Monday, Jan 26, 2009
Karaikudi: Minister of Higher Education K. Ponmudy said that India would become a ‘centre of knowledge power’ soon.

Laying the foundation stone for a multi-storied science block established at a cost of Rs.14 crore at Alagappa University here on Sunday, he said that human resources were important for development of each and every country. According to the statistics of United Nations, natural resources and infrastructure occupied 15 and 25 percent respectively for the development of a nation. But the remaining 65 percent was due to human resources. India had an advantage not only because of its natural human resources but also because of large numbers of technically and professionally trained manpower. However, much more efforts must be given to fine-tune the efficiency of the system so as to maintain the momentum. If that continued, it would be a knowledge super power in the world. Importance should be given to transform unskilled youths into skilled ones by providing technical training through innovative methods. This would improve the chances of inland and overseas employment.

While advocating the need for creating more infrastructure for science based studies, Mr. Ponmudy said that there was a great demand for science-related sectors across the nation. The Central government had allotted Rs.80,000 crore for science and technology alone. Importance was also being given to nano technology.

P. Ramasamy, Vice-Chancellor, Alagappa University, said that the university had taken many steps to improve its standards. KR. Periyakaruppan, Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment, and E. Ilamathian, Registrar, spoke.