The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, graced and addressed the closing ceremony of centenary celebrations of the Bose Institute in Kolkata today (November 29, 2017).

Speaking on the occasion, the President said that the Bose Institute occupies a unique and exalted position in the landscape of Indian science. This was one of the earliest scientific institutes to be established in the country. It has served the cause of science and served the cause of India. It has contributed much to research in the biological and physical sciences. At the same time, this Institute has had a very active social outreach programme in rural Bengal through its rural bio-technology initiative. It has also been pursuing educational uplift programmes for school children in various states of the Northeast. Truly, it is making an honest effort to spread the culture of science and innovation down to the grassroots of our society.

The President said that Bengal was one of India’s earliest industrial and manufacturing economies. With that legacy, and with its educational institutions, it should have led the IT revolution in our country. But for whatever reason, it was a slow starter in IT and IT-enabled services. That boom moved to other states, such as those in the south of our country. Now Bengal has another chance. We are in the midst of an explosion of digital technologies. Cutting-edge disciplines like precision manufacture and bio-informatics are changing the way we work. And robotics is changing the way we live.

The President said that all this throws up great opportunities for Bengal, for Bengal’s science, and for Bengal’s talented pool of young scientists. Our greatest tribute to Acharya J.C. Bose would be to embrace this new era of innovation and discovery – just as he embraced and led the process of innovation and discovery a century ago.