New Delhi, Oct 4: The Department of Science and Technology Secretary Prof Ashutosh Sharma has said that vaccines for coronavirus are in advanced phases of trial, adding that India has the capacity to supply the vaccine to a major part of humanity.
Speaking at the Science & Technology Ministerial Roundtable, organised in the 17th annual ScienceTechnology and Society (STS) Forum on webinar, Prof Sharma who represented India, underlined the increasing attention given by India to sharing of scientific data as was evident from India’s National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (INDSAP) and an open government data portal and open science, according to an official statement here on Sunday.
“Scientific data sharing is being considered for inclusion in the New S T I P 2020 being framed. Data is the new water, and we do want to share it as global partners,” he emphasised.
He also said that India gives extraordinary importance to international cooperation in Science and Technology (S&T) for development and for addressing challenges of health, water, energy, environment, climate change, communication, and natural disasters.
While addressing the conference, Prof Sharma also spoke about India’s active S&T collaboration with over 40 countries in the world. “We are also part of all the major multilateral and regional S&T platforms and groupings such as the EU, BRICS, ASEAN, G20, Africa Initiatives, UN and OECD S&T platform as well as international mega-science projects such as ITER, TMT, LIGO and so on. Coalitions for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, International Solar Alliance and Mission Innovation are India’s global initiatives in the management of disasters and clean energy,” he added.
This event witnessed participation of S&T heads from about 50 countries around the world and explored the opportunities arising from international collaborations in science and technology to address the challenges posed by COVID 19 including the countries like Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, India, Iraq, Russia, South Africa, and others.
