nagpur prime minister narendra modi on tuesday exhorted the scientific community to make india the most advanced laboratory of modern science in its 75th year of independenceaddressing the delegates of the 108th indian science congress virtually the pm expressed belief that a clear roadmap for the future will be prepared on various constructive points during the fiveday event hosted by nagpur universitypointing out the role of indias scientific strength in indias story of development over the next 25 years modi said when the spirit of national service was infused in science along with passion results would be unprecedented i am sure indias scientific community will ensure a place for our country of which it was always deservinghighlighting the importance of gathering data and analyzing results modi spoke about abundant availability of data and technology in 21st century india data has the potential to take indian science to new heights the field of data analysis is moving forward at a meteoric pace which is of big help in converting information into insight and analysis into actionable knowledge be it traditional knowledge or modern technology each one plays a crucial role in scientific discoveryexplaining indias tryst with the scientific approach the pm said that it was fast making its way into worlds top ranked nations in the field of science in 2015 india was ranked 81 among 130 countries in the global innovation index in 2022 it has jumped to 40th position we are among the top three nations in the world in terms of the number of phds and startup ecosystemshailing the isc theme science and technology for sustainable development with women empowerment he said the thinking is not just that we should empower women but also empowering science by their contributionthe mudra yojna has been instrumental in empowering women doubling of womens participation in the field of extramural research and development is proof that they and science are both progressing in the nation india has been bestowed on the opportunity to preside over g20 and the womenled development is one of the highpriority subjectschallenging the scientific community to turn knowledge into actionable and helpful products the pm said efforts of science can turn into big achievements only when they come out of the lab and reach the land and their impact reaches from grassroots to the globe the changes should be visible from research to real life when sciences achievements complete the distance between experiments to peoples experiences it gives an important message and impresses the young generation who get convinced of the role of sciencequoting examples of talent hunt and hackathons through which children with scientific temper could be discovered modi spoke about indias strides in the field of sports and attributed the success to the emerging robust institutional mechanism and gurushishya parampara he suggested that this tradition can be the mantra of success in the field of sciencescience in india should make the country atma nirbhar selfreliant about 1718 of the human population resides in india