India / COVID-19 may have slowed, but our resolve of Aatmanirbhar Bharat remains: PM Modi

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday India used to wait for years for innovations achieved abroad but now researchers are working at the same quick pace as he lauded the scientists of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

"CSIR works as an institutional arrangement to maintain system for science, society and industry in our country. This institution of ours has produced several talented scientists. Great scientist like Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar has led this institution," PM Modi said during the address at the society meeting.

India is leading the world in the fields of sustainable development and clean energy, PM Modi said, adding that from agriculture to astronomy, disaster management to defence technology and vaccine to virtual reality, the nation aims to become self-reliant and empowered in every direction.

Furthering the call for 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' or self-reliant India, PM Modi said that while the coronavirus pandemic may have slowed the pace of development, but determination for self-sustenance and empowerment still remains.

“The Covid-19 crisis may have slowed our pace but our resolve has been 'Aatmarnirbhar Bharat’, ‘Empowered India’,” he said.

Speaking about the coronavirus pandemic and the devastation caused by it, the Prime Minister also said that it has emerged as the biggest global challenge of the century. However, history is proof that whenever there has been a huge crisis on humanity, science comes to the rescue and has always prepared the way for a better future, PM added.

On the advancement of science in the country, the PM said that the nation has developed to an extent that it is now fuelling the progress of others in the world.

"Today, from software to satellites, we are also accelerating the development of other countries, playing the role of a major engine in the development of the world," Modi said at the CSIR meet.