Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday praised Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, saying that under his leadership the state has set its feet on the road to progress, development and prosperity.

"The entire country is was keenly following what was happening in Uttar Pradesh and I am happy to note that under Yogi and his team, the state is headed for development like never before," Modi said at an event at the Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University here.

He also lauded the role of scientists in nation building and said that they were modern saints who sacrificed their entire lives for the welfare and good of the society. 

"I had the chance of visiting the new campus of the CDRI (Central Drug research Institute) today and I noted how these scientists were spending their entire lives in laboratories trying to find out cheap, effective and easy treatment for patient," said the Prime Minister.

A medicine takes several years to finally come into being, several scientists come and go, said Modi, while pointing out how new age diseases were hence emerging as big challenges to the scientist community. 

"With the help of science and innovation, we have to defeat the challenges and make sure that the poor and needy cheap and effective medicines," he added.

Referring to former President Kalam, Modi noted that science is universal but technology is local, and there cannot be a bigger name for contributing to technology than him. He also called upon the scientist fraternity to strive to bring change in the quality of life of the common man and pointed out how the 800 million youth work force of India was making the country proud with their contributions world over.

Modi also called for greater innovation and domestic production of defence equipment and said that the country needed to be independent in the defence manufacturing sector. 

Modi also thanked all parties for rallying behind his government's move to roll out the GST and said that the Union and state governments were coming together to bring about qualitative change in the lives of the country's people. 

"From July 1, the GST regime will come into place and it will kickstart a great change in the economy of the country," he said.