Women Entrepreneurs Drive India's Innovative Success Stories, says Dr. Jitendra Singh

By: WE Staff | Wednesday, 22 December 2021

Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Personnel, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Earth Sciences, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy, and Space, said that women entrepreneurs are driving India's innovative success stories.

Dr Jitendra Singh, who spoke at the opening session of the 12th batch of the Women Scientist Scheme-C, WISE-KIRAN IPR of DST training programme here today, stated that many of the major scientific initiatives, like Gaganyaan, are lead by women scientists. Even during the COVID epidemic, he added, it was Northeast Women Self Help Groups that led from the front in supplying huge supplies of face masks in various inventive patterns and colours to complement the dress, and big branded businesses took their lead to make the same. The success tale phenomenon of women inventors in the nation, he added, is one of the essential foundations of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's New India.

Narendra Modi took various initiatives to institutionalise women's involvement in scientific activities shortly after assuming office as Prime Minister in 2014, according to the Minister. He emphasised that all women's welfare programmes implemented after 2014 had a strong scientific foundation, whether it's the Swachh Bharat Mission to address health-care difficulties or Ujjawala free gas cylinders to combat the threat of toxic smoke damaging the lungs of rural women.

Dr. Jitendra Singh stated that graduates of the Women Scientist Initiative-C (KIRAN IPR) scheme account for 10% of the country's active patent agents. According to him, DST is actively involved in fostering an enabling environment for women in science and technology, with the "Wos C programme" having a substantial influence on India's IPR ecosystem. The Minister noted that it is not only empowering women but also producing human resources to improve the country's S&T ecosystem.

Dr. Jitendra Singh explained that the WoS-C scheme, also known as the WISE KIRAN-IPR, is being run by the Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), a technology and policy think tank, to help women who have been unable to pursue careers in science and technology due to domestic responsibilities return to the workforce.

The women scientist plan, according to Dr Jitendra Singh, was created in 2002 under the leadership of then-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Referring to Prime Minister Modi's 2016 New IPR Policy, which includes various components such as promoting IP awareness, IF facilitation, and capacity building, the Minister stated that women may pitch in huge numbers and contribute to society by assisting in the cultivation and exploitation of patents.

Dr. Jitendra Singh explained that the WOS-C programme is part of a larger DST initiative aimed at training women in IPR and related topics. He explained that when the plan first began, just 20 women were taught in a year; however, over time, the number of seats has grown to 120. According to the Minister, the government is offering a one-year stipend to women for IPR training, which does not impose any strain on the family while the women are being taught.

TIFAC was complimented by Dr. V.K. Saraswat, Member of NITI Aayog and Chairman of the TIFAC Governing Council, for continuing to do outstanding work in Technology Foresight, assisting inventors, implementing Tele Diagnostics, and the seaweed programme, among other things. He said that the Women Scientist Scheme has aided in improving the quality of patent writing since they are highly skilled in their particular technical fields and have received intensive training in IPR and patent drafting.

Dr. S Chandrasekhar, Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology, expressed his delight with the scheme's success and assured TIFAC of DST's full cooperation in this area. In his remarks, DG CSIR Shri Shekhar Mande praised TIFAC and CSIR's partnership for hands-on training and contributions of these trainees at CSIR's IPU. The relevance of the WoS-C scheme was also discussed by Dr. Nisha Mendiratta, Head of KIRAN IPR.

Prof. Pradeep Srivastava, TIFAC's Executive Director, welcomed all of the program's delegates and informed them about the scheme's trainee selection procedure, which included an all-India entrance examination (55 centres in 45 cities).

Dr. Jitendra Singh also inaugurated the TIFAC Mobile App on this occasion, stating that the public will be able to access all of TIFAC's services with a single click. The Minister of Science and Technology presented certificates to women scientists from the 11th batch of WOS-C, also known as KIRAN IPR, for successfully completing the one-year hands-on training in IPR. In this batch, 110 students finished their course, with roughly 27 receiving certificates and some receiving certificates in their absence.