Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Thursday stressed the need for inculcating scientific temperament in students. Presiding over the Yuva Vigyan Puraskar function organised by Himachal Pradesh Science, Technology and Environment Council here, he said that the present state government has launched Yuva Vigyan Puraskar Scheme in 2018 to encourage the students to adopt science subject, thereby motivating them for research. The chief minister said that under this scheme 47 students were rewarded in 2018, 30 students in 2019 and this year as many as 46 are being rewarded today. He said that this would go a long way in motivating and inspiring the students to perform better. Thakur said that there is no dearth of talent in the state and the only thing required was to motivate the students to perform better. He said Himachal Pradesh is the second most literate state in the country. He said the teachers should motivate the students to develop scientific temperament. He said that Covid-19 pandemic has adversely affected the study of the students. He said the government ensured that the students are provided education virtually, which was a big success. He said that there is no substitute of classroom education and the students during and post lockdown had urged him to start class room teaching. He said that now with the decrease in Covid- 19 cases, the state government has decided to open the schools to facilitate the students. The chief minister said the corona pandemic this year has posed some challenges which were never experienced before. He said the state government worked relentlessly to overcome the challenges and succeeded in controlling this pandemic. He said that it is a matter of great pleasure that this year the Council successfully organized a Child Science Conference for students across the state through video conferencing during adverse circumstances by adopting corona protocol. In this event, about 20,000 students from block, district to state level got the privilege to participate, he added. Thakur said the Himachal Pradesh Science Technology and Environment Council is organizing various programs such as Children Science Conference, National Science Day, National Mathematics Day, Eclipse Observation throughout the year for promotion and popularization of science. He said that these programs have a special impact on the students, scientists, mathematicians and they have shown special interest and curiosity in these programs. Thakur said Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a mantra of finding opportunities in challenges for the nation to progress. He said that when the first case of corona virus was found in India not even a single PPE kit was manufactured in India. He said that today India is not only self-sufficient in PPE kits, but was even exporting it to several countries. He gave away prizes to the award winners and expressed hope that the talented students would explore new knowledge and become future scientist and reach the top to make name of the state and country. Principal Secretary Science, Environment and Technology K.K. Pant said that students securing first ten positions in 10+2 Faculty of Science in Himachal Pradesh School Education Board examinations are awarded under the programme. He said that Rs one lakh is provided to the student who gets the first place, Rs 90,000 to the student who gets the second place and Rs 80,000 to student securing third position.

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