National Science Day 2024: The theme for National Science Day 2024 is 'Indigenous Technologies for Viksit Bharat', Union Minister of Science and Technology Jitendra Singh announced on February 6, 2024. This has been chosen as the theme for National Science Day to highlight the importance of home-grown technologies, and to bring to light the efforts of Indian scientists.
The theme beckons a new era and presents an opportunity for the public and scientific fraternity, both domestically and internationally to come together, collaborate, work, and contribute to the well-being of India and humanity.
Promoting 'Indigenous Technologies for Viksit Bharat' will help address challenges for the betterment of the entire world, and emphasise the importance of making India 'Atmanirbhar' through science, according to a statement released by the Union Ministry of Science and Technology.
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India’s indigenously developed technologies
INS Vikrant is India's first indigenously developed aircraft carrier for the Indian Navy. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed several aeronautical systems, missiles, and electronic systems.
Zydus Cadila's ZyCOV-D is the world's first developed DNA vaccine.
CERVAVAC is India's first indigenously developed quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccine against cervical cancer.
More about National Science Day
National Science Day is observed annually on February 28 in India, to commemorate the discovery of the 'Raman Effect'. Sir Chandrashekhara Venkata Raman, an Indian physicist, announced the discovery of the Raman Effect on February 28, 1928.
In 1986, the National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC) asked the Indian government to designate February 28 as National Science Day. The then government accepted and declared February 28 as National Science Day. This was celebrated for the first time on February 28, 1987.
The Indian physicist was awarded the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him," the Nobel Prize organisation said on its website.
The basic objective of National Science Day is to spread the message of the importance of science and its application among people. Every year, National Science Day is celebrated as one of the main science festivals in India in order to achieve a number of goals.
The objectives include spreading a message about the significance of scientific applications in the daily lives of people, displaying all the activities, efforts, and achievements in the field of science for the welfare of human beings, discussing all the issues and implementing new technologies for the development of science, and encouraging people as well as popularising science and technology, among others.