Bhubaneswar: Nalco chairman-cum-managing director Tapan Kumar Chand on Friday pitched for change in mindset towards mining operations.
On the occasion of the National Technology Day, Chand said the sector had come a long way from being viewed as not being environment-friendly to adopting the best practices of the safe and green mining technologies.
On the other hand in a separate function, Institute of Life Sciences director Ajay Parida spoke on the tremendous opportunity in the science and technology sector for younger generation.
Delivering a speech in the Geominetech National Symposium held here on Friday, Chand, in presence of a large gathering of technocrats, engineers, mining professionals and scientists, said: "Civilisation has progressed due to unearthing of natural resources. The world has come around to accept mining as a positive step towards betterment of society. Now, people are realising its benefit, because it has the potential to offer large-scale employment, which is of prime importance in new India. What matters is to work on the entire value chain of minerals."
"Mineral-based mother plants such as Nalco should create an ecosystem for employment and employability to set up micro, small and medium enterprises and give them the necessary support. This will ensure large-scale sustainable employment in the sector," Chand said.
Chand was also felicitated with the "Best Corporate Governance Award" during the event.
On the other hand, the Institute of Life Sciences on Friday organised a workshop on the recent advances in biotechnology for food, nutrition and health security. The National Centre for Cell Sciences director (Pune) inaugurated the event and called for inculcating scientific temper among the younger generation, so that they could take up challenging problems and work towards providing scientific solutions to societal problems.
Parida spoke on the opportunity in the science and technology sector for the younger generation. "Lack of quality human resources is affecting the pace of development. Concerted efforts are needed to attract younger generation in the area of science education, research and job generation," he said.
