Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Dr Jitendra Singh on Saturday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has raised the esteem of Indian diaspora abroad and the world looks up to Indians with great hope and expectation.

Dr Jitendra Singh was speaking to the Indian diaspora as part of his 6-day visit to the United Kingdom, where he is leading a high-level official Indian delegation of the Ministry of Science & Technology to enhance S&T collaboration between India and the United Kingdom.

The Minister said, given the recognition given to them, it is high time the Indians rise to the occasion and contribute to the well-being of the entire humankind in the true spirit of the theme of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ as given by PM Modi during India’s G20 presidency.

Interacting with the diaspora, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the Indian diaspora should try to channelise their resources to support the important initiatives taken up by the Government back home in India.

He said that India is on a path of transformation. The Prime Minister has, on several occasions, emphasised the significance of science and technology in driving economic growth and rising living standards. He urged the diaspora to be a part of this growth story.

The Minister expressed happiness in addressing the Indian diaspora and said that many of them have demonstrated extraordinary leadership positions in academia, industry and government in the United Kingdom.

Sharing some of the key achievements of India in S & T, like India’s massive jump in its ranking of Global Innovation Index (GII) from 81st in 2015 to 40th in 2022, among 132 economies of the world; 3rd rank in terms of number of Start-ups, Unicorns, scientific publications and PhDs awarded, the Minister said that India has in recent years made some unprecedented progress in S & T areas.

Dr Jitendra Singh proposed an active engagement of the Indian diaspora with Indian Institutions and individuals considering the transformative research happening in our country.

The Minister mentioned that in the recent past, the Government of India has launched several flagship initiatives such as the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber Physical Systems (ICPS); Quantum Computing and Communication; National Mission on Supercomputing, Electric Mobility, Green hydrogen etc.

Talking about Start-ups, Dr Jitendra Singh said that India has emerged as the third-largest global start-up ecosystem, growing at an annual rate of 12-15 per cent and has around 90,000 start-ups.

The Minister said that India has created several enabling platforms for the Indian diaspora to get engaged with Indian systems. Visiting Advanced Joint Research (VAJRA) Faculty scheme of DST/SERB is well poised to take accomplished overseas scientists including NRIs, OCIs to the Indian academic and research institutions to undertake high quality collaborative research.

The Pravasi Bharatiya Academic and Scientific Sampark, (PRABHASS) a National Digital Portal helps to connect with the global Indian S&T Diaspora for jointly addressing societal and scientific challenges.

Since inception, PRABHASS has published over 150 collaboration opportunities for various Departments, Ministries, bi-lateral and international organisations. Many of these interactions have already started culminating into fruitful collaborations.

Another initiative is the Vaishwik Bharatiya Vaigyanik(VAIBHAV) Platform providing a comprehensive roadmap for leveraging expertise/knowledge of global Indian researchers to address emerging challenges for universal development.