New Delhi: The Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu has called upon social science researchers to come up with innovative and out-of-box solutions to address various problems confronting the world from eradicating poverty to achieving sustainable development.
Speaking at the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), here on Monday, the Vice President said the objective of every research outcome should be to better the lives of the people. The upliftment of the poor should be the goal of social science research. As such, any research would be incomplete if the researcher failed to spend time in the field and with the people.
Urging social science researchers to find solutions to societal problems, the Vice President he stressed the need for inclusive development, reaching the unreached and funding the unfunded. Achieving sustainable developmental goals, taking care of the health of the population, alleviating poverty, mitigating the urban-rural divide and the challenges faced by the agriculture require a fresh and practical approach, he added.
Stating that tight boundaries between various disciplines have almost disappeared, the Vice President said that today’s researchers cannot confine themselves to compartmentalized silos and must have a basic understanding of other related disciplines. For example, health, education and environment cannot be confined to particular disciplines, he added.
Referring to the emerging areas in bio-technology, genetic engineering, biodiversity, new materials, micro-machines and others, Mr. Naidu said social science research should strengthen the data base of policy makers and provide them with evidence-based inputs for policy improvement and implementation.
The Vice President also advised social scientists to think of new areas of research which are of crucial concern to us as a nation while keeping in mind our collective concern for rest of the world.
Observing that the world has been changing at a very fast pace in the wake of globalization, Mr. Naidu said that the degree of mutual dependence was also growing and no country could today think of living in an isolated manner. Liberalization, privatization and globalization brought forth many opportunities and challenges as well, he added.
The Chairman of ICSSR, Dr. B.B. Kumar, the Member Secretary of ICSSR, Prof. V.K. Malhotra, academics and social sciences researchers were present on the occasion.
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