Hamirpur, Apr 7: Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu today stressed that the dream of a "New India" could only be visualised with “new ideas and new ways of making them realise through effective implementation.”

Emphasising that the “New India" would be a “scientific India and technological India", he batted for making science an integral component of education curriculum. He said that scientific approach that relies on evidence and raising relevant questions and seeking answers should be internalised.

In his inaugural address at the ninth Indian Youth Science Congress organised by Career Point University at NIT, Hamirpur, Naidu said that fora like Science Congress enable the young minds to share knowledge, information and draw inspiration to come up with new ideas that would empower India of the future.

"The students should be encouraged to ‘discover' rather than be ‘told' the answer," Naidu said, hoping that the conference would usher in an era of accelerated progress and development by inculcating scientific temper among our youth.

Appreciating the efforts of Himachal Pradesh government in the field of environment conservation and increasing green cover, he said the people of the state were honest in their approach and work and urged them to keep this tradition going.

He said, "we should not forget our mother, our mother land and mother tongue. and urging the people to live with harmony with nature."

Himachal Pradesh Governor Acharya Devvrat said India has been the land of knowledge since times immemorial and only Vedic cosmology's time scales corresponds to that of modern scientific cosmology.

He said it was the need of the hour to develop scientific approach by upholding the Indian traditional knowledge.

Cautioning that he global warming was the area of concern, he exhorted scientists to come forward to tackle the problem and added that scientific approach without humanitarian thought and humane touch was irrelevant.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said climate change was a serious challenge for people's existence and scientists should come forward to tackle this teething problem.

He said that Himachal Pradesh is known as ‘Dev Bhoomi' (Land of Gods) and said that in the present era of scientific excellence efforts should be made to make India a frontrunner in this field.

He said that even in this era of scientific innovation, we should not ignore and abandon our ancient knowledge and wisdom.

Union Health Minister J P Nadda said scientists must help in blending tradition, local knowledge, systems and technologies in research to develop effective and sustainable solutions for human development and progress on the country.

He also expressed concern over the increasing cases of anaemia, particularly amongst younger generation, and urged the scientists to come forward to redress this problem at the earliest by vigorous research.

He said since it was the World Health Day, the health centres would be changed in to wellness centres for overall health of the nation in a phased manner. He added that 1.50 lakh health wellness centres would be established in the country by 2020.

Noted scientist and father of 'Green Revolution' in India M S Swaminathan in his key note address through video conference said young scientists should collectively work towards meeting the challenges posed by climate change.

The Padma Vibhushan awardee professor lauded the efforts of Himachal Pradesh in environment conservation, as he stressed the need to ‘deliver as one' approach for the reform in the governance of various food security related schemes.