funds will be raised by non-government sectors. he reaffirmed the scientific community that 2025 will also be a power packed year for science and technology with innumerable ventures coming up.

Dr. N. Kalaiselvi, Secretary DSIR, DG CSIR in her remarks recalled the signing of the Guwahati science declaration by the members which aimed at becoming a global economic hub in 2047.

Prof. A.K. Sood, Principal Scientific Advisor to the government of India emphasized on making our country a product-based economy and a good part of our country should come from tech related products. he also gave us an example of the USA, where 9% of their economic growth is based on the tech sector. He also attributed that we have to become a product economy from a service economy and this product economy should be based on our own design. Senior Scientists from DSIR and industry leaders, MSME's were present in large numbers during the celebration.