ICAR-IISWC, Dehradun celebrated the National Science Day on 28th February, 2021 to commemorate the great discovery of Physics Nobel Laureate Sir C. V. Raman. On this very day in the year 1928 he discovered the “Raman Effect” for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930 and received Bharat Ratna in the year 1954. The focal theme of this year’s celebrations was “Future of STI: Impacts of Education, Skills and Work”. On this occasion Scientists and Technical Officers of the Institute participated in the program. Dr. R. S. Yadav, I/C Director, ICAR-IISWC, Dehradun on this occasion stressed upon the facts of life about Sir C. V. Raman and highlighted how confidence and self believe is the key to succeed in your scientific endeavours. The event was also dotted with speeches from heads of all divisions of the Institute. Dr. P. R. Ojasvi in his address suggested that the deliberations of the day should reach out to the children as they are the target group for celebration of such occasions. However, the ongoing pandemic restricted the celebrations to Institute staff only. He emphasized that science is all about problem solving, which helps to make human life better.

Dr. N. K. Sharma, Head SSA, opined about the beautiful nature of science which can be experienced in our daily life and arises from our imagination. He described it as a bouquet rather than a single flower and where all scientific subjects were equally necessary for studying any system in totality. Dr. Harsh Mehta, Head Plant Science, talked about the Green Revolution and the role of management of natural resources in order to achieve the second one. In this line our Institute has a pivotal role to play now as well as in future. Dr. Bankey Bihari, Head HRD&SS, spoke about the scientific perspective of the farmers and how without even the theoretical knowledge of science they go about managing their resources in the best possible way. Dr. D. Mandal, ICAR-National Fellow, was the speaker on the event and he very critically analysed how we as scientists and a scientific organization can make our presence felt nationwide. He gave examples of various great Scientists and how they went about with their discovery. According to him innovation can only come when we practice the 4 C’s in our daily lives: Critical thinking, Collaboration, Communication and Creativity. “Imagination is more important than knowledge: Sir Albert Einstein”, which was the essence of the entire deliberation of the day. Imagination and originality is the key to bring about breakthrough in scientific achievements. Dr. Trisha Roy, Program coordinator welcomed the house and spoke in brief about the Importance of the day while the event was concluded by a Vote of Thanks from Sh. Anil Chauhan. The organization of the program was supported by Institute staff Sh Dinesh and Sh Vinod.