A mega conference and expo on the role of women in science and technology began at Jawaharlal Nehru University Thursday.
The STREE2020 Conference and Expo are being organised jointly by JNU and NGO SHAKTI and will be held till November 26. It will be inaugurated on November 25 by Union Minister of Science and Technology Jitender Singh.
According to conference organiser Ranjana Arya, the objective of the conference is to “promote women’s contributions in various sectors of science and entrepreneurship through the exchange of ideas, the presentation of technical achievements and the discussion of future directions”.
Among the people addressing the conference are N. Kalaiselvi, Director-General, CSIR; Suma Varghese Director-General, MED and CoS, DRDO; Tanuja Nesari, Director, All India Institute of Ayurveda; and farmer and conservationist Rahibai Popere.
“The main concept behind this conference is Lab to Land, which means it is an attempt to bridge the gap between scientists and social scientists on the one hand and women from the grassroots like farmers, labourers, health workers, entrepreneurs and even homemakers. The idea is to provide a platform to all women stakeholders from across fields to be able to discuss, debate and utilise scientific capabilities, research and innovation,” said Sudha Tiwari, President, SHAKTI.
“Four important things about the idea behind the conference which has greatly impressed me that is – facilitating innovation from Lab to Land; bringing the left out in the mainstream meaning young girls who are forced to leave education who have problems, we must think how can we get them back to education, because without Nari Shakti as Prime Minister has said Amrit Kal is not possible. Then women’s health is very important because it’s the least researched area. Women’s problems like menstruation, menopause or anything related to women does not get much attention in research. Can we increase this?” said JNU V-C Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit.
