Vice President of India M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday said that the Self Help Groups (SHGs) working with the CSIR-North East Institute of Science and Technology (CSIR-NEIST) here should be given brands as they sell in India.
The Vice President on a visit to Assam Agricultural University (AAU) here to open the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the University evinced interest to visit this premier research Institute to see for himself the research and innovations being done here.
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Naidu said he was visiting all IIMs, IITs, IIITs and other research laboratories all over the country to take stock of the amount of research and innovations going on and to find out what problems they were facing and also to know the aspirations of the students.
Exhorting the Institute to expand their activities with self help groups he said that they should be integrated with companies which can brand and sell their products.
Citing an example he said that when he ordered shoes for his feet, he was brought a pair the next day from the person he had placed the order to.
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On being curious as to how the order was delivered so fast, the man said that it was he who supplied shoes to Reebok.
“India has a lot of talents which should be tapped into and marketed,” he said.
In this context, he also referred to the 65per cent population of India below 35 years, who were not keen on government jobs but looking out for more.
“Stand-ups and start-ups are the key to the future and NEIST could play a role in guiding such youths with their technologies and innovations,” he said.
Naidu further said that credit through banks should be given to these self help groups and all this should be done under the guidance of NEIST.
Naidu said that Modi understanding the potential in the region was focusing on the North-east despite its border location geographical location, ups and downs and adversities. Modi was keen on the northeast and had given it a special package, he said.
Naidu said that communication in the region was being bettered so that the seven sister states could export to seven brothers surrounding them.
He advised the Institute not to work solo but in cooperation with DoNER, North East Council and other State government agencies so that there was no duplication of research and technologies.
Naidu visited the advanced civil engineering building of the Institute where bricks were being made from the silt of the river Brahmaputra by an eco-friendly method without a furnace but by compression.
Praising the initiative Naidu said that scientists should come up with out of the box ideas which benefitted society and was non-polluting to the ecology.
He asked the scientists to interact more with farmers as they were the working scientists who implemented the technologies which scientists created in labs.
“They should come to the labs and you should go to them. There is a vast amount of work in horticulture, floriculture, mushrooms, and other agriculture fields by involving farmers,” he said.
He asked the scientists to work with a missionary zeal and not for salary but for satisfaction.
Technology was to provide comfort and benefit society, he said.
Naidu also laid the foundation stone online of the Scholars’ hostel.